Travel

The views around the El Chorro gorge are spectacularly distracting

- More on cycling
- MTB Glossary

Southern Spain has been a magnet for British tourists for several decades, but while most head straight for the beaches, a growing minority of two-wheeled visitors are heading inland from the airport instead for the hills.

Spain is Europe's most mountainous country, and Andalucia is the most mountainous region of Spain - boasting the highest peaks on the mainland and the stunning El Chorro gorge.

And it's the latter that forms the dramatic centrepiece of the riding offered by Seasonally UNadjusted, one of a handful of (mostly Brit-run) travel companies offering mountain biking holidays in the mountains of southern Spain.

Based in the scenic village of Alora, UNadjusted is run by Jim deBank and partner Heather Gilfillan Smith.

They usually offer weekend breaks or week-long holidays, but I took time out from my touring holiday and joined Jim for a half-day ride to get a flavour of the what the area has to offer for mountain bikers.

Many riders take their own bikes out from the UK, but Jim lent me one of his mid-range aluminium front suspension bikes. I was privately sceptical that the bike would be able to cope with the rugged Spanish hills, but he was quite right that it was more than enough for the terrain.

We started by driving up above El Chorro village, where we left the van to ride up an access track through stepped olive groves, before peeling off onto a dusty path through the trees.

Switchback turns are commonplace in Spain

The first portion of our ride was an improvised mixture of twisty, dusty, swoopy trails with a series of switchback turns and short climbs - with fantastic views across to the sheer wall of the gorge.

The riding was fast, fun and flowing - a mishmash of goat tracks, footpaths and vehicle access tracks plucked from the mental bank of local trails Jim has built up over the six years he has been based in the area.

For those of you who have been to purpose-built mountain bike trails in Britain, the first part of our ride was probably equivalent to the red routes you might have ridden in Scotland or Wales.

- Page two