Following your arrival into Malaga airport we’ll transfer as a group to our first hotel in Granada city centre.

Granada is almost unrivalled for its beauty, architecture, and dramatic setting at the foot of the imposing Sierra Nevada. With the Alhambra towering above it, it’s a truly unforgettable city and the perfect location to start our gravel adventure. If time allows, we recommend taking in the mosaic-tiled and landscaped gardens of the Alhambra, to discover the culture and history of Spain’s Moorish rulers and admire their exotic architectural legacy.

As evening arrives, we suggest taking in a Zambra flamenco show in Granada’s Roma quarter, Sacramonte, paired with some traditional tapas; one of the best ways to see the city and really take in its atmosphere.

Worth noting! We don’t include a visit to the Alhambra in the holiday cost, so to fully appreciate this magnificent building and the city itself, we recommend arriving a day or two early to take in the city.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 1220 Metres Approx.

We’ll set out on our first ride past the Alhambra and Generalife, high above the Darro river. The views are magnificent across the Albycin and south to the towering Sierra Nevada.

We’ve got some great quality gravel tracks to enjoy this morning as we climb and contour into the wonderfully craggy, pine-clad Sierra de Huetor, before a long descent into the Aguas Bravas valley for our picnic lunch. Our local team will put together a delicious selection, full of local produce, as we relax next to the deep blue Embalse de Quentar.

Re-fuelled, some fast kms on asphalt will lead us to the climb of the day, on smooth trails taking us back into the Sierra.

Heading north the scenery changes, becoming more arid, as we begin to descend into the Hoyo de Guadix, characterised by huge clay cliffs and dramatic formations formed through millennia of erosion. The area, known as the ´Badlands´ was gifted to the moors after their ultimate defeat at the hands of the catholic kings, Isabel and Fernando in 1492, and was thought to be uninhabitable. They however, built cave houses, terraced and irrigated the land and still today many people of the area still live in the cave houses.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 1630 Metres Approx.

The second day of our gravel adventure sees us climbing up and above the magnificent desert landscape against the backdrop of the enormous snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada. We’ll be traversing vast forests on the northern flanks of the Sierra, meandering on forestry tracks and crossing beautiful barrancos gushing with icy water.

On the plains below we’ll pass the castle-topped town of La Calahorra, and Jerez del Marquesado, nestled at the bottom of the dramatic Barranco Alcazar.

In the afternoon, we’ll cross over into Almería province, just below the Ragua Pass and take on a never-ending descent down into the Huenejo valley, passing ancient irrigation channels to our beautifully isolated accommodation for the evening.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 710 Metres Approx.

A big breakfast today as we’ve a long ride ahead! To ease us in, there’s plenty of downhill and easy kms as we drop onto the edge of the plains that offer views to the far north of Andalucia.

Staying low between the Sierra and the arid plains we head into the only true desert in Europe, the Desierto de Tabernas. Famed as being the location where the ´Spagetti Westerns´ were filmed, there are even some filmsets that still exist as museums in celebration of the western film genre.

These so called Badlands are characterised by their complicated topology and the deep ravines or Ramblas that become torrents in torrential rains! The route undulates on fabulous smooth sandy trails to reach the town of Tabernas beneath the imposing Sierra Alhamilla.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 970 Metres Approx.

Today we’ll be heading out across the craggy Sierra Alhamilla on a thrilling ride through isolated trails. We’ll be high up, passing the medicinal waters of the Alhamilla, topping out at the Colativa view point at 1387m above sea level. The views are far-reaching for 360 degrees with the Mediterranean to the south and endless sierras to the north.

The descent is varied, smooth with technical sections to test your handling skills. Over a 1000m of fun descending awaits, passing the ancient mining hamlet of Huebro, tucked under looming dark orange rocks.

Accommodation for the night is close to the white hillside village of Nijar, the last mountain settlement before reaching the Mediterranean.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 1020 Metres Approx.

The morning is full of easy pedal strokes that gently warm us up for the fun day ahead. Skirting the Sierras and the volcanic coastal ranges of the Cabo de Gata Natural park we’ll take on short climbs and descents as the vegetation turns to Mediterranean scrub.

Cactus and Agave are abundant as we pass many plastic green houses, full of tomatoes and peppers, for the northern European supermarkets.

The trail switches between slick sand based tracks and asphalt until we reach the dramatic Cabo de Gata coastline at Agua Amarga for lunch.

The afternoon will be filled with fun as we hit some singletrack and trails before a final decent down to the pretty fishing enclave of Las Negras, hemmed in by delicate volcanic rock formations.

An optional final pedal along the clifftops towards the isolated Cala San Pedro for terrific views and maybe a dip in the big blue would be a great way to end the day.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 680 Metres Approx.

The last day of our adventure is a pure celebration of gravel riding, as we follow the coast and contours of the sierras of the Cabo de Gata. First we’ll take a single-track onto the agave lined Playazo, a gorgeous sweep of white sand guarded by a Castillo de San Ramon.

Passing Rodalquilar along silky smooth sandy tracks we’ll ride through ancient gold mines and past landscapes used in the Indiana Jones films as we descend to the picturesque harbour town of San Jose for a well-deserved lunch.

The afternoon trail is simply magnificent, passing interesting rock formations, white sand coves, and tall cacti with the deep blue Mediterranean always in view on our left. After the Faro (lighthouse) of Cabo de Gata the trail drops down to sea level and hugging the lagoon of the same name we are likely to see flamingos, heads deep in sand!

The final Kms are easy and celebratory as the route follows just behind the beach to the Capital of the province, Almería, looked over by its 10th century fortress, a great place to celebrate the end of our Badlands gravel adventure.

• Meals: Breakfast

After a relaxing breakfast it’s time to pack those bags one last time and head to Almeria airport for flights home.