With plenty of Christmas indulgence under our belts, we headed out from Valencia just before noon. We were in no hurry to leave our friends or a fantastic city, full of beautiful architecture, parks and a beach. The ride out of Valencia was fairly straight forward – out to the beach then to the right to follow various roads along the coast. There was plenty of construction for the Americas Cup being held in the city so we did have to weave a bit but it wasn’t long before we were in the beautiful Albufera Park, a protected area of natural beauty. Plenty of lakes, fishing nets and birds. Because of our late start, we passed the time when most supermarkets close for their siesta and were a bit stuck for lunch. The wonders of the internet came in handy though as Julian who has been reading our journal, and himself a fellow cyclist, had emailed us with a recommendation for a paella restaurant, which was right in our path. The chicken and rabbit paella in Hostal Blayet did just the trick for our rumbling tummies – a bit of an extravagance for us especially after our stay in Valencia, but it wouldn’t have been right to leave the area without trying the local specialty. The flat terrain meant we rolled along at a good speed but we didn’t make much headway, as we got lost a few times trying to find the right road. After one detour to the beach and another through orange groves we finally landed in Xeraco near dusk, where we grabbed the first campsite we saw, right on the beach for only 11 euros.