Tarifa to Estepona to Ronda to Jaén

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It’s only an hour east and 73 km from Tarifa to Estepona, but we managed to again make a day of it by going the long way. This means riding west and we initially took a small road north, but after 40 km it was blocked with a gate with only access to residents. Our destination is 26 km up this gravel road, but it’s 100 km to go around.

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From here we started on the small roads. This first half was very curvy, but the road surface was pretty poor. We stopped for lunch south of Ubique at a restaurant with at least 40 bikes out front.

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The road after lunch was even more curvy, but smooth. The road down the mountain from Jubrique was like a corkscrew. We have rented a small house in the historic Center in one of our favourite small towns in Spain.

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Estepona is a seaside town with a very attractive old town. The streets are cobbled and the houses are white. Down each narrow road the houses display clay flower pots hanging on the walls and wash strew has a colour theme.

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Watch the video HERE
Today we will ride back up the mountain on a mostly different route and our destination is Ronda with its famous bridge.

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We got a tip from a long time resident while we had coffee in Glenalguacil who told us how to find the back way on the old Roman road to see the bridge from below. After lunch here we took the shorter way down in the main road that is still very curvy. There are so many bikes on these roads on weekend they have helicopters and drones for radar.

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Watch the video HERE

Today there has been an announcement of a severe weather warning. After the terrible flooding and almost 200 deaths in Valencia last month the authorities are being very cautious. All the digital road signs read extreme rain warning Wednesday. Because of this we will leave Estepona early and ride east and north to Jaén, which is out of the main area of risk. This is only 300 km and mostly on secondary roads. For the last 150 km there were olive trees as far as the eye could see in every direction.

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IMG_6763 IMG_6768 IMG_6771 IMG_6774 IMG_6775 IMG_6779 IMG_6782The storm did finally materialize, but here there was just fairly heavy rain all day and the temperature dropped from 20 to 12 degrees. We were happy to avoid the evacuations and flooding near the coast. Dan had a hot tip from the barber and we braved the rain to get to the restaurant. We are lucky we arrived and got the last unreserved table. The fried scallions and the grilled chorizo were amazing.
IMG_6792IMG_6797Since we were out a coffee and cake seemed like a good idea too.
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Watch the video HERE

 

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One Response to Tarifa to Estepona to Ronda to Jaén

  1. Bernd Grümer says:

    Hi, you both!
    Thank you very much for your wonderful Tour reports! It is so fantastic to follow you both!
    I wish you a mery christmas and healty good new year 2025 with a lot of new an good expiriences! All the best for You!
    Warmest Regards from good old Germany!
    Bernd

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