directions_bike by Chris Riches -

Pilar de la Horadada to Cartagena

Knowing it was only going to be a short ride to the next destination, Cartagena, I had a relaxing morning at the pool at the campsite with no rush to get packed and moving on the bike. It was a beautiful morning, and the route was entirely inland and fairly flat.

There were many hills on the horizon and occasionally palm trees but generally the landscape was very flat and barren, although there were some signs of agriculture with people working in the fields. As the latitude slowly decreased over the course of a few days, it felt as though it was getting hotter, and generally, cheaper.

Cartagena had many busy streets and tall residential buildings as I approached the city centre and eventually I arrived at the apartment where I was staying for one night. It was nice to have the use of a fridge, freezer, oven, electric lighting, air conditioning and a good washing machine after mostly camping.

The city centre was full of character and had a lot of dilapidated buildings. Some streets had elaborate, very old looking facades which had clearly been preserved whereas the remainder of the building had been demolished. With just the front wall of the building left standing, this left them looking structurally precarious. Perhaps as a consequence of the siesta the centre felt very empty in the afternoon. I had finally memorised the Spanish word for ‘Open’ but after spending over 2 weeks in Spain the usual opening and closing hours of shops and restaurants was still a mystery.

The lack of people was quite nice especially when visiting the Roman Theatre, the port area and Castillo de la Concepción which provided excellent 360 degree views of the city and the forts on the other side of the harbour. There was a large 3000+ capacity cruise ship called Celebrity Reflection in the port when I was there, with many passengers enjoying the evening view from their balconies, and by the time I had walked up to the castle at the top of the hill she had left the harbour and was heading out to sea to her next destination.

The following day I visited the Quarter of the Roman Forum, an excellent museum displaying the Roman ruins which you could walk around. The site had been excavated as recently as 2008.

Distance: 25 miles

Maximum temperature: 29 degrees C

San Javier, en-route to Cartagena

Torre-Pacheco

Cartagena

Cartagena Port

Roman Theatre, Cartagena

Roman Theatre, Cartagena

directions_bike by Chris Riches -

Cartagena to Mazarrón

There wasn’t a coast road on the first half of the ride to Mazarrón, so I followed the road from Cartagena up in to the hills, where the scenery became increasingly rugged looking.

I passed through some small villages with traditional looking houses, then after reaching the highest point, enjoyed the excellent view which stretched for miles along the Costa Calida and then descended towards Puerto de Mazarrón. This view was a nice surprise and one of the best views that I had seen so far on the trip.

Upon reaching the campsite, I chose a space to put the tent which was next to the quiet beach that was adjacent to the campsite.

Distance: 21 miles

Maximum temperature: 29 degrees C

Descending towards Puerto de Mazarrón

Coastline near Mazarrón

Beach near Mazarrón

Playa de Bolneuvo

directions_bike by Chris Riches -

Mazarrón to Aguilas

Once I had left the campsite and started cycling west, it wasn’t long before the coast road turned in to a gravel track, with access to cars and motorcycles prohibited. The path provided fantastic views of the beaches below, with their perfectly clear water and the rugged hills as their backdrop, they were mostly empty.

It was very peaceful without any traffic on the path and there were very few people around. This stretch of the Costa Calida was completely undeveloped, and a big contrast to the large resort towns of the Costa Blanca to the east. According to a sign it was a protected space, and I wasn’t lucky enough to see any of the local wildlife such as the spur-thighed tortoise, Bonelli’s eagle or peregrine falcon. The lack of a sealed road added to the unspoilt look of the coastline. When I paused to take some photos it was tempting to stop for a swim, but I knew it was going to be a challenging ride ahead and was keen to keep moving.

When the route turned inland there were many large plastic covered structures in the flatter lowland areas, some agricultural depot buildings, and trucks were transporting produce but it was difficult to determine what was being grown inside the plastic structures.

The steep ascent up in to the hills commenced, the roads wound their way up the hillside with metallic looking rocks on either side where the road seemed to have been carved out, and very little traffic. At the highest point, similar to the day before, the views of the coastline and surrounding hills were spectacular, and it was a relief to see the road change to a downhill direction.

There was a long descent, then a few more small hills to climb. I went through the port town of Aguilas, cycled along the seafront and it was still fairly hot when I reached the campsite on the other side of the town.

Distance: 29 miles

Maximum temperature: 30 degrees C

Costa Calida, near Mazarrón

Costa Calida, near Mazarrón

Costa Calida, near Mazarrón

Costa Calida, near Mazarrón

Looking southwest from the hills, towards Aguilas

directions_bike by Chris Riches -

Aguilas to Aqura de Emedio

It was a nice temperature and there were hardly any clouds in the sky at sunrise when I visited the Cuatro Calas, a series of beaches just down the road from where I was staying. Aside from some caravans and campervans in the various carparks the beaches were almost completely empty. It was great to go for a swim first thing in the morning and see numerous fish.

The border between Murcia and Andalusia was only a couple of kilometres down the road from the campsite and first impressions of this region were good. The coast road was quite spectacular and it was nice to cycle right alongside the sea through the first area called Pulpí, which had several nice resorts including San Juan de los Terreros. The hills didn’t extend right to the coast in this area, but later when they did and there were cliffs to the left, the rocks next to the road still had a metallic appearance. There were some old mining ruins along the coast, and it was hard to tell but what looked and sounded like some active mining too.

