Road to Malaga

My map promised a scenic ride crossing the sierra south-west of Ronda along the biosphere reserve Sierra de las Nieves; this I got - spectacular views on the surrounding mountains - AND as a sidedish some nice headwind uphill. What a "great" way to start my day. No wonder the col near Ronda was called Puerto del Viento by some funny guy. Pray I never meet him...

Having reached the top; I cruised with top-speed through hairpin curves; overtaking caravans and the odd car towards El Burgo and followed the A-366 direction Malaga. The traffic intensified noticeably from Coin on and the combination of narrow road, big trucks and rush hour traffic made me use my helmet for the first time during my trip.

Entering Malaga I treated myself to a nice ice-cream (3,60 € for a rather small "mid"-sized portion) before meeting Borja near his flat. He invited me for chinese dinner and a couple of Heineken, just the right thing for a hungry cyclist.

Unfortunately; looking up the ferry schedule on the web I made a mistake and looked for the monday sailing schedule only. When I reached Malaga port on tuesday in order to buy my ticket, the ferry to Melilla was about to leave -only the monday and friday departure is at 19h whereas on the rest of days, the boat takes off at 14h. Bad Luck.
I had to stay another day in Malaga. I took to roam the city and read, eat and write e-mails to potential hosts en route in Morocco.

I think Borja was quite surprised finding me still in his flat the same day in the afternoon...