Lecrin Valley Loop
- The Goldilocks of our loops. Not too big, not too small, just the perfect mid-week ride in the Sierra Nevada.
The Lecrin Valley loop strings together a lot of our favourite local climbs, descents and Pueblos Blancos. The loop is a combination of two other routes in the route book: La Venta and Around the Reservoir.
This route gets straight into the action with the Los Guájares climb to the Torre de la Cabada (Barley Tower) before twisting back down the mountain to the town known for its churches, orange trees and olive pressing, Pinos del Valle. Right before the town, at kilometre 24.5, there is a fountain for water on the left hand side of the road which the locals are always seen filling their bottles up at for the week.
After passing through Restébal, Talará and Béznar, you will head up a pretty short and steady climb to Lanjarón, the town of eternal youth! Lanjarón is recognised by the World Health Organisation as having the highest life expectancy in the world, this makes it a pretty good place to fill your bottles and stop for a tostada. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find one of the 23 water fountains as they each have their own poem written on the wall beside the spout.
After descending towards the gateway to the Alpujarras, Órgiva, you will understand why it is so well known for its multiple ‘alternative communities’, with the most famous being Beneficio which is between Órgiva and nearby town of Cáñar. After crossing the bridge at the bottom of town, you will begin stair stepping back down towards Velez with some very fast and fun sections of road.