Calar Alto

The route

The climb to Almogía via the old road up via the lake is one of the most enjoyable in the area. The only other road leading up to Almogía is one of the toughest, so when planning your route, make sure to follow the road with the many twists and turns on the west side of the lake.

 

Getting out of town to the west is hallmarked by the world’s worst aligned traffic lights. Unless you ride very fast, you’ll have to do a lot of stopping and starting. The Avenida de Carlos Haya is a busy avenue, but it’s got two lanes going in each direction, and the first lane as anywhere else is reserved for cyclists, scooters, buses, and other slow-moving traffic. Not that the locals pay much attention to that, but at least it’s an attempt to make up for the complete lack of cycle lanes.

 

You can follow this road until you get to Puerto de La Torre, and eventually to the roundabout and the ramp off the highway. This road takes a little detour via slightly quieter roads that avoid riding through Puerto de La Torre’s center, and it converges with the main road near the Aldi supermarket.

 

Once you’ve gone straight after the big roundabout, you’re almost done with urban riding. Up until this point, you’ve done nothing but climb, but you’ll be flying down through a little settlement. When you see the training ground of El Torcal driving school, a fun ride finally awaits you. The road is undulating for the next few kilometers and rather pleasant with nice views over the small valley. When you reach the Venta la Tinaja, go left at the crossroads. You can go right too, see alternative routes for more information.

 

When you cross the iron bridge, the actual climb to Almogía begins. The first kilometers are the hardest and it eases off towards the end. On the way you’ll have views of the dam of Casasola and the lake, and you might share the road with goats and the occasional boars passing by. It’s a steady 7 kilometer ride to Almogía, which welcomes you with spectacular views, a podium for cyclists and a water source to fill up your bottles. Or you head to the village and stop for a coffee in the one of the cafeterías along the way. After Almogía, there’s no chance to stock up until you get to Villanueva de La Concepción.

 

The only road north keeps going up until the urbanización of El Curato, after which the terrain changes drastically. The typical Andalucian countryside gives way for a spectacular plateau with marvelous views of the area, including the famous El Torcal natural park. It’s constant up and down until you reach Villanueva de La Concepción, the final frontier for mere mortal cyclist. Go any further than Villanueva and you’re in for a monster ride.

 

One of those monsters that you could conquer from is the climb of El Torcal that leads to Antequera, and go round the natural park back to La Joya and Villanueva, or soldier on to Valle de Abdalajís. The latter is subject of the El Torcal route. A second monster also leaves from Villanuvea, the Puerto del Barco with its fearsome 11% average for over 2 kilometers. This route wisely chooses the easy way out back to Arroyo Coche. At the fork, this route goes right and follows the shore lines of the lake, and will take you back to the crossroads right before the start of the climb to Almogía. At the fork in Arroyo Coche, you can stay on the main road that goes to Casabermeja, from where you could continue to Colmenar or head straight back home.

 

The loop around the lake is scenic and has little to no traffic on it, and yet the road surface is impeccable. At times, it seems that they just carved a road in the steep hills, and there are some steep dropoffs. On the flip side, you can take great pictures of this ribbon of tarmac that cuts through this empty bit of the Costa del Sol. You’ll be sharing the road mostly with chickens and dogs near the farm that’s pretty much on the road and not necessarily next to it.

 

As is almost always the case, the road is undulating, and it doesn’t stop until you near Málaga’s city center. On the main road to Puerto de La Torre, there are two steep bumps that really hurt when you’ve depleted your resources, but after that there are no more difficult bits and it’s mostly smooth sailing back home.

Alternative routes

There are only two roads leading up to Almogía, one of which can really be considered sensible. One has little traffic, fantastic views, many corners, pleasant gradients and great tarmac. The other has more traffic and is an absolute monster of a climb. On the way down to Almogía, there’s a section of -24%. This may sound appealing to the lunatics, so any reasonable cyclist will opt for the scenic route.

Once in Almogía, there’s also realistically one road going north to Villanueva de La Concepción. There’s an older, mostly disused road that connects with the road on the other side, but it’s more of the same insane gradients that will make you call for your mother. I may be exaggerating a little bit, but I’m not far off.

 

So really there are two choices: you go back the same way down and continue the journey, or you head straight to Villanueva de La Concepción. In Villanueva de La Concepción, as mentioned earlier, you have about three options: climb El Torcal (or the alternative ascent via La Joya), climb the Puerto del Barco, or to Arroyo Coche. In Arroyo Coche, the main road to Casabermeja is a succession of plateaus and steep ramps, and the climb continues to Patas Cortas, unless you decide to continue the journey along to the A-356 to Colmenar. The route via the Puerto del Barco also leads to Colmenar, but that route is much tougher, but it’s also more scenic, especially the part after yet another Villanueva, the miniscule Villanueva de Gauche.

 

This is what makes Almogía such an interesting starting point for a route. To Almogía and back is about 50 km and with 800m of elevation, already a decent ride. Once you’re in this white village, you can create your own loop, depending on how you’re feeling that day.

Fueling up

In each village you ride through, there is an abundance of cafeterías, and none of the patrons will bat an eye if another cyclist comes clacking in for a quick coffee stop. The villages are nicely spread out over the parcours and you’re never too far away from civilization, and it’s likely that at least one of the cafeterías will be open. There’s a supermarket in Almogía and Villanueva, and you could hop into the petrol station in Villanueva to buy some provisions, and have a chat with the curious and friendly locals.

 

Venta la Tinaja is strategically located at the fork where you can go left to Almogía and right towards Arroyo Coche and Villanueva or Casabermeja.

Tips

To repeat earlier advice: when drawing your route, double check whether the planner has selected the MA-3402 and not the other road leading to Almogía. You’re welcome.

 

If you have the opportunity, come in Spring. The valley is beautiful this time of year with green pastures and the jacaranda trees with their purple leaves blossoming