Southern Spain extreme (4AN250A)
The time has finally come for our first day of driving. The sun is shining and there's not a cloud in the sky. Perfect conditions to take on the first Spanish curves on our tour. After a short briefing, we set off and quickly leave Malaga behind us on the highway and make our way into the mountains north of the city. These not only offer great roads but also a fantastic view down to the sea. After a relaxing coffee stop in a small village, we head back down to the coast, which we follow for a while until we reach today's lunch restaurant, which is located right on the beach and serves great food. Then we head back into the mountains and the road becomes even more winding than it was this morning. We came to this area precisely because of roads like these. Our first day of driving couldn't have been much better and we will round it off with a great dinner tonight.
Yesterday was already a great day here in Spain, but today was on a whole new level. After a late breakfast and our morning briefing, we start the day and head east. The roads around the Sierras de las Tejeda National Park were already pretty impressive and led us back to the coast on the Costa del Sol. After a good lunch, we head back north across the Sierra Nevada, the highest mountain range in Spain, to our destination for today, Calahorra. The roads there are pretty much the best you can imagine and, unlike some of the better-known motorcycle routes, we have them almost all to ourselves. What more could you want?
The morning greets us again today with perfect weather and not a single cloud in the sky. This is just right for us, as we want to make the most of the beautiful roads in the Andalusian mountains again today and the sunshine is just what we need. We leave our hotel after a short briefing and make a quick photo stop at the statue of Clint Eastwood, which was erected here in honor of all the westerns that were filmed in the area around Calahorra. We then head straight back over the Sierre Nevada before tackling another mountain range in Andalusia, the Sierra de Baza. Our destination today is Almeria, the city on the coast with more than a thousand years of history, where we will be staying for the next two nights.
Almeria is a fascinating city with over a thousand years of history. And as tempting as it may be to explore the city, we are here to ride motorcycles, so the whole group decides to get on our bikes today and leave the city behind us. As today's rest day is rather leisurely, we get a good night's sleep and set off on today's tour at half past nine. From Almeria, we head northeast on the highway, where the first beautiful bends await us. And just like the days before, there is absolutely no traffic today, as if the roads were made just for us. We continue east towards the coast, where we stop for lunch in a great restaurant right on the beach. We then drive back to Almeria on roads with long bends, where we round off the day with a great dinner.
After two days in Almeria, today it's time to leave the Costa del Sol behind us and discover more of the Spanish hinterland. Unfortunately, the weather today is what the weather forecast promised us yesterday. It rarely rains in southern Spain, but when it does, it's even heavier. Unfortunately, today is one of those days, so we decide to shorten today's route a little and continue straight to our lunch stop in Valez Rubio after our first coffee break. After a slightly longer lunch break, the rain actually stops and we can really enjoy the rest of the day and arrive dry at our destination for today, Arroyo Frio. The sun even comes out a little in the evening and another sunny, cloudless day is forecast for tomorrow.
After the weather let us down a little yesterday, we are all the happier today about a cloudless day with bright sunshine. This is how we know and love Spain. With a route of around 350 km/220 miles, there's a lot on the program again today. Immediately after leaving the hotel, we take a super winding road through the forest to our first coffee stop. We then drive through seemingly endless fields of olive trees. It's no wonder that the best olive oil can be bought everywhere here. The real highlight of the day is on the agenda for the afternoon, the drive through the Parque Natural de la Sierra de Andújar, where we drive seemingly endlessly through the countryside for over 100 km and have the beautiful roads almost all to ourselves.
As always, this tour is over far too quickly and so today marks the start of our last day of driving. Only 250 km separate us today from our destination Malaga, where we set off on our tour almost a week ago. Even though it is hard to say goodbye to Spain, it is at least a small consolation that we will still be riding some great routes today. After a quick coffee stop in Jaen's main square, we continue on to the Embalse de Iznajar reservoir, where we enjoy a sumptuous lunch with a view of the lake. Afterwards, we head back to our starting hotel via the very winding Montes de Malaga. We had a great time on this tour, laughed a lot, enjoyed the Spanish hospitality to the full and rode countless great roads here in Spain. Hope to see you soon Daniel