GR7 - Trevelez to Bubion

Sue and Jim decided to go off and ride the previous day’s route in the opposite direction to see if it was any better. I was given the task of following the GR7 from Trevelez to Bubion and taking notes for the route description. Sue had ridden this route a few days previously while I had a day off. Although she got snowed on Sue spoke highly of the riding but also of getting lost a couple of times and doing 10km too many. The day’s weather looked promising with only a handful of dodgy clouds breaking up the blue sky. I was dropped off at the top of the dirt track, to save me the initial climb, and got ready. The trail start was vague and is apparently where Sue got lost previous. As I rounded the side of this cow shed the trail became obvious as it started dropping in a straight line down a wide ridge. It bounced its way through a couple of fields before ducking of rightward into the trees. Here it got even better as it dropped steeply and began switch backing. Once at the bottom I was in the heart of a gully, from which I had to push back out to the top. It was a beast of a push and I couldn’t help thinking it would have been awesome to be riding down it.

After a short traverse on dirt track it was back onto single track, and a brilliant piece of single track it was too. It was reminiscent of a man-made XC trail, undulating across the hillside, with a feel of the Alps, green grass, cows and pine trees. It continued on for what must have been almost 10km traversing the hill, slowly dropping giving the momentum needed to blast up the short sharp climbs. The descent into Busquistar was brilliant, even the dirt track downhill stretch was bouncy and so much fun. This route definitely felt like you were on a journey. I guess it’s the fact that you’re heading from A to B made it feel like a mission in a way. Even at a relatively short 25km it didn’t half tire me out with well over a 1000m of climbing. This definitely had a true cross-country ride feel with endless single track sections, it’s just a shame that a lift is needed to be able to ride it.