The Alicante Provincial Council has published the first map-guide of the caves route through the Sierra Mariola mountain range aimed at hikers. The publication comes out exactly one year after the opening to the public of the Cava Gran de Agres after its restoration and museumisation.
Jaume LloretThe guide was presented at the presentation of the guide, together with the deputy for the Environment, by the head of the Architecture Department, which has coordinated the project, Javier Sendrathe mayor of Agres, Josep Manel Francésthe technical director of MARQ, Manuel Olcinathe museum's managing director, José Alberto Cortésand the head of the Architecture Department of the Provincial Council, Rafael Pérez.
"This initiative is part of the Provincial Government's objective to generate attractive tourist areas in the small inland municipalities and to promote the natural and heritage wealth of these towns as a complement to the sun and beaches of the Costa Blanca."explained Lloret.
Both deputies insisted on the need to boost inland tourism and, in this respect, the provincial head of Architecture stated that "thehe aim is to promote visits to this recently recovered natural enclave, to promote knowledge of the cultural heritage of the snowfields in the province of Alicante and to recover the memory of the ice industry from the storage of snow, which reached its peak between the 17th and 19th centuries.".
The guide-map contains a hiking route of about nine kilometres ring route, starting and finishing in the town of Agres. The route leads to the Cava Gran and from there it goes to other snowfields and snowdrifts in the area such as the Clot de la Vilathe Cava d'en Miquel, the Cava of Joan Despuig or the Gran Cava de Xàtiva. Sendra placed special emphasis on the collaboration of the different areas of the Provincial Council to move the project forward, and added that "... the project will be carried out with the collaboration of the different areas of the Provincial Council.a low-difficulty itinerary has been designed, seeking synergy with the cultural aspect and visiting as many snowfields as possible. In addition, the entire route will be properly signposted to facilitate the way without any possible mistakes".
The publication is designed in DIN A3 format two-sided, with the peculiarity that, once folded, it acquires the DIN A6 format. On the front it contains information about the Cava Gran de Agres, as well as an explanation about the snow collection process. The reverse side shows the map with the routes and itineraries and images of some of the snowfields.
