Andalucia - Winter Sun

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ZeroDarkBivi
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Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2014 9:18 am
Location: Somerset

Andalucia - Winter Sun

Post by ZeroDarkBivi »

Fed up with soggy trails and unreliable weather for doing a multi-day trip, I decided on a last minute trip to Southern Spain, for a tour that would actually be enjoyable in the moment, rather than months later, through the prism of selective memory! As it transpired, this warm and dry Spring climate really is a Goldilocks zone for cycling, well almost…

My tour was inspired by the Altravesur, which I found details of, including a GPX file, here:
http://www.bikepacking.com/routes/altra ... ing-route/
With insufficient time to do the whole route, I focussed on what looked like the best part, traversing the high mountains within 4 national parks, which was also easily accessible from my point of departure, Malaga. I uploaded the cycle routable mapping tiles, free from this site: http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl. These proved to be invaluable, and I did not bring any other mapping with me. But I probably should have, or better still, produced cues sheets for each segment. Whilst many of the resupply points along the route are not easy to find online, or have very random opening times (particularly at this time of the year, when much of the area is still in hibernation), some information on what was coming up would have been more useful than just plodding on blind. It would also have made identification of refugees, campsites, etc much easier, as these where often not obvious, even in daylight.

The Sleazy Jet shuttle from Bristol to Malaga was quite tolerable, despite the ridiculously early start, which, combined with my extended packing faff the night before, ensured I arrived knackered! The first problem was where to ditch my bike bag; there is no left luggage at the airport, but a short train hop into town and the main station, Maria Zambrano, and large lockers where available. It wasn’t clear how the lockers worked, and it took me a while to establish they where good for more than 24 hours. It was at this point that I also realised it was going to be hard work getting by without any Spanish language ability…

Day 1 – 64km, 2000m
After a Tapas lunch in town, I hit the back-roads to join the trail 40km north. This was a surprisingly pleasant road, involving a long climb over 1000m before dropping into the trailhead at Riogordo. What was instantly noticeable was the attitude of local drivers to cyclists; their respectful overtaking was in stark contrast the moronic behaviour often experienced on UK roads. Clearly people are not in a hurry to get anywhere here and this makes road riding a far less perilous venture. The undulating jeep track brought me to a taverna in La Cuna, that had been recommended by some walkers (also from Blighty) I met enroute. Like many of the hostelries on the trail, this provided a decent room and meal for a reasonable price.

Day 2 – 104km, 2500m
A nice day, mostly riding jeep tracks in the forest, where a dense hill fog was blown in for a few hours, which was a bit spooky! The main memory of the latter part of the ride was how few facilities existed within the small villages the route passed through – perhaps these where seasonal places, but so many just felt dead. I finally found a very pleasant bed for the night in Restabal, where I also got an excellent meal for surprisingly few euros.

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Day 3 – 82km, 3400m
Today was hard. It started with a simple navigational error that cost some time and effort negotiating fences, etc. Then came the beast of a climb to get back onto the high trail. This was relentless, but ridable, in bottom gear, with just enough traction to make progress. The rest of the morning was good riding, other than a tedious carry down then up a steep ravine. The afternoon gave me my first taste of ‘the folly of the trail’. Why, I asked myself, am I pushing my bike along this overgrown goat trail, when there is an excellent, quiet road a hundred meters away paralleling my route? With a bit of effort I extracted myself from the ridiculous track and enjoyed the beautiful feeling of progress on a great bit of black top. After lunch in a fine little village I once again took the hikers trail only to discover the road option would have taken me to the next village in a far less sweaty mess! Another long climb, but on decent trails, before arriving at a strange detour; the GPS pink line departed the jeep trail for some enticing looking singletrack descending into the woods. This turned out to be one of the worst HAB sections I have ever done! Probably no more than 3km, I must have spent at least a couple of hours getting through this bit, including dragging my bike through bramble and gorse then some very steep climbs with the bike on my shoulder, wheels snagging on the side of the trail… Eventually I was spat out onto the proper trail, which it appears would have taken me round this maddening hike; I have no idea why the route went this way! A cheap hostel in Trevelez provided a restful night, after this energy sapping segment.

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Day 4 – 151km, 3100m
After yesterdays trauma, I ignored the first section of singletrack through the woods, in the knowledge that the road would take me to the same point a few km further on, with far less potential for bursting my SoH bubble! Most of the day was on undulating gravel roads, never too steep and through some fabulous scenery among the South facing slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Progress was better than expected and I was soon at the start of the 1000m+ descent North, off this range to the village of La Calahorra. I probably cheated myself out of a fantastic singletrack blast, but one look at the initial vague rocky trail, and with yesterday’s memories still painful, I opted for the road, which was amazingly good fun. Like many food stops, it was easier just to order pizza than try to communicate what mix of tapas I wanted, assuming that was even an option. I pushed on to the next village across a breezy valley full of wind turbines. I stuck to the road to make faster progress on this connecting section, whilst the route followed some dodgy looking trails through an agro-industrial complex. With this village also empty, I pushed into the next hilly section, looking for a campsite that I knew was somewhere on the next descent. This was a great evening ride, savouring the sunset and transition to darkness, however I had to stick to the road, as my dynamo light was not adequate for the techy singletrack options through the trees. In the darkness I missed the campsite and was finally forced to set up a simple bivi in the woods by the trailside. This was not a successful night out; initially I got a bad allergic reaction to something, which resulted in severe nasal congestion. Then the inadequacies of my insulated jacket plus half-bag system where realised, and I shivered through the morning until sun-up.

