Things to do on a baking-hot, Andalusian, August day… What about cycling up 1,200 in height along 37 kilometres? Yep, me neither.

But there were more than a few cycling enthusiasts (around a hundred) prepared to do just that for the II Subida Cicloturista a Peña Escrita – yes, it was a chance for the sane animals that live in the Peña Escrita Mountain Park to meet the lunatic animals from the coast.

Setting off from Cafetería Isla de Capri in La Herradura, cyclists from Salobreña, Motril and Nerja peddled off into the glory of heatstroke and heart attacks, which was obviously the aim of the exercise.

Leaving the N-340 road at Cotobro, (where they joined up with cyclists from Almuñécar) and not before accumulating the projected ire and death wishes from motorists, they took the country lane to Pago de Guerra Alto, past the old shooting range (sadly inactive, if not; a field day, indeed) before taking the Camino Real del Carrizalejo and Río Seco to the very gates of Peña Escrita.

But wait! Not happy with a vexing, velocipede venture they then went up through the park, drawing rounds of ironic applause from the meerkats and other bewildered inmates, to reach the 1,200 metre mark. They then freewheeled down in a frenzy of burning rubber to La Herradura.

Editorial note: Living, as I do, a few bends below the old gasolinera on the Cabra Road, I am less than endeared to erratically weaving, three abreast, slow moving… cyclists that are a veritable curse on other road users.

(News: Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)