Ruta de la Pasa

The route

The ruta de la pasa, or the route of the raisin, honors the town of Moclinejo, that like so many other towns is a whitewhased Moorish town, perched on a hill in the countryside, surrounded by vines that produce the famous sweet Moscatel wines, and raisin trees. It is a fairly easy route that goes along the coast towards Nerja and does a loop via Moclinejo, Almáchar, and Veléz-Málaga. There’s one climb that, for once, just goes up steadily without sudden changes in gradient.

 

You start the route in Málaga and head eastwards until you’re at the third set of traffic lights in Rincón de la Victoria, where you go left to Benagalbón. You’re on urban roads for a bit until you go under the bridge, where you start to climb your way up. The actual climb to Moclinejo doesn’t start until you’ve left Benagalbón, but this counts as going uphill and there are a few tough sections around 10%, but nothing serious to be worried about.

 

At the hairpin corner just outside of Benagalbón is where the climb starts and butter-smooth tarmac with ample of space for cars to give you a wide birth. It’s a winding road with gentle gradients that typically hover between 5% and 8% for 7 km or so. As you’re not going very high, the views don’t reach that far; you can only see the other side of the hillside and the tiny village of El Valdes, but the views are still absolutely worth the effort.

 

Upon entering of Moclinejo, you’re rewarded with 100m of downhill before you hit a steep ramp again to leave Moclinejo. But before that you can ride through the archway of the village and find your way through the narrow roads to a cafe.

 

The brief intermission gives way for a short but steep ramp, after which you reach a plateau and the snaking road takes you towards Almáchar. At the highest point of the climb, you get a spectacular viewpoint of the Axarquia with the impressive La Maroma mountain.

 

The descent is steep. Very steep. If you are going to do the loop the reverse way, this is what awaits you.

Think twice before you tackle the loop via Almáchar

 

Luckily, it’s not a technical descent and the corners are predictable so can get some speed and not touch your brakes all the time. It’s a short descent and you’ll be focused because of the gradient to relax, and you’ll be in Almáchar in no time.

 

There are a few bumps on the road from Almachar to Veléz-Málaga, but they’re short and not too difficult, so you should be able to appreciate your surroundings. As you’re nearing Veléz-Málaga, traffic increases and the roads deteriate in quality. And riding through Veléz-Málaga and the adjacent Torre del Mar aren’t the most enjoyable kilometers you’ll have in your life. But it’s almost inevitable so you just have to put up with it. Same with the coast road that will take you back to the province’s capital, which in theory should be a piece of cake, but the wind often blows in the wrong direction, so you may have 30 more difficult kilometers ahead of you.

Fueling up

If you’re in a hurry, there’s a fuente at the entrance of Moclinejo. There are many cafeterías on route in Veléz-Málaga and Torre del Mar, so you should have absolutely no problem finding a spot for a coffee break.