Trevelez Gorge

Today we headed over to a village called Busquistar, below it is Trevelez Gorge. We’d seen a couple of tempting looking trails on the opposite hill whilst out riding above Bubion a few times. The two trails formed perfect zig-zags down an unbelievably steep hill, almost a cliff, down to the bottom of Trevelez Gorge. Sue had ridden these in the past; she had pushed up the right hand path and ridden down the left. We decided to incorporate these into a loop. We rode from just outside Busquistar down to the right hand zig-zags. The trail down to them was awesome in itself, with a mix of big rock slabs, cobbled sections and gravely single-track. It was excellent fun, but before we knew it we had reached the bottom of the gorge, and the only way now was up.

From below we were unable to see the trail beyond the first couple of zig-zags, and it looked near impossible that anything went up the hill-side at all. Once pushing though surprisingly easy going, and because of all the zig-zags the gradient never became unbearable. After no time at all we had gained a fair bit of height, it was strange seeing the trail unfold below in layers. Before long we were at the top and had a quick slog up the road before joining a piece of single track that dropped us down into Notaez. Again the trail head gave nothing away, and if anything looked although the trail would peter out into olive groves. As they say ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’, this couldn’t have been further from the truth. The trail started off smooth and then disappeared behind an overhanging bush before getting ultra-technical with washed out rocky steps, cobbled switchbacks and later opening up into fast and flowy stuff before spitting you out in the picturesque, sleepy little village of Notaez.

After a quick search for a venta (café) to no avail we continued out of Noteaz and headed straight down on a trail sunken between meadows. I could feel my back tyre getting soft so I couldn’t appreciate this section to the full. It finished with a steep gravel slope and the trail winding its way between cacti and dropping us down into a dry river bed. After a quick munch and puncture repair stop we headed up the road back towards Notaez again but turning off for a place called Almeijar. Searching for a venta in Almejiar we had no luck again and carried on with the ride. On the map there looked to be a nice dirt track leading back to the top of the hill, saving us from having to ride on the road to the top. We must have ridden for a good 5km up this dirt track, steeply in places, only to reach a farm and the owners telling us there’s no access. So back down to the tarmac road we went with the best part of an hour lost and much of out energy gone too.

There was only one way for it, up the road we went. It was a fair old grind to the top, and I was only too happy to round a corner and discover our turn off was closer than I had pictured in my head. Turning left off the road lead us back to the top of the zig-zags we had pushed up earlier in the day. Armoured up and getting ready, I looked across the gorge only to spot the van was actually higher than we were. My heart sank as I had completely forgotten about the steep ride/ push out. Ah well, forget that for now, there was hundreds of switchback lying ahead. The trail was cobbled for most of the way, switch backing every few metres. The switchbacks were so tight in places so that riding these with a big drop in front definitely sent the pulses racing. I’d been using the technique of endoing the back end up and round on the tighter switchbacks but here it was a different story, not a place you’d want to take a trip over the bars that’s for certain. This trail was epic, not by being overly technical but just down to the exposure on what felt like a cliff side.