Summit of Fontcalent starting from Alicante

By car: From Alicante, take the A31 (from Calle Mexico) towards Madrid. Take exit 235 (Pol. ind. Pla de la Valonga). You are now on Calle Guillermo Stewart Howie. Turn left onto Calle Bonanza (signposted Alicante and prison) and continue straight on to the prison.
When you arrive at the prison, you can no longer park in the car park in front of the centre: there is a no-entry sign preventing access (the car park is reserved for accredited persons).
So when you reach the no entry sign, turn immediately left into the street. At the corner of this street there are signs for businesses (Efren Blanco Hair and Van Van Go). This street is called Cami d'Ex. Park on the right-hand side in the dirt spaces.
The route starts at the intersection of the two streets (at the no entry sign).

(S/E) Head towards the road that passes in front of the prison entrance. Continue, ignoring all side roads, until you reach the Taibilla Canal.

(1) Pass by the gates protecting the factory facilities, cross the canal and continue straight ahead.

(2) Leave the wide track and climb a small embankment ahead of you. You are now in an area with small shrubs and grass. Follow the path, using the regular markers, small cairns or blue and white painted marks as guides.

(3) You will arrive at an area of scree and small stones. Do not attempt to climb this scree. Look for a small path on the far right (as you climb) with blue and white markings. Continue along this path, keeping slightly to the right until you have passed through the scree. You will arrive at the pass.

(4) The summit is on the left. The path leading to it follows the ridge of the sierra and may therefore be daunting for some people. The general idea is to continue straight ahead and trust your mountain instincts, as the path disappears a little among the rocks. Fortunately, there are also blue and white markings here to help you find your way. The walk to the summit is fairly flat. Care should be taken when passing through certain rocky areas. The summit is marked by a cylinder on a large block of cement.

(5) The return journey follows the same route as the outward journey back to the car park (S/E).

No water sources, no shelter, no shade. It is essential to bring a water bottle. In summer, the sun is very strong.
Fontcalent is the Valencian name for fuente caliente, meaning hot spring. This spring disappeared with the construction of the AVE (Spanish high-speed train). On the other side of the summit is a very large quarry in operation. As a result, this mountain range is known in Alicante as the cursed mountain. I believe there is a committee defending the mountain that is calling for the quarry to be shut down.

It is a fairly demanding route that requires you to be comfortable climbing and walking on rocks. I would therefore classify it as moderately difficult, or even difficult in some sections (for inexperienced hikers).
To give an indication of the hike, I use the rating system developed by the FFR (French Hiking Federation). This system is based on three criteria: effort (E), which indicates physical difficulty; technicality (T), which indicates the presence of obstacles of varying degrees of difficulty; and risk (R), which indicates the severity of a fall.
Each of these criteria is rated from 1 (easy) to 5 (difficult).
The effort is calculated automatically by a programme that gives an effort index (IBP) based on the route trace.
This hike would therefore be classified as: E3 T2(3) R3(4).

From the start of the hike, you can see the rocky, vertical slopes of the mountain. Looking closely at the configuration, you can see a gap roughly in the middle of the sierra that appears to be the only relatively easy point to pass through. You can also see what looks like a path from a distance. This is indeed the route proposed here.