We started the day a bit late as we wanted to see what the route was and make last minute alterations. After yesterday’s experience of riding long hours in dirt roads that were in no way gentle, we wanted to be sure that we were not headed in the same direction, figuratively speaking.
We were also delayed in our start because we stayed a bit late last night having dinner and a few drinks. The town of Alhama de Granada is small and has some nice sights which I think can be easily be done on one day. We had dinner in the “Café Bar Andaluz”, which was the one that showed signs of life. After having a couple of wine glasses, we headed inside (it was cooling down very quickly in the terrace) and we had a nice dinner including a fantastic ham & cheese platter that included jamón serrano, morcilla, salchicha, chorizo (the real deal) and goat’s cheese. We then shared a lovely octopus “a la gallega” (with potatoes underneath and lots of paprika) and a lovely tuna salad. We also had (yet another) bottle of wine…tsk..tsk..tsk.
Back to the ride….getting out of Alhama took a while as it was very steep to get to the road. Not too many cars and it was a steady climb to get to the A-402 which we followed Southwest in the direction of “Pilas de Algaida”. We stopped for a coffee here and met Manuel, an old, nice local from the town who overheard the conversation of getting to Periana when we asked the waitress for advice. He told us (not in a nutshell 😉 about this rail trail that we could take. We were absolutely skeptical about anything that was not paved at this point, but we were certainly glad we followed his advice. Manuel was nice enough to drive the car to the gas station and lead us to the beginning of the trail, our jaws immediately dropped – the view was absolutely beautiful, you could even see the coast of Málaga from a distance. The trail was gravel but very pleasant…and it was mostly downhill – we were in heaven, so thank you Manuel from Pilas, you are the man!!!
After the path finished we ended up getting to Periana, a medium-sided town where we had a lovely tapa of tomato sauce with pork, albeit very expensive for what it was!
We let Google take us the rest of the ride to our hotel, “El Cortijo de las Monjas”. Tough last 3 Km or so until we reached the hotel via the A-7204 highway, Before getting here there are lots of hills that are not that painful, but will require a bit of extra power to get through…remember the wise words “there is no shame in walking”.
The hotel is surrounded by mountains…the closest shops/restaurants are 2Km away, so either come with enough food for dinner or let the hotel managers know that you will need to have dinner prepared.
In brief, a fantastic ride through lovely hills and a rail trail with absolutely fantastic views.
