A moderate to difficult mountain biking track that starts and ends in Rincon de la Victoria. It provides a great introduction to Malaga city’s coast line and the Montes de Malaga. The route is tough going, with no water and some steep climbs.
I’d avoid doing it in the summer months, unless leaving very early. And bring plenty of water.
[envira-gallery id=”826″]
The first section is very straightforward and follows the paseo maritimo (coastal pathway) into Malaga city. You can follow the hardened sand tracks that run parallel to the paseo for most of the route.
I went on the road for a few kilometers when arriving at El Palo. The paseo maritimo can get very busy here. After leaving El Palo and Pedregalejo you quickly drop onto one of Malaga’s only official cycle paths which leads into the Malagueta. Just before the port, you take a right and cut through the city, going through Ciudad Jardin and towards the botanical gardens.
Things start to get more difficult from here. This is where you turn upwards into the Montes de Malaga, the Malaga mountains and keep climbing. The replanted pine forest that overlook the city is often referred to as Malaga’s lungs. You’ll need good lungs to get to the top!
Keep following this track upwards, eventually coming out onto a road. There’s another 5kms of road, always climbing upwards. After 5kms you take a path on the right that goes back into the woods. This is a very fast (and fun) track that drops down onto the Arroyo (river) Jaboneros.
You cross over the river and start climbing steeply. At 34kms, the track becomes private property. There’s a chain and a sign stating that it’s a “Coto de Caza,” a private hunting reserve. You have two options here, you can pick up your bike and carry it through the woods for about 400m, until getting back onto the public path, or you can take your chances and cross over the private property.
The track below crosses the private property. This option added a lot of accumulated height onto the ride (a lot more than I expected!), you go down steeply and have to come back up. The terrain is very difficult here, steep and loose rock.
When you get back to the top, keep following the same track as it climbs into the mountains, you climb over the villages of Olias, El Morche and eventually drop onto the village of Totalán – after about a 10kms descent through the mountains.
I arrived at Totalán just as the sun was setting, you could take the river bed back down to the coast and La Cala del Moral, I took the road back at this stage.
Leave a Reply