Ok, so I have been telling people I'm going to do it "one day soon" for nearly two years! I look out on it (or rather up to it) from my office window. I have driven over it, walked around it and up it.. I have even looked down on it from the Coros side and the Pinar side but I have never ridden a bicycle to it... El Puerto de las Palomas. "The Doves Gateway" is the mountain pass on the road from Grazalema to Zahara de la Sierra and yes, I finally did it!

It wouldn't have happened without the help... Help? of my new found friends from the Andalucian Cycling Experience.. After a relaxing summer afternoon around the picnic table in the garden I looked up towards the peak of Coros and possibly made the mistake of asking if I could use one of the ACE bikes to carry out my plan of "doing las palomas" I should have known better when I saw the twinkle in Ashley’s eyes and a couple of days later a bike got delivered to my house....

A few days passed as I slowly plucked up the courage to have a go at this, quite frankly, daunting idea. I haven't been on a bike for 10 years or more but a few turns around the garden got my spirits up... Down to the gate and back was easy... How hard could it be? I am reasonably fit although I now seem to spend far too much time sitting here at this computer than hiking the amazing hills of the Sierra de Grazalema. And of course there is the beer... I tried to add up the previous year’s beer consumption in litres and gave up because I felt it would be bad for my moral.... I figured my dogged determination would help so long as I could keep my heart rate under 200!

So it went like this...

At 6.30AM I left the house and attacked the first hill which starts outside my gate... It's steep and I reckon I got about halfway up it (50 metres) before I had to get off and push the bike. I was Ok about this as this track really is seriously steep. Ashley had told me to turn right at the road and coast down to the top end of the Zahara lake then skirt the lake and climb the road from Zahara to Grazalema... Perhaps it was my pounding heart from the first 100 metres that made me forget or possibly my determination to "do it my own way" (sometimes referred to as stubbornness) but I turned left and headed up the Gaidovar valley towards Grazalema... I thought that a bit of a climb would get me "warmed up"... I got about half a Km when I needed to stop for my first real breather... I realised that I was actually going slower than if I walked! This was going to take a long time. The gears on the bike would go no lower and although my legs were going around quite quickly the forward motion was negligible... Not used to pedalling my legs got tired quite quickly but I found that if I switched between walking with the bike and then pedalling as far as I could I found I got into a bit of a rhythm. I got to the camping of Grazalema at 07.50. I must confess I cheated a bit because instead of taking the main road that skirts around and above the village I took the short cut through. I had to push the bike from the main square to the camp site car park though as it was just too steep for me to ride up...Also I think that people may have called an ambulance if they had seen my bright red face and me puffing (or should I say gasping) up through the village.

I was a bit concerned now as the sun was out and heating things up. I figured that the next leg up to the Puerto de las Palomas was going to be hot and hard. What surprised me was that this bit was easier. I had to walk the bike a few times but I spent most of the time pedalling so was quite pleased with myself. I could see the puerto up ahead and I was content knowing that it would be me who would be the first cyclist over the mountain on this morning... For who else is mad enough to get up at 6 am to do this I thought knowingly to myself? 200 metres before the puerto with me pedalling away as hard as I could and telling myself that I was not going to stop till I get to the top a lone cyclist came over at high speed. As he passed I looked for sweat on his brow and there wasn't any... The guy had just done 10 KM of uphill from the Zahara side was travelling like the wind and wasn't even sweating... And to top it all I just "knew" that it had only taken him less than an hour so he probably didn't have to get up at 6AM!

A couple of minutes later I was there! It's hard to explain my feelings of satisfaction, I have been to Puerto de las Palomas a hundred times but this was different. If my eyes could have looked the distance I could have seen my empty office chair and idle computer, through the window all the way down in the Gaidovar valley. I had actually cycled here under my own steam and experienced one of the most stunning sunrises I have ever seen. A group of Spanish Ibex were on the hillside just 30 metres from me and beautiful butterflies were on the wing. Griffon vultures soared over my head as they left the Garganta Verde for a days food searching. Luckily I had been going slow enough to see and experience these things....

The downhill stretch was incredible. I guess it is about 10 KM to Zahara de la Sierra from the puerto and I think I made it quite quickly but I was a bit worried about the brakes...They smelled of hot rubber and I vaguely wondered if they would melt. The speed that it is possible to attain on the downhill is quite scary but definitely exhilarating. I have heard that there are companies that will take you in a van to the top of a hill so that you can just coast down to the bottom but I would have not enjoyed that at all. It was the fact that I had struggled up to the puerto using my own energy and determination that made the downhill section so enjoyable... I found my wrists aching a bit and my backside was at this point asking for a soft cushion... I rolled into the lower end of Zahara de la Sierra at 09.20 and sat down at bar Al Lago for a well earned coffee and toasted Mollette (A kind of round flat bread) and looked back up the road I had just come down... Simply amazing...

At 09.40 I set off again back the way I had arrived but then took the small road down to the lake at the Arroyomolinos junction. The road is fairly level here all the way to the far end of the lake and finally I was able to change the gears on the bike a little higher. I think I flew along the lake road but in reality I am sure I wasn’t. The wind, however was rushing in my ears so I must have been going at a fair lick...As it was a flat road I tried to push myself a bit here and although my breathing was Ok I started to feel a bit of an ache in the backs of my legs. At the bridge before the turning for Grazalema I stopped and walked for a hundred metres or so. Another 3 KM to get back to my house with most of it uphill. For me this last 3 KM was the hardest part of the ride. I suppose it's not that steep but I was tired, the sun was hot on my back. I had to walk the bike no less than four times coming up the last 2 Km but I got home eventually. The time was 10.51

It had taken me 4 hours of riding and walking to get around the circuit of about 40 Km. that any self respecting cyclist could do in less than half the time. But, for me the ride wasn't a time trial, just something I have wanted to do for ages. I suppose that now I will have to do it again but in the opposite direction. Having come down from the puerto to Zahara this is quite a scary thought and I fear I would again spend a lot of time walking with the bike. But what an incredible morning I just had so why not do it again? Maybe a few days rest first though......

If you haven't cycled in the Sierra de Grazalema and you like cycling there is a lot to offer., the scenery is simply stunning and the roads are exhilarating to say the least. Well, they certainly took my breath away!

I generally spend my time walking and studying the wildlife in the Sierras and this was a nice change for me. But, at  this time of year the main prioroty is to stay safe.  Wherever you go, whether on foot or two wheels make sure you take plenty of water with you, a hat and sun cream... have a look at Ashleys article on Safety whilst riding in the Sierras

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