23/1 New article:

One week round trip to Cordoba, Sevilla, Mérida, Andújar, Jaen, Granada, Nerja.
Read it here!!

7/1 2010.. Garage space..
I have suddenly got a MC space free in my garage if someone is interested. The garage is right in the middle of Fuengirola, close to the market place. It's a private, locked garage inside a bigger garage. That means it's double locked doors, one with remote control. Rent: 30 €/month. If U are intersted contact me on aake@kihlmark.eu or tel. 650744742. Have a good 2010! Aake

22/12 2009 - Road Alhaurin to Coin reopened
For those who haven’t noticed the road between Alhaurin el Grande and Coin reopened this week. It has been closed for approximate. eight months for renovation. I haven’t ride it yet but it’s a road that I have used a lot before it closed. I think it’s the best road to use to get out on the country side from Fuengirola. So this is really GOOD news! According to “Euro weekly”, the road has been widened, several bends and hills have been eliminated and the surface improved. There is still some work going on, but it should be completed before the end of January.

Very easy sweet Christmas recipe:
Bailey kisses:
Dark chocolate (45-55%) 200 g
Unsalted butter 75 g
Bailey’s 2 dl

Method: Melt the chocolate and butter carefully in the microwave. Stir in the Bailey’s. Fill in small paper moulds ( U can find them at Mercadona) and let it set in the fridge for at least 5-6 hours. Easy, peasy!

MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Aake

Hi all,
I have been asked to do some writing for the Los Guiris web site and I want to start by introducing myself.
My name is Aake, spelt with a double “a”, the Danish way, because You wouldn't’t understand the Swedish letter my name begins with. That’s an “A” with a ring over it (Å) and it is pronounced like the “a” in the English word “all”. I’m a 60 years old Swedish guy that moved down here to Fuengirola 9 years ago.

I’m originally from Stockholm, but me and my wife had been working in the Swedish mountains, in the ski areas of Are and Salen, for the last 17 years before we moved down here. Up there we had two different ski hotels with rooms, bars and restaurants and we wanted to get away from the cold and work in a nicer climate at the end of our career.  
When we came down here, we decided to buy a bar, as so many others do, but it was our profession and we realized that as we knew the business we couldn't go wrong. So we bought a small bar in Los Boliches and opened “The Polar Bear Bar & Bistro”,  that we successfully ran for six years, with wonderful, loyal guests. Early spring 2007 we got an offer, just out of the blue, to sell the bistro and as the time (just before the “credit crunch”) and price was right we decided to sell. The whole deal was very fast and ten days after the offer, we found ourselves without work, with money in our pockets (it was a freehold bar) and asked ourselves “ …and what’s  now?
That’s when we took up biking again, after a 20 year break!!
When I became a member in Los Guiris and Haze asked me if  I couldn't do some writing on the web site I was happy that someone appreciated my writing and at the same time a bit worried about what to write about. The thing is that I’m out on the bike quite a lot, but I always forget the camera, so I have quite a bit of stories, but no photos to go with them. And a good story should always be accompanied by photos, I think. But I will try to better myself, bring the camera and hopefully deliver some readable stories about biking in our near surroundings and my favourite places in Andalucia.
As a former restaurant owner and chef,  one of my favourite objects are of course cooking and everything that comes with it, so I’m thinking of coming up with some cooking tips and recipes that I think might interest you guys, as well.

Hope to se U guys on the road or at any bikers bar soon!
Aake

As Christmas is coming up soon I’ll give U a recipe on one of the most popular Swedish Christmas drinks, namely Glogg:

Swedish Glogg:
1 Bottle of cheap red wine (for example “Conde Noble” at Lidl for 59 centimos)
2 Cinnamon sticks
8 Cloves
12 kardemom seeds
Peel from one orange (just the orange part of the peel, not the white stuff, if U know what I mean)
5 tablespoons caster sugar
1.5 dl (approx. ½ cup) Brandy
Almonds
Raisins/sultanas

Method: Heat the wine and NEVER let it boil (alcohol disappears!) and the spices in a saucepan. Stir until the sugar is totally melted, then ad the brandy.  Keep heated under lid for a about ½ hour before serving. Serve in small glasses with a napkin around or glasses with a  handle, (very hot!) that has been prepared with almonds and raisins up to around half the glass.
A tip: The glogg is even getting better if U prepare it the day before and keep it in the saucepan under lid over night. Before serving, just heat it up to just under boiling point.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!

1, El Burgo,  Ronda, Setenil

Three bikes, five persons. As usual we meet on one of the petrol stations at any of the exits from Fuengirola. This time, at ten o'clock, on the BP station on the exit to Mijas. After filling up the bikes and emptying the riders we take of towards the village Mijas. We follow the winding road up to Mijas and turn right after the roundabout but before the entrance to the village and continue on the back of and above Mijas towards Alhaurin el Grande. It's a beautiful view over Fuengirola and and the mountain sides are very steep both downwards and upwards. It's just a pity that they haven't done anything to the road surface on this road. After a while we pass Alhaurin Golf, the golf course that "eats" golf balls, due to what we hear and are very soon at the roundabout which is a cross of the roads to Alhaurin el Grande, Fuengirola and Coin.

