From the Cova de l'Aigua (Water Cave) to the Racó del Bou (the bull's corner)

Difficulty:: Low.
Estimated time: 3 hours 30 minutes
Difference in level: 350m.

The route starts at the hermitage built in the 1980s, next to the Pare Pere (18th c.) small shelter, a peculiar refuge where this famous person from Dénia would retire to pray and where we can watch this Franciscan’s life portrayed in Valencian ceramics. A few metres away the camí de la Colònia starts (Colony path). There is a chain stopping motorised vehicles from getting into the park and we can start our peaceful ascent along this comfortable path.

The path twists and turns crossing the today abandoned Montgó farming colony, a frustrated attempt (in the first third of the 20th c). to produce Muscat grapes. The area has suffered several fires, the traces of which can be seen throughout the route, although we can also observe how nature struggles to recover from these aggressions: lentisk trees (Pistacia lentiscus), kermes oak (Querqus coccifera), rockrose (Cistus), sarsaparilla (Smilax aspera), dentate lavender (Lavandula dentata), several kinds of orchids, etc. all these typical Mediterranean scrub vegetation, which work hard to recover the area’s vegetal cover.
We reach a crossroad on this path and we take the path on the left, towards the east. Approximately 200 metres away a narrow path on the left ascends to the feet of the walls of Mount Montgó’s northern face. In this area, with quite a damp and fresh atmosphere, ferns are frequent such as the polipodium (Polipodium cambricum), or plants such as the rusc (Ruscus aculeatus), and many others common in humid areas of the Mediterranean mountains. We must point out the rock endemic plants such as the herba santa (Carduncellus dianius), the desferracavalls (Hipocrepis valentina) or the rock scabious (Scabiosa saxatilis), amongst others; we must not forget that we are in a flora micro reserve and that many of the plants around us are strictly protected.

As we continue going up, the landscape becomes more impressive and our sight can reach all the Gulf of Valencia, the mountains of la Safor, Cullera, the Mediterranean Sea and, in clear days, the island of Eivissa in the horizon to the east.

Once we have reached the thick mountain walls, to reach the Cova de l'Aigua we’ll have to take the crossroad in the path going east, and we’ll reach a steep stairway, which will take us to the cave. Before getting in, we’ll find a Roman inscription in the rock dated in 238 AD, protected by a metallic grille. A little further up, you can enter the cave, which collects rainwater inside, filtered by the sandstone of Mount Montgó. The water is kept by a stratum of impermeable loamy clays. In the past this small cave was conditioned as a water deposit, which was used and canalised for human use, and even to irrigate small orchards at the feet of Mount Montgó.

Retracing our steps and always following the crossroads towards the west, we shall go through the most luxuriant shady area in Mount Montgó, and we’ll be able to see some of the park’s rarest species such as the flower ash trees (Fraxinus ornus) or cornicabra (Pistacia terrebintus). Little by little, we’ll descend to the Racó del Bou or de l'Ull de Bou, owing its name to the shape of the walls in this point (bou meaning bull), where we’ll take the Colony’s Path, taking us back to the Pare Pere Hermitage.