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Day 5 – 80km, 1400m
It was still bloody cold in the morning, and I rode the next hour wearing both my down jacket and waterproof shell, trying to warm up, on a long descent. At least the technicality of the trail gave me something else to think about! The town of Baza, the largest on the route, provided me with a welcome warm brunch, and all was good. The rest of the day was another connecting stage, on lower trails and roads, much of it into a strong wind. I stopped early at a hotel on the southern border of the next park, where I could eat and stock up on supplies.

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Day 6 – 94km, 2000m
This was a fabulous day on the GR247 trail, the most scenic riding, and, for the most part, on good trails, both surface and gradient allowing decent progress. The purpose built refuges where charming, more like a simple bothy than the services of an Alpine refuge, although the leave no trace policy was obviously being ignored. The high plateau reminded me a bit of the cairngorms, without the wind, rain or cold! Lunch at a popular bar in Pontones was good, but try as I might, none of the four accommodation options appeared to be open. Even the bakery and few shops where all closed, although I managed to extract the owner of one from a bar to open up for a few minutes. So I pushed on a bit further, finishing after a simply amazing road descent that went on for ever! I missed the singletrack options again, assessing by the steepness of the valley sides that they could not feasibly be ridable, and would just entail more pointless HAB. The tiny hamlet of La Toba provided a meal and bed for the night. Amazingly they also had wifi, which led to the discovery that there was only one bus per day from my final destination, and I had to get there by 1500 if I was to make my flight home…

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Day 7 – 45km, 1300m
It’s always good to end a trip on a high, so I had big hopes for an excellent final day. Sadly that wasn’t entirely the case. Having established I needed to average 9kph to make the bus (a perfectly feasible pace), After the first two hours I had covered 6km, and was more than a little pissed to have carried my bike up a substantial hill, to then push it down the other side. Even on my best day, with a suitable, unloaded bike, this trail would have been beyond me; the potential for an error with serious consequences was simply too high. When I eventually found the black-top, I refused to be lured back into the woods, and took a slightly more direct route into Siles. As it transpired, the final bit of trail would probably not have destroyed my schedule, but it wasn’t a risk I could take at the time.

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The long distance buses seem to be operated by one company, with scheduling details here:
https://www.alsa.es/en/bus-schedules. I stopped off in Granada for a day on the way back, which I would thoroughly recommend; fascinating place with loads of nice cafes and bars as well as the tremendous historical buildings. Getting the bus to Malaga turned into an unnecessary faff and revealed Spain at it’s bureaucratic worse; the pain of trying to buy a ticket for my bike was unbelievable and would have resulted in me missing the bus if I had not taken unusual (and very much unappreciated) action to retrieve my ticket from the incompetent moron who was utterly uninterested in resolving the situation. As it transpired, the bus driver could not care less about special tickets or bike bags, and was quite content with me loading the bike on myself. In Malaga train station, the bike bag reverse shuffle was fine (after inserting about 80 one Euro coins into the machine…!), and the flight home particularly efficient, with my bike sat waiting for me in the Bristol baggage collection hall – ideal!

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The Kit
Travers Ti frame with CF fork, Rohloff hub and dynamo. Converted to b+ wheels, 2.8F / 2.6R, run at 14/16 psi, which still felt too hard (I am only 60kg), but I couldn’t risk dinking a rim where nobody would be able to fix it. The Nobby Nic on the front should have been replaced with a Rocket Ron (as per the rear). I don’t think this is an optimal configuration, however, rigid = less to go wrong (more important on longer trips), and I think the extra comfort of big tyres is probably worth the weight and drag. As for the sleeping system, clearly a rethink of its operating parameters is required, but as a lightweight emergency option, it was adequate.
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benp1
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Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2013 7:36 pm
Location: South Downs

Re: Andalucia - Winter Sun

Post by benp1 »

Looks like a fun trip, weather and scenery look vaguely exciting! Good read too
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Borderer
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Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2016 9:59 pm
Location: Scottish Borders
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Re: Andalucia - Winter Sun

Post by Borderer »

Nice write up, thanks, I enjoyed that.
Rasta
Posts: 398
Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:33 am
Location: Sussex & France.

Re: Andalucia - Winter Sun

Post by Rasta »

2 years late but nice post.
Just doing some research as I am down here now. Looking for a route. Only problem is - in the hills it's about 2°C at night. And my 4 season bag is big. Days are great though.

60kg?

How was Thailand?
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