This time we are heading towards Coin, so we continue straight on in the roundabout. We are passing a nice "venta" (Spanish country inn) on our left side just after the roundabout and have the old water tower on our right side. The road is sometimes good and sometimes less good. Here they are constructing yet another golf course, and when that is finished the road will probably be good. This is more or less just a trans-port to Coin, but a little bit in on the road is a side road to the left, leading down to a former nazi retreat from the second world war, that today is a nice restaurant however a bit hard to go down to on bikes.

In Coin we are going around the village on the right side and in a while we are coming down to a roundabout, where we turn left towards Ronda. In this round-about we are almost falling, when I have to panic brake, using the hand brake, for a car that suddenly brakes in front of me, Everything goes well, how-ever, even though I stretch my wrist when I have to hold up 250 kg motorbike that is about to fall.

We are now following the road around Coin and in the next roundabout we are turning on to the road leading to El Burgo and Ronda. This road is newly constructed, only a couple of years old. It is very nice and is winding through the valley towards Alozaina between lemon and orange plantations.  

Between Coin and Alozaina	Fruit plantations

On this road we pass the turn-offs to Guaro and Tollox, two small villages that we will return to in another story. After Tollox the road starts to go upwards again and after a couple of miles we are entering the small village of Alozaina

We have just gone on one of the best stretches of MC road that we have seen so far. Alozaina is a small village with a petrol station and not much more, but there is a turn off here towards Casarbonela Ardales and Pizarra. Not for us this time, however. We turn left in the roundabout and continue towards Yonquera on winding alp like roads.

Alozaina	On the Way up to Yonquera

In Yonquera we stop for this trips first break. On the right side in the first half of the village is the newly built restaurant Enara. It is very nice decorated, all in wood, has a big fire place and a nice terrace. The couple that runs it are very friendly.

After Coffee and French baguette with ham and cheese we continue up towards the mountain pass on this winding roads. The higher we get the less pine trees we se and we are now realizing that we are quite high up. When we are going over the mountain pass, suddenly the clouds that has followed us all the way disappears and the valley of El Burgo opens up bellow us. Up in the sky there are some big birds that looks like eagles. Down to El Burgo there are lovely roads with long winding curves. Through the small village of El Burgo an forward up towards Ronda. It is now steep upwards again and on the highest point there is quite a few hundred meters down to the valley below. On this part You don't want to go off the road or get a flat tire, but the view is fantastic.

View over El Burgo	The mountains outside Ronda

When we are up on the plain into Ronda, it's like riding in a moon landscape. The mountains are all gray, there is not a house in sight and it's totally desolated. However, we are passing a few sheep's and at one occasion we really have to slow down as we have a big flock of sheep's on and beside the road.

When we come in to Ronda we turn right in the first roundabout, drive under the train bridge and turn direct to the right towards Teba and Campillos. After a few hundred meters we turn left to-wards Arriate and follow the signs to Setenil de las bodegas. The road is now going through several small country villages and we discover that the people here are totally different from the people on the coast. Here they smile  and wave when we are passing through their village. Even a policeman is smiling and waving. Something You would never se on the coast. After about 15 km we are arriving to today's destination, Setenil.

The mountains outside Ronda	Setenil from three different angels

The village Setenil is situated almost straight north of Ronda. The village is built in to the sides of the mountain, which it surround. We are going down through the village on  very narrow, steep  alleys. Over the small village square through a tunnel in the mountain and comes after a while down to a dried riverbed where there is a lot of bars and restaurants built in to the mountain. Here we stop for a lunch at Bar Frasquito, where Francisco is the host. Francisco, himself an old biker, who shows us pictures of his old bike, that he used to ride in the 1950s', together with his wife, now dead. He really likes to have our bikes outside his restaurant  and we get the best parking just a few meters away from table A nice tapa lunch at franciscos place and we stay on for a while after the lunch, just to enjoy the weather and the nice environment

The trip home starts and we take the road out of Setenil towards Campillos. After a few km we turn right to Cuevas del Becerro in a newly built roundabout. The roads here are fantastic and seems totally new. A few days after this trip we heard that an American bike magazine had classified this road as one of the eight best MC roads in the world.

Incredible roads

After a few km Berndt, who is the present leader, suddenly breaks rather unmotivated. The rest of us comes up to him and can then se why. An enormous wild boar is passing over the road. After around  20 km we come to the small village Teba, which is built on a mountain top. We take the road up to the village. but turn down again rather fast, when we realize that there isn't much to se here. Now we turn south on small country roads towards Ardales. Right between Campillos and Ardales we enter the new major road that runs from Malaga to Campillos and we follow that road by Ardales, Pizarra and Cartama down to Alhaurin el Grande. Up through Alhaurin, back to Alhaurin Golf and down to Fuengirola by Mijas Golf.

