Giving up on a hike or ride in the mountains, we rode to Almuñécar from the campsite on Wednesday 3 April. After a more successful morning French polishing at the workshop for Steve, we took the steep Calle Real out of la Herradura then raced down the bends of the ‘Urbanisation de Cotobro’ to Playa Cotobro. This is the next bay round from Marina del Este which we decided not to visit as it would involve two more steep climbs, since there’s no route along the shoreline.
Found an excellent restaurant, la Caña on the beach for an early lunch. We chose ‘migas’ not really knowing what it was – the waiter explained that theirs is ‘the best’ and we tended to agree . . . need to find a good recipe for this interesting dish to use leftover bread. Rode on from Cotobro all along the beach road to Almuñécar and a little further on to Velilla-Taramay. Rather than ride back up the steep bends of Cotobro, we returned via the main N-340, a much steadier climb (if a little busy with evening commuter traffic) and finished up on the old road. This winds up over the tunnel which now takes the N-340 under Punta de la Mona headland. Finished off racing back down into la Herradura just before the sun went down. An excellent circular route, steady climbs, great long flat along the shoreline and ace downhills: 16 miles with 2,000’ of ascent.
Whilst out on the bikes yesterday, Albert called offering Steve a guitar lesson in the morning. Having found out where he lived, it would have taken over 40 minutes to walk (carrying two guitars) and there was no bus. We decided to go up in the van to his apartment on Punta de la Mona . . . he made us both most welcome and Bev sat on the terrace in the sunshine admiring the view down to Marina del Este, Cotobro and Almuñécar. We decided to drive down to the Marina, but found it was pretty deserted again. Glad we didn’t ride down on the bikes yesterday! Steve spent the afternoon doing more French polishing.