UPDATE: TransAndalus off-road cycle route

andymiller

The TransAndalus is a 2000 km long off-road expedition/mountainbike route which makes a complete circuit of Andalucía. Up until now the website was only available in Spanish but now a lot of it has been translated into English. The English section of the site includes (free) detailed maps and GPS tracks as well as FAQs and photos etc.

http://www.transandalus.org/index.php?lang=en

From the website:

"To give you an idea of the beauty of the route, one need only list some of the precious natural scenery through which it passes: Cabo de Gata, Karst de Yesos en Sorbas, Sierra de Baza, Cazorla, Despeñaperros, Andújar, Cardeña and Montoro, Sierra Norte, Aracena and Picos de Aroche, Doñana, El Estrecho, Los Alcornocales, Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama, Sierra Nevada. Not to mention the outstandingly precious environments of el Valle de Los Pedroches, la Sierra de los Filabres and la Sierra de Gádor.

The TransAndalus is a project made possible by the cyclists of Andalucía, who by means of volunteers and communicating together over the internet have collaborated together, contributing information about the sections in their respective provinces. We hope that you enjoy your cycle tour in Andalucía".

[Note to moderators: this is very much a non-commercial venture].

Cass Gilbert

this looks great. any idea when the route books will be translated into English?

andymiller

Pretty soon. They are finalising a revised Spanish text and then the translators will be set to work. I'm hoping to see something I can start work on this week.

So at a guess early in the New Year - at least for some sections. If you're interested I could PM you when I know a bit more.

pieterv

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the info.

As is happens we are going to Albunuelas (which is on the route) in just over a week's time.

Would you happen to know if we can hire mountain bikes anywhere near?

Thanks,

Pieter

andymiller

Pieter - I'm sorry I'm afraid I don't know. The RoadBook for this section of the route only lists two shops, but a Google search turned up a couple of bike hire places in Malaga:

http://www.cyclo-point.com/rentabike.html

http://www.goodbikes.org/nuevo/index.php

Have a good trip.

megilleland

In the Spanish yellow pages there are four shops which offer cycle hire facilities - 2 in Granada, 1 in Motril and 1 in Armilla.

For addresses see here:

pieterv

Great. Thanks for your help.

andymiller

Cass (and everyone else!)

The roadbooks for Córdoba, Sevilla, Huelva, Cádiz, and Málaga are now on the website
TransAndalus website. Translations of the Almería and Granada guides are also available by contacting the project. These are translations of the text with no diagrams, maps or profiles so you need to read them alongside the Spanish versions to get the full benefit - I hope English versions of all the guides will be on the website before too long.[/url]

Cass Gilbert

Hi Andy,

Thanks for all that info. I'd be really up for riding a part of the route in April or May. Any recommendations for a section that could be comfortably covered in a couple of weeks? Also, how technical is the riding? A friend might come along, who road rides rather than mtbs.

Thanks,

Cass

andymiller

HI Cass

I have to confess I've never done the TransAndalus myself - I've been ill, so the translations have been partly research and partly displacement activity.

Most of the off-road sections are on 'pistas' - dirt roads and doubletrack. Most of the route is rated as either easy or average difficulty, the onlypretty much all of the difficult bits are in the province of Málaga.

(see here: http://www.transandalus.org/tramos/Viso ... Dificultad).

I'll ask for specific recommendations from people who know the route. One issue to consider would be where you would be flying to, and logistics of getting from there to the route. If you're going for a couple of weeks I'm assuming you want to do sections of the route that are reasonably near to an airport.

Seville and Jerez airports have reasonably easy access to the provinces of Huelva and Cádiz (the roadbooks for these are already on the website). Almería would also be a possibility (the route goes past he runway) and would offer the possibility of heading into the mountains as well as riding along the coast. Málaga maybe wouldn't be such a good choice because it is has the most technically difficult sections.

BTW I did reply to the PM you sent me ages ago - very belatedly because I almost never go to the main page of the forum, so I didn't realise it was there.

Cass Gilbert

Thanks Andy,

I'm wondering if it's possible to do a section, and then get a train/bus back to the start point?

Or fly into one section, and fly out of another? Into Elmeria and out of Granada, for instance? Into Huelva and out of Cadiz?

But I really like the look most of Cordoba, which seems beginner-friendly, and really nice backcountry riding from the photos. Using Malaga or even Madrid as a hub, and catching a train to the beginning and end, might be an option.

Will let you know what I come up with.

Thanks again,

Cass

andymiller

Cass

I've been working on a Google Map showing points on the route with public transport links. As you will see the public transport links are much sparser on the northern part of the route.

If you PM me your email I'll send you a note I've done on getting to the route by public transport - unfortunately there are lots of restrictions on taking bikes on trains in Spain.

If you wanted to do a beginner-friendly route that allowed you to either do an open-jaw flight or use public transport links then Huelva and Cádiz are probably the best bets - but Córdoba would be do-able by coach. The problem with Madrid is that it's virtually impossible to take bikes on long distance trains: so it would mean either a coach or car hire (although a sleeper might be a possibility).

Map of the RENFE Andalucía network:

andymiller

And update on my last update. The English translations of the guides for the whole of the route are now available on the website.