BENISSA : Ermita de Lleus – Thur

Walk Leaders: George & Jill

Meeting Point	Benissa ERMITA de LLEUS, Partida Lleus, 23, 03720, Alicante. GPS: 38°40’45.3″N 0°00’49.1″E
Walking Route	Distance : 5,3 km	Around the country lanes of Lleus area, through orchards of Almonds and pine wood.
Terrain	Walking Surface	Mostly well made surfaces (tarmac, concrete), but some stoney track and dirt road. Proper walking shoes required !
	Ascent	undulating, 4 short but some very steep hills of 50m , 110m ascent over 2,2km
Directions to Meeting Point	Coming from Teulada, take the N332 towards Benissa. About 1km after the Benissa (Pedrera) trading estate stay on the new N332 Benissa bye-pass. After about 2km. take the slip road sign-posted for CV749 – Pinas and CV750 Xalo (Jalon). At the roundabout take the 3rd exit to Pinas CV749. Continue towards Pinas and just before the bridge over the AP7, there is a road to the left, signposted LLEUS. This road is parallel to the AP7 until dipping down to the left and then uphill to the right. The road twists and turns for another 1Km (IGNORE all roads and tracks on right and left) until after a downhill section a ‘Y’ junction is reached. Take the right hand fork (sp Cami de Lleus/Casa del Maco/and a purple arrow on a concrete block). Go down the steep hill (parallel with the AP7) for 1 Km and at the bottom take the right fork sp Casa del Maco. After 400m take the left fork and the Ermita is 100m further on on the right.

Walk Description

1. From the front door of the Ermita, Start walking straight ahead downhill road. The road bends to the right on 2 occasions and continues downhill, becoming quite steep and short uphill to a T-junction. Here go left onto Cami de Lleus.
2. Follow the road for 1 km. passing the side road ‘Cami del Pono de Cassamia’ on the right. About 100m futher on, just before the next junction on the right, you find a tarmac road very sharp to the left. Take this road which is going in the reverse direction parallel to the original road.
3. The path goes further downhill for 300m and turns to the right. There is a gravelled section of road at the bottom just before the road starts climbing. The road climbs for about 2 km. The first km is uphill – 2 short very steep climbs of 50m – mostly tarmac with some stoney sections. The remainder of the ascent has varying undulations. Splendid views on this section. Stay on this road going straight ahead, ignoring all side roads, including the cross roads. Pass ‘Casa Murcielago with swimming pool’ on the right. Pass
   ‘Casa Pepita’ partida Beniyenta on the right. After a quite splendid villa up on the left road rises gently and levels out.
4. After about 300m you reach a Y-junction with a small triangle island and a sign post without a name plate. Turn sharp left here into cami de Lleus and continue downhill with the motorway in foreground and Bernia in the distance.
5. After 1,2km you reach a Y-junction with a sign Casa del Maco. Go right here. Continue along the road and enjoy the fantastic views. After 300m you reach a junction, take the left hand turn and after 100m you are back at the Ermita Lleus