Estimated net time	3½-4 hours
Difficulty	No difficulties. Most of the route is done on fine service road.
Drinking water	No access to running water.
GSM coverage	Coverage throughout the route (May 2012).
Parking	Room for a few cars at trail head.
Start height	737 metres
Vertical metres	635 metres for the roundtrip.
Trip distance	14.0 km
GPS-file	X
Map		Google Interactive Map
Route photo	For Carche trail head exit from road Cv-3213.   Carche trail head.   Fork left for Carche, 3.8 km from trail head.   Turn left in T-junction for Carche, 5.0 km above trail head.   Start of short-cut path to Carche, 800m after T-junction.

From Alicante drive west on road A-31 to north of Novelda. Turn left and drive road Cv-83 towards Monovar, and continue approximately 20 km west towards Pinoso on road Cv-83. In the round-about east of Pinoso where road Cv-83 exits right follow Cv-83 1.0 km to the next round-about. Take the Cv-83 exit, and drive 13.0 km to where it's signed right onto a gravel road towards "Sierra del Carche". Note that Cv-83 changes number to C-3213 a little west of Pinoso. Drive this road 2.5 km, making sure you fork left after 1.4 km, and fork right after 1.7 km. Find parking somewhere around in the small opening where you see two roads with a "no entry" sign.

Start walking by following the left road through the gate, signed for "Alto del Carche". Stay on this road 3.8 km and fork left in the junction with a small concrete building. Continue another 1.2 km to a T-junction, and turn left. From here continue 800 metres and locate a path running up towards left. This path is a short-cut, and will bring you back onto the service road at 1290 metres. When you re-join the service road turn left and walk up to 20 vertical metres below the summit. Here you will find a vague path which will take you up to the summit. At the summit you will find a refuge, a telecomm installation, and a concrete summit cairn.

Descend by reversing your ascent route.

09. May 2012

When I hiked La Capilla a couple of days earlier I had noted a mountain close by that seemed to be a little higher. Hence I decided to have a go at this mountain.

For a change it was easy to find trail head, amongst others thanks to a sign down by the main road. This allowed me to find an easy route to the summit, but following a gravel road for the best part of 14 km tend to be a little boring. Except for the buildings and telecomm installations at the summit this was a nice place to be on a slightly hazy day, and I spent sufficient time to enjoy a sandwich and take a number of photos, before heading back down to the car. Then a 90 minutes drive, including some shopping, before tennis and swimming with Njål back at our base at Gran Vista.
Photos 09.05.2012