The idea to do this, first struck me about a year ago and keeps coming back to me on a regular basis, especially when I'm riding up said mountain. So, I am now actually going to do it and put my mind at rest, although my body may not entirely appreciate the jesture. October 5th 2008 is the date of the first 'Andalucian Cycling Experience Las Palomas Challenge'. This event started as a personal challenge to see how many times in one day (day light hours only) I, Ashley, could ride up to Puerto de Las Palomas, a category 1 climb in both the 'Vuelta de Andalucia' and 'Vuelta España'. It is on this climb that the local road bike club holds its annual time trial, with my fastest time being 47m 41s, however, this will be a totally different event with endurance being key.

It's another perfect day in paradise, which for me is the Serrania de Ronda and Grazalema Natural Park, with deep blue skies a few fluffy white clouds, the temperatures around 30 degrees and we are off to the beach. Luckily, we do not have to spend over an hour in the car getting to the Costa del Sol, oh no, 10 minutes from Montecorto and Zahara de la Sierra and about 25 minutes from Ronda and Grazalema is 'La Playita' (The little beach) at Arroyomolinos.

Even the lightest breeze is appreciated when you are out and about in the sierras during August. We set off with sun cream, hats and plenty of chilled water, even late into the afternoons the sun showed little desire to lower in the sky. The brilliant blue skies could be relied upon to form a beautiful backdrop to most of our images with occasional pure white clouds offering an interesting colour contrast.

Zahara de la Sierra which means “Flower” so named due to the abundance of citrus blossoms (azahar) also the village was known for a time as Zahara de los Membrillos (Zahara of the Quinces). It is situated at the foot of the Sierra del Jaralin, the heart of the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park in the extreme north east of the Province of Cádiz. The history of Zahara dates back to prehistoric times with silex (flint) tools used for domestic tasks found in the Garganta and Arena caves. Its origins may be found in the Chalcolithic (second millenium B.C.) or the Neolithic periods, based on the polished hatchets used for agriculture found in the inflow of the Arroyo Bocaleones with the Guadalete River and also the Covatillas Cave.