Carboneras to Alicante

 

I left Carboneras after having breakfast at the best bar there, just as the sun was rising.

I was totally unprepared for what was ahead.

The headlands were golden in the early morning sunlight and seemed to present themselves as a barrier to any fast progress.

I was still warming myself with a cigarette admiring the colours of the sky in the rising sun when it slowly dawned on me (forgive the pun) that this was going to be a challenge for the lil ole Derbi

It took a car that passed me a full five minutes to reach up there and at least 20 minutes for me

As soon as I left the town I was confronted by an enormous climb that actually turned back on itself to wind it´s way round a pointed hill which acted as a stepping stone to the top of the climb.
It was breathtaking getting up there and the road continued in the same vein.

This was big dipper bikers land.

The most scary bit was seeing that the road was supported on these concrete posts that seemed to just sit on the rock face and the road was just a concrete raft sitting on them.

It continued this way until it settled into a more gentle rolling coastline with no beaches, just the gentle cliffs and the curves in the road that made riding a joy.

It went for miles and all the while the headland of Cartagena was acting as a magnet.

The road here was totally deserted except for the occasional vhicle coming the opposite direction

The first point of call was Aguilas where I had hoped to reach the previous evening and I was so relieved I didn´t miss all this in the darkness at the end of the day.

The weather was turning colder with a sharp Northerly wind that came over the top of the hillside to my left and with my old donated basin helmet I had no relief from it.

I reached Aguilas comfortably and went for a warming cup of coffee and sat in the sun outside just to feel the warmth again.

The map showed no coastal route for mopeds so I headed out for Lorca and to pick up the N332 that would bring me into Cartagena.

The road out was a gradual incline and against the wind I was barely moving, but eventually I reached the turn off to pass along another deserted stretch of winding road that took me the 30 odd kilometers to Cartagena.

Even when I thought I had bottomed out 12 kms away it took another steep climb to pass the hills that blocked the coastal approach in for me.

I had been here once before and had difficulty finding the old town and gave up and this occasion was no different as I probed with the moped untill deciding that a night in a hostel in Alicante would be a better option.

The route from Cartagena to Alicante is really quite boring so I won´t give any detail of the ride in except, that it was a welcome relief to get there and remove all my soaked clothes and hang them out.

I like Alicante having stopped there the odd nights on route somewhere else, but the Guinness at €5 turned me off.

The heating in the hostel was no big shakes either and I decided the best way to dry clothes was to wear them so I spent an hour changing various items and walking around to speed up the process.

There was nowhere to securely park the bike either as I had my lock confiscated at the airport, so I decided to park it near the window where there was free internet access and stay up as late as possible to keep an eye on it. I lasted till three in the morning before tirednes resulted in a loss of vision and I couldn´t differentiate one letter from another on the keyboard.

I slept, almost till after check out and was rushed to pack everything and get out before the 11 deadline.
I made the decision to bypass the coast at Benidorm and head up to the hills and a direct route to Valencia.

The route I was taking, I had christened Bikers Alley, as I drove up there one Sunday a few years back and it´s just a race track for every biker in the area to test their courage and wreck there bikes.

A final look back at one of the best biking roads I can ever remember riding