finally got my act in gear and put the uly on the road here and went out for a play yesterday: now there is this new motorway along the costa-del-sol, the old coast road is largely deserted in stretches. i tried the bit between Maro and La Heradura, which is ony 10k or so but it is magnificent : follows the twists and turns of the rocky coastline in an almost continuous series of sweeping bends, frequently between 90 and 180 degrees. only issue is that in a few places deep shadow prevents the road from drying out if there has been any overnight dampness. tarmac is good. scenery either side is amazing with the motorway frequently visible on its viaducts some 50-100m above you and the sea a similar distance below.

downside - they have a habit of painting a pedestrian crossing immediately next to the exits from most roundabouts and they are slippery : even on dry roads and taking it relatively easily, a small handful of throttle is enough to get the back wheel to step way out of line - they must be lethal in the wet - dont think i will be using the bike if it rains ( the tarmac has a high glass content to protect it from the heat so it isnt grippy in the wet even if they havent painted it ). i thought it was me the first time it happened, but a second one was enough to convince me it was the road: i havent had a back wheel step out like that in a long time.

Beware the light stuff when you get up into the mountain roads! It seems to have a lot of stone in it, that gets polished like marble.
I wouldn't even consider riding here in the wet. It's like ice!

So have they finally finished that bit above Salobreña?
We've visited pals there a few times & it looked as if they would never finish the link across the ravin there - apparently there had been a high number of construction deaths

That road is a belter - enjoy your time there

It's not rained for ages so it's all greasy too - Wait until you've watched the hills around you get eroded away in flash floods. This will wet sandpaper the roads. They'll be fine then.

Round here we've very grippy aggressive tarmac - destroys tyres. But yes, those shadowy damp corners are ruddy lethal - up here they ice over.

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Sept 2017. Email will find me.

Much the same problems in the wet here in Portugal. I remember ridin~g in to Lisboa from Cascais to the west on a daily basis to do a TEFL course. The cobbles in the city were so slippery in the wet. It's the same here in Lagos now. Even walking is dangerous.

Cobbles - Oh god - they're lethal.

I've only had to run on one cobbled road here, and not in the wet, thank god - and thankfully it's now metalled correctly. It was the then major road from the A4 near Cordoba down to Malaga before new motorways.

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Sept 2017. Email will find me.

Pah! Don't come north of Sheffield on t' M1 then

Trying to think of any sensible reason to go that far away from the equator .

Must be permafrost country.

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Sept 2017. Email will find me.

Wuss.
Just booked flights for my New Year trip - Akureyri this year

Madrid's waaayyy too far North for me! 14 degrees C here now. Brrr..

Unashamedly. Wish Monti could get a transfer to the Canaries or somewhere like Jerez/Cadiz.

Mickrick - too far north for me too. The plus is we get little rain here in the middle.

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Sept 2017. Email will find me.

Must confess it is getting a little chilly down here on the south coast: but we did wait till december 2nd before putting a fire in the grate for the first time. Most evenings we can get by with no heating, the fire is as much for decoration as warmth.

I've had the fireplace lit all day now since this weekend. But did not need it before December's eve.

Not high (flame is barely visible behind the blackened glass door) but just enough to keep things feeling cosy. Just had 7 tonnes of firewood delivered too. That'll last us a bit.

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Sept 2017. Email will find me.

We get a bit too. There's a road there somewhere!

Just found this. That's why I love Mallorca!