Many European and UK off-road riders, like in most western countries, are facing the common problem of having nowhere to ride. Forest trails are being closed, and as the population rapidly increases rural areas that were once home to many a trail loop are now being built on as the demand for housing rages … Sound familiar?

One solution to their problem is – boarding a budget airline, there’s many to choose from, and taking a one to two hour flight to southern Spain where trail riding options are served like a four-course meal – meaning, a few days spent riding up, down and around the Spanish hills leave you feeling so full you can hardly move, especially after the single trail desert-course that climbs high across mountain ranges offering views to die for.

The tour company leading the way with the finest menu in southern Spain is Redtread, and whether you’re coming from Europe, Australia, America, or any corner of the globe, they can serve you up platefuls of action – for you, your mates, and family to eat-up by the spoonful.

“What the hell are you doing down there?” asked Dave to his brother Gary, who was 20-feet over the edge resting on the steep slope of one serious looking drop into no-mans land. “I don’t know really, it all happened so fast”, he replied. “And lucky I didn’t go too much further aye.”

It happened at the end of the first day. Gary had switched off. He was a little tired. His mind was thinking more towards the cold beer he’d sink in 20-minutes time.

“I remember coming into the corner thinking, should I stand or sit down, then next thing I’m running wide towards the loose stuff at the edge of the track and my front wheel hit a rock, causing the bike to jolt underneath me. Then I twisted the throttle and it all went terribly wrong very quickly. Next thing I’m over the edge thinking to myself, this ain’t good, but I didn’t panic and just went with it. I knew I had to bail off the bike and lay it over straight away, which is what I did and luckily the bike only slid a few feet further than myself. It was a bloody heart stopper though!” he recalled once he finally held that cold beer in his shaky hand back at the Redtread mansion.

Gary and Dave Kemp were just two of the six riders spending four days with the Redtread Tour company based in the small town of Competa, 40-minutes in to the hills from the Mediterranean sea that fills the gap between southern Spain and north Africa. They’d jumped a flight from Jersey, Channel Islands off the coast of France, to ride challenging trails that their home-town doesn’t offer. They didn’t even bring their own riding gear as Redtread stocks a room full of the latest riding apparel head to toe, which is perfect for those wanting to travel light, or those backpacking around the globe itching for a taste of moto to settle the nerves from not riding for several months.

Four large mountain ranges, the Alpujarras, Tejedas, Almijaras and Alhamas set the scene for most of Redtread’s riding terrain. Tracks and trails cut into the sides of these mountains weave their way along for miles from one to the next, and at the highest point the drop over the edge can be as high as a few thousand feet. The views off to the side are breath-taking, but you don’t want to miss a corner by staring into the blue and green yonder at the steepest, most vertical drop, as unlike Gary you wouldn’t get a chance to slide on your arse to a stop, you’d be flying off into the void praying that you’d brought a parachute.

In the six years Redtread have run tours through the area, lead rider and company owner Ian Burgess says he’s only had it happen on five other occasions, and three of those were himself. Being aware of the landscape as you ride is something Ian really points out before every tour, as the last thing he wants is a rider disappearing over the edge.

Riding from one range to the next via the mid-high trails the terrain changes from a black dirt surface embedded with grey rock that spreads sporadically across the track, to snow-white trails littered with Metamorphic Rock up to the size of grapefruit – but square-ish, and riding on the stuff gives you the feeling you have a flat rear, as with every twist of the throttle the tyre easily breaks traction and will dig its way to China if you allow it. The strange sensation is hard to adjust to at first but once mastered is a whole lot of fun as you fly into and out of one corner to the next.

Some of the faster riders chose not to be intimidated by the sheer drop-off and raced from one corner to the next, backing it in sideways and accelerating mid way through as if they were racing for a pot of gold at the end of the trail. “In the back of your mind you know what awaits you over the edge, but if you’re a confident rider and keep within your ability the danger is no greater than when riding any trail, whether the drop is big or small”, said one rider after kilometers blasting along without incident.

Rain In Spain…

Riders’ venturing south from the UK love to escape the cold and wet conditions their country is well-known for. In their minds Spain is the place where the sun shines 24/7, and the skies are so clear and bright blue it’s like they’ve been painted with a spray-can.

Arriving at the Redtread Mansion on a Friday afternoon the riders were treated to picture-perfect conditions, which set their mood high in the happy zone for the first day of riding the following morning, the day Gary went over the edge, and the day they set out in the same sunny conditions only to return riding through thick low-lying cloud that sprinkled fat drops of rain over the dusty tracks. The conditions changed so fast that first afternoon it caught all by surprise, and a night sleeping to the rhythm of rain drops falling on a tiled roof gave notice of what to expect come the morning.

