Bikepacking : Fun in the Costa del Sol

Just before Christmas we both had a week off work and last minute decided to go on a bikepacking trip. The flights to Malaga were really cheap and I convinced Paul the trip would be as cheap as going up to Scotland! So we booked flights and then found the GR249 http://www.gransendademalaga.es/en/. and quickly downloaded the route on our Garmins and viewranger, packed up our bikes and set off.

Landing in Malaga we took the local train to Torremolinos, built up our bikes at the campsite and set off cruising along the promenades. The trail was classified as a 'footpath', with many sections being suitable for riding, however Paul does love a 'hike-a-bike' through thick bushes up rocky trails which the trail delighted us with. My love of gauze bushes came flooding back. This was an amazing trip with a variety of trails and views from the coastline to rugged mountains to olive groves, to salt lakes, to amazing cliffs of rock.... often sprinkled with picturesque and historical white towns/villagers. We were never short of interesting villagers to stop in, soak up the atmoshpere, eat delicious food in and find a comfortable bed for the night. Yes that's true, due to mixed weather on this trip (any excuse) we spent a few nights enjoying the local accommodation - luxury!

Would I recommend this as a bikepacking route? Yes, but a little more research into each section would be advisable and plan alternative routes for some of the more (technical) unrideable up and down sections. eg Marbella to Ojen - the track never appeared, carrying and pushing your bike through tight bushy, rocky singletrack for 8 miles gets a bit tedious. Esteponia to Marbella - a large chuck is riding on the sand dunes, we did a bit and then quickly detoured onto the roads.

We soon learnt that sometimes the easier flatter sections can be the hardest! Due to the amount of rain Spain had recieved in weeks before, unfortunately the usual beautiful sandy olive groves had become muddy tracks and the soil in the fields had become thick, gooey CLAY! Yes after carrying our bikes laden with clay across fields, cleaning them for 20 minutes to repeat the process again and again we finally took a lovely road detour to the next section whilst being splatted with slowly drying clay. Due to time we did have to miss out a few sections but hopefully one day we will be back in the area to try these out!

A great adventure was still had, with loads of amazing tracks and singletracks. Enjoy the pictures and start making plans for 2017. We are!

Day 1 - Torremolinos - Nerja