Marbella - Ronda - Marbella

This is the ride I'd point anyone towards if they want to escape the coast for a proper mountain day out of Marbella. 151.2 km and 2898 m of climbing, a loop with a clear shape: inland and up, lunch in Ronda, then a long grind home across the plateau before dropping back to the sea.

The climb to Ronda is my favourite in the area. Long, remarkably even, almost no traffic — the kind of gradient where you find a rhythm within the first kilometre and barely break it until the top. We had light drizzle hanging over the forest on the way up in March, and honestly it suited the mood: cork oaks dripping, tarmac dark and grippy, the Mediterranean haze slowly dropping away behind us. It's one of those climbs where the legs stay happy because the road never spikes.

At the top we gave in and became tourists for an hour. You can't roll into Ronda and not walk out to the Puente Nuevo to look down into El Tajo — it's one of those views that stops you whether you're in lycra or not. The town has a huge selection of restaurants and cafés, and the quality is genuinely good. We sat down for a proper lunch, topped up on coffee and real food, and took our time. There's no point rushing this stop; you'll need the calories for what comes next.

Leaving Ronda is where the day bites. The road flattens into long upland drags with repeated kneiker — those short, stupid little rises that don't look like much on paper but stack up in tired legs. We had a firm headwind the whole way, and for us this section ended up feeling tougher than the climb itself. The consolation is the asphalt, which is beautiful, and the views over the dehesa with sierras layered into the distance. Eventually the road tips over and hands you a fast, twisting descent back toward the coast. The Mediterranean reappears in the windscreen of your glasses, and you let the brakes off and enjoy the last reward of the day back into Marbella.