Additionally this holiday comes with an optional La Marmotte 2012 entry for an additional 65GBP per person. The weeks worth of riding based in Monachil and Almunacar is ideal spring training for this or any other event or for just a week of superb riding.

We set off from Monachil fairly early to tackle the rolling climb up over the Sierras de Tejeda. The first 15km or so are through the suburbs of Granada through what once must have been small villages – such as La Zubia. Once through the villages the 30 km to the sumit of the Sierras de Tejeda followed. The quiet road to the summit rolls though typical Spanish farmland and countryside before open up to the most fantastic view and the 36km descent down to the beach in Almunacar. The descent was fantastic, twisty and fast on a newly surfaced road and is equally as rewarding as the Col du Galibier or Alpe d’Huez.

We stayed overnight in Almunacar before retracing our steps back to Monachil. The climb back was rewarding in itself and took us just under 2 hours. Once over the top we stopped for some soup in a local cafe/ restaurant. We thought the descent back to Monachil would be easy but it proved to be both undulating and very windy.

These two days of great riding can be had as part of the Tour of Andalucia Cycling Holidays .

Big ride out on day 2 combing our day 2 ride up to the Pico de Veleta with our day 3 ride to Guejar Sierra.

The morning was fresh as we started off a little later than planned for the local bike shop Sierre Nevada Bikes  to get myself a new chain for my PROMPT D211 road bike. It had been jumping through out the first day restricting me to just a few gears.

Once the chain was sorted we headed out up the steady climb to Guejar Sierra and then the mighty steep unnamed  climb up to the Pico de Veleta road. After a fantactic lunch we headed up to the ski resort of the Sierre Nevada on the Pico de Veleta road. We managed to get to 2550 metres above sea level before the road closed. There was a hive of activity up there with tacky shops renting sledges.

After a refuel in the Ski resort itself we headed back down the 35km to our base in Monachil just as the sun was setting over the mountain.

The temperature hit an amazing 21 degrees centigrade on the steady climb up to just under 1300 metres above sea level and as it was a public holiday here in Spain there were a far few cyclists out and about. It was an excellent days riding despite the lack of training I have done over the last couple of months.

For 2013 we are organising a new tour from Nice on the south coast of France to our base in Bourg d’Oisans at the base of Alpe d’Huez. The 7 night point to point tour will run in August after our ever popular Route des Grandes Alpes Tour. Full details and price etc will be published at a later date but as a taster you will get to ride the giants of the Col du Galibier, Col d’Izoard , Col de Vars and of course Alpe d’Huez. If you are interested in this tour please contact us here.

We are really pleased to announce our first Route des Grandes Alpes tour will take place starting on the 28th July 2012. The 10 day point to point tour with over 650 km of riding and 16 cols starts in Geneva and finishes in Nice with a rest day in Briançon.

The itinerary is as follows:

• Arrive – Geneva airport where we will pick you up. Please arrange to be at
  the airport at about 4PM. Overnight stay in Thonon-les-Bains where you can set
  up your bikes for the 10 day tour
• Day 1 – 80km – Thonon-les-Bains to Grand Bornand via the Col de Gets (900m)
  and the Col de la Colombière (1613m).
• Day 2 – 92km – Grand Bornand to Bourg-Saint-Maurice via the Col des Aravis
  (1486m) ,Col des Saisies (1432m), Cormet de Roseland (1968m)
• Day 3 – 78km – Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Lanslebourg via the Col d’Iseran
• Day 4 – 110km – Lanslebourg  to Briançon via the Col du Télégraphe (1566m),
  Col du Galibier (2646m)
• Day 5 Briançon rest day. Explore Briançon or ride the Col de Montgenèvre
  self supported.
• Day 6 – 104km – Briançon to Barcelonnette via the Col d’Izoard (2360m), Col
  de Vars (2019m)
• Day 7 – 77km – Barcelonnette to Valberg via the Col de la Cayolle (2326m)
  and Valberg (1673m)
• Day 8 – 57km – Valberg to Saint-Martin-Vésubie via the Col de la Couillole
  (1678m), Col St Martin (1500m)
• Day 9 – 79km – Saint-Martin-Vésubie to Menton via the Col de Turini (1604m)
  and Col de Castillon (800m)
• Depart – Menton. After breakfast we will drop you off at Nice airport or
  station for 12PM

You can view more details and book online by visiting the Route des Grandes Alpes Tour page. In addition if you are a group of 6 or more then we can run this tour over 7 days or 10 days  anytime through the summer and early autumn. Just contact us via our Custom Holidays page.

Adrian, Stephen, Victoria, Simon, Gary, Rupert, Tom and myself Phil

Day 4 is a rest day on this tour but day 5 tackles the Col d’Agnel the highest point of our tour and also that of the 2011 Tour de France.