After crossing the Rio Almanzora, or at least it’s riverbed, I went through the towns of Garrucha and Mojácar. Both had nice seafronts and a large choice of restaurants and bars, often with a tropical theme or name. Given the weather, nice coastal vistas and all the palm trees they didn’t look too out of place. At this point there was a strong headwind, which would later fade completely up in the hills.

I stopped for a swim at Playa Noche y Baño and saw the 18th century Castillo de Macenas, then headed up in to the hills to stay at a very peaceful and almost empty campsite near Aqura de Emedio.

Distance: 31 miles

Maximum temperature: 28 degrees

Cuatro Calas

Cuatro Calas

Cuatro Calas

Murcia / Andalucia border

Pulpí

Garrucha

Castillo de Macenas

directions_bike by Chris Riches -

San José to Roquetas de Mar

After breakfast in San José, I checked out of the good value hostal just before midday and took the main road north out of the Cabo de Gata National Park.

The solar panel proved to be useful in the strong Andalucian sun for charging my phone for navigation and the tailwind made the ascent out of San José, and much of the journey, feel fairly effortless. Travelling east about 5 miles outside of San José the landscape slowly became redder as it flattened out.

Just outside Almería I heard the sound of some birds in the trees in a park area and saw several noisy green birds which looked like monk parakeets.

The most direct route towards Roquetas de Mar took me thorough the centre of Almería which I knew very little about but stopped to have a look at the Cathedral and the Alcazaba, a Moorish fortress founded in the 10th century.

It wasn’t until taking the N-340a road out of Almería that it’s situation in the desert became so striking with the orange rocks rising up on the right hand side of the road. There were a couple of tunnels. The sun was behind me for most of the day which reduced the effect of the heat but I’d cycled past several illuminated signs saying it was 35 degrees. Looking at the weather on my phone I wasn’t convinced about their accuracy but I was continuing to enjoy the abundance of petrol stations in Spain which sold cold drinks and ice creams, which mitigated the heat.

The last stage of the ride was mostly right next to the sea passing through Aguadulce with a good view of it’s harbour. Once I reached the campsite at Roquetas de Mar it was unsurprising to find the ground was rock hard. I didn’t have a hammer – it would be heavy to transport – and eventually located a rock to hammer in the tent pegs. A neighbour at the campsite kindly lent me a hammer which was a big help.

Distance: 35 miles

Maximum temperature: 31 degrees C

San José

Cabo de Gata National Park

Almería Cathedral

Alcazaba, Almería

Almería

Aguadulce

Aguadulce

directions_bike by Chris Riches -

Adra to La Herradura

The temperature in the morning started off relatively cool, but was quick to rise in the strong sunshine and once I had passed through the busy town of Adra, the route went alongside the coast for most of the day.

The coastal scenery varied from grey isolated beaches to steep cliffs, to beachfront resort towns, where there were some fairly large waves.

I stopped in the middle of the day in Castell de Ferro, for a rest and to get some water and ice, then by the middle of the afternoon the air temperature cooled slightly as the cloud cover increased.

Entering the Granada province, the area of coastline was called the Costa Tropical. The Sierra Nevada mountain range extends to the coast here and the landscape was notably greener. The mountains looked impressive and the highest parts of them were covered in cloud.

The largest single climb was right at the end of the day, with the road winding up out of Almuñécar and then descending in to La Herradura where I was staying at the campsite.

Distance: 56 miles

Maximum temperature: 27 degrees C

Castell de Ferro

Playa La Rijana

La Herradura

directions_bike by Chris Riches -

La Herradura to Malaga

The journey from La Herradura to Malaga crossed from Costa Tropical to Costa del Sol.

I paid the bill at the campsite and left quite early. There were a couple of steep ascents out of La Herradura to start off the morning, and a tunnel where the acoustics hugely amplified the noise of any traffic in either direction. After the tunnel I was overtaken by a couple of German cyclists with panniers, and one later informed me that they had cycled there from Germany in about 22 days. Compared to France it was rare to see any other cyclists with luggage so it was interesting to chat with them.

The cliffside coast road provided nice views towards Nerja, where I diverted to have a look at the town and the steeply sloping seafront area. The town was quite characterful with white traditional style buildings overlooking the sea and narrow old style shopping streets.

As I got closer to Malaga the terrain flattened out with much more development along the coast, including some new construction occurring in the town of Los Llanos where I stopped at the bakery for lunch.

The route then headed inland near Rincón de la Victoria, up a steep path and then dropped down in to a town called Jarazmín on the outskirts of Malaga on the other side of the dry riverbed. The scale of the city started to become apparent as I was cycling alongside the beaches and the city was on my right, it stretched for miles before I reached the city centre.

After checking in to the apartment where I was staying I visited the old part of the city with the Cathedral, Alcazaba and Roman Amphitheatre. There was a small protest about AirBnB near the Roman Amphitheatre. I then walked down through the gardens to the port area with the Pompidou centre and the Muelle Uno shopping area. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to visit any of the cities museums but found that Malaga had some similar elements to Cartagena but was much bigger and there were fewer signs of dilapidation around.

Distance: 45 miles

Maximum temperature: 28 degrees C

Costa Tropical looking towards Nerja

El Acueducto del Águila

Nerja

Malaga

Roman Amphitheatre and Alcazaba, Malaga

Cathedral, Malaga