After a wonderful day. seven hours,  on these marvelous biking roads we gather on the Bar "La Bodeguita" in Fuengirola for a couple of beers and after talk. Among other things we establish that if we had continued to Malaga instead of going up through Alhaurin on our way home, we would had gone from Ronda (750 m above see level) to Malaga (See level) without realizing that we had gone downhill at all. In other words, a very good road to go up to Ronda for those who are scared o heights.

Welcome back for another trip!

2.Torcal

On this trip we are going out alone and we will try to find our way up to the nature reserve Torcal on new roads, that we haven't ridden before. I (Aake) have been in Torcal before with a few other bikers, but at that time we took the motorway to Ante-quera and from there down to Torcal. Today we are going on small country roads all the way.

We take the road out of Fuengirola and the motorway towards Malaga. Up along the mountain sides with the Mediterranean sea and the villages of Banalmádena and Torremolinos on our right side. At  the exit towards the air-port we turn of and drive under the motorway and takes the first exit to Coin and Cartama.. Under the next big road and left in the roundabout outside "PuntoCash" After passing through a industrial area on a long straight road, we come to another roundabout, where we turn right towards Cartama. This is where the nice roads starts, but it is still quite a lot of traffic. We are still close to Malaga. We are going through large plantations of lemons and oranges and the fruit salesmen with their fruit tables are every-where along the road. We are passing two turn offs to Alhaurin de la Torre and comes after a while to a rather complicated exit with both roundabouts and exits. Here we have to be on the alert, We are heading to Estacióm de Cartama and find the right way. When we get in to Estación we  follow the road, over a bridge, that leads us in to town until we come to the first roundabout. Here we turn left towards Pizarra. We now have wonderful roads on the Spanish country side ahead of us.

In Pizarra we take our first brake with a cafe con leche on a small bar along the through route. We also take an extra look at the map here, so that we know howe to continue. We do have intercom installed in our helmets, so we can communicate all the time, but it is always good to be prepared.

Alora	Train bridge

On the road again we drive against Alora, over a small mountain pass and through a couple of small villages. We pass the exit to Alora, the road You take if  You are going up to the lakes (the water reservoirs), that are a part of Malagas water supplies and continue towards Antequera. A couple of miles after Alora we pass under a giant bridge that carries the new AVE train between Malaga and Madrid. It carves like a knife through the landscape. A little bit pity, but it is the technological advance and it has given all of us that lives in this area a fast connection to the Capital.

We  continue straight north on almost empty roads and after a while we pass the village Valle de Abdalajis, a small country village alone in the middle of the flat country. (Pict 3) It's a beautiful countryside with billowy hills, surrounded by high mountains in all directions (Pict. 4& 5)

Valle de Abdalajis	Fantastic landscape

After quite a few miles we arrive to a T crossing. To the left this road leads to Antequera and we are now just a few minutes south of Antequera. We are here turning right and in front of us the big mountain and nature reserve of Torcal is rising. a few kilometres and we turn left in to a "venta", Spanish country inn, for lunch. It is an incredibly large "venta" with lots of  agricultural tools on the walls and an enormous open fire place in the middle. It is well worth a visit just to se the open fire and all the decorations. We eat a lovely salad lunch before we continue.

We are now traveling south and we are passing around the mountain Torcal on the left side. On its south side we come to a turn of to the right which leads us up the mountain side. On small winding, steep  roads we are going up, up, up and after a while we come to a small parking, where the road ends. The bike is being parked and we are going out on foot to explore the surroundings (Pict. 6 - 11)

Torcal - Different environment	Fantastic landscape
	Torcal view point
Malaga and the coast	Malaga

The nature up here is quite different with huge stone formations. There are walking paths so You can walk around and experience the nature and the views. We are quite high and the views are fantastic On a viewing terrace You can se all the way down to Malaga and the coast.

The trip home starts with us going the steep road down the mountain, turn right and continuing down towards Villa-nueva de la Conception. In this small sleepy mountain village, placed in the middle of the mountain side there is a few cafés and bars. In the middle of the village we turn left towards Malaga And Casabermeja and follow the road  down the mountain. When we are down we suddenly realize that we are in a totally different surrounding. It is now more woods and we are in a much more agricultural valley.

After a while we arrive to a cross-road where the signs say Malaga in both directions. The road to the right looks smaller and more attractive, so that's the one we chose. Later, when we look at the map, we realize that we did the right choice as the road straight on led to Casarbemeja and the motorway in to Malaga.

The small road that we chose is a wonderful road that, on the side of the mountain follows a river down towards Almogia and Malaga. It's a small, winding road, with lots of curves, like a road in the Alps, with the mountain on one side and the woody valley with its small river down bellow on the other. Here You have to be awake all the time and don't relax to much. Along the road, there is a few small villages, but we don't se any cafes or bars, so it's not a road to chose if  You want to stop for a meal, but it is very nice.

It's neither the road You chose if You are in a hurry. Here You go to enjoy the nature, quietness and scenery. After quite a long time we realize that we are closing in to the suburbs of Malaga. Traffic is getting heavier and suddenly we are on a motor way leading straight in to the Congress Palace of Malaga. We turn of to the road towards Torremolinos, passing the airport and in about a quarter of an hour we are back home in Fuengirola, where we go straight to the garage and park the bike.