Last week Julian came over to Andalucia for a mountain biking mini break based in one of our townhouses in Montecorto. We started our riding with an epic XC (Cross Country) ride visiting the beautiful white village of Setenil de las Bodegas, where we stopped at one of my favourite tapas bars in this area ‘La Tascas’. You can find La Tascas in the centre of Setenil set in one of the famous cave houses. This traditional bar does amazing tapas thus making a great refuelling pit -stop for the hungry and thirsty cyclist. The village name Setenil de las Bodegas originates from the Latin term 'Septem nihill' meaning seven and nothing as it took Isabel and Fernando 7 attempts to recapture Setenil from the Moors in 1482 and "de las Bodegas" due to the cave houses which also make excellent cellar type storage houses for the local wines. We then followed the Bandits Route back towards Ronda, via the Roman ruins of Acinipo at "Ronda la Vieja", before dropping 500m over the last few kilometres as the ride finishes on a rapidly descending jeep track all the way back into Montecorto village.

Day 2 Wednesday 16th July. Ahead of us is 32km of riding and virtually all of it on quality single track, life on a mountain bike doesn’t get much better. The single track is a perfect mix of fast undulating track that hugs the contour lines along the side of the Genal Valley, rocky climbs, drop offs, wood bridges crossing small ravines and descending naturally made steps that have been used for thousands of years by shepherds (and now MTB’ers) that are just wide enough to ride through without smacking the cranks or bottom bracket so long as you get the line exactly right.

Day 3 Thursday 17th July. Another fabulous day of Cross Country mountain biking with all the climbs on vehicle width jeep tracks and all the downhill on quality single track. We leave Ronda on a single track with amazing views of the sun rising above this old city and of its famous gorge, the single track continues downhill to the foot of the next valley before we start to climb up and over the Cueva del Gato. We shortly enter the Grazalema Natural Park where we cross a high plateaux at 1100m above sea level, which is surrounded by large limestone rock, before picking up a well hidden but excellent stretch of downhill single track through a forest of Holm oak.

Day 4 Friday 18th July. We are off early to climb the Sierra de Lijar in the shade but unfortunately Julian has 3 punctures in the first 2 kilometres which sets us back almost an hour and makes our climb rather hot work. We are rewarded for our efforts with 30 minutes of downhill single track which is fully loaded with switch backs, drop offs and more fast flowing track that brings us into the back of Algodonales village.

Day 5 Saturday 19th July. Back to the Sierra de Lijar, but this time we decide to take the van to the top and ride another superb 8 kilometres of single track down to the foot of the mountain. A few kilometres into the single track we stop at a viewing platform and look out across to the hilltop town of Olvera, in the valley below we see a Griffon Vulture riding a thermal as this most elegant of birds scourers the countryside in search of food. Back to the riding and the switch backs and drop offs are frequent and extremely tightly packed together. Once through this technical middle section we once again pick up some excellent flowing single track touching 40 kmph+ in places as we twist and turn between the natural contour of the mountain side, trees and some rather large rocks. What a blast. A short XC section and we are in the village of El Gastor, stopping for coffee and Danish pastries, another of my favourite cake shops, before the last stretch back to Montecorto.

Whilst Julian was here, Montecorto celebrated its annual Ferria so the week was a fine balance of great riding and traditional Andaluz celebrations. This is what Julian had to say about his mountain biking holiday with the Andalucian Cycling Experience ‘A fantastic MTB holiday. Set in a perfect location for XC and downhilling and in an idyllic Andalucian village – ‘no English pub food here!’ Ash & Claire can tailor a great cycling break for you and it's worth NOT going to theSierra Nevada and trying here instead. You will be back!!’

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