Wet weather jackets and pants were put on over riding gear as the rain continued to fall on the second day of riding. “We came to escape this stuff”, said Gary as he looked over the horizon at low lying grey clouds. “Ah, just think of the adventure Gary”, said Mickey, a rider from Scotland, who also had hopes of seeing some sunshine, but decided he was going to enjoy the ride no matter how the weather conditions were served ... At this point he didn’t have a clue what was to come.

Five minutes after leaving the Redtread Mansion the last of the homes that dot the Spanish hillside disappeared and the white trails covered with Metamorphic rock from the previous day reappeared, paving the way towards a fresh set of trails for the day ahead. The first was 15-minutes later dropping down out of the clouds, winding steeply back and forth to the bottom of the valley. Fingers were cold and slow to react as the rain kept on falling. Unfamiliar terrain of coarse dirt soaked an inch deep became slippery at places around sharp corners, adding a degree of difficulty to the challenge of dodging loose rocks with a blurred vision from the rain drops sliding down goggle lenses.

Once the group all made it safely to the bottom it wasn’t long before it was time to start climbing towards the top of another mountain range, a scenario that would be repeated several times throughout the day, much to the delight of every rider.

At around 3000-feet the low lying clouds stopped the group from climbing upwards to the top of Mount Maroma. At 6000-feet, it’s, according to Ian, the most breath-taking view from a mountain on the ride. “On a clear day it offers 360-degree views, and to the south you can see as far as Morocco across the Mediterranean Sea. “It’s a real shame the weather’s against us today as the ride to the top is incredible,” he said to the group while stopped at a fork in the track, left towards Mount Maroma, and right leading into the “Gorge Of Hell”, otherwise known as “Barranco Del Infierno”.

Riding through the Gorge of Hell surrounded by grey gloomy mountains wrapped in cloud was a little eerie. At times the scenery portrayed similar settings to dark scenes from the movie “Lord Of The Rings”. An old ruin still half standing mid-way down the trail offered invitation to explore its skeleton of old rocks and timbers slowly but surely rotting and crumbling back into the earth. Another thousand years it will be dust, with patches of grass covering what was once in time a place of importance for many.

With the rain easing the route turned north towards Alhama De Granada after negotiating the remaining rocky trails out of the gorge. A few fisherman made the most out of high rivers as the group crossed a causeway on a main roadway leading through a small village. A little surprised, but still smiling as the group of trail riders stirred up the running water, they stopped what they were doing for a minute, watched the parade pass with a wave, and then went back to their focus of trying to catch fish.

A little further on a nice forest section greeted the group before arriving at a very traditional Spanish restaurant tucked away on the outskirts of Alhama De`Granada. Dirty riding gear and all, the group was welcomed by the staff, but looked at a little strangely by the locals, who were dressed nicely for their Sunday family outing. “The staff are always happy to see us”, said Ian, “as I bring them a lot of regular business, and we’re always pretty well behaved.”

Mickey, surprised at the friendly treatment by the locals mentioned that back in Scotland the locals don’t like seeing trail riders at the best of times, let alone walking into a fancy restaurant soaking wet and covered in mud.

A glass of red, and a cold beer for some quickly changed the focus of conversation, and then when oven roasted chicken and plates of fresh salad filled the table thoughts riders had of what the group were wearing soon vanished into thin air.

A Change Of Season

Specks of sunshine broke through the clouds after lunch while passing through Alhama De`Granada, which is an ancient town dating back to the Roman times, but more recently famous for its mineral water baths where water flows out at 20-degrees from springs in the ground. If the sun wasn’t now shining down and warming the riders’ bodies the warm baths could have quite easily been filled with dirty, sweaty bodies, but luckily for the locals the sun saved the day.

The sun didn’t stay with the group for long though. As they cut through a fast section of trail to Santa Cruz and then through Olive Grove tracks century’s old past old stones houses, then back up through the Gorge Of Hell towards the “Corkscrew” before the final section of white trail home, something really strange happened on a day appearing to end in warm spring-like fashion … It started to hail like crazy!

Small bullets of ice fired down from the sky for around 10-minutes covering the trail in little white pea-like sized balls. Ian shook his head in disbelief while pulled over waiting for the slower riders. First sunshine, then rain, then more sun, and now hail. With all the talk about Global Warming filling the media headlines of late the group started to wonder what would come next, and as it turned out it wasn’t more sunshine, well not straight away.

Monday morning the rain looked even more at home in the Spanish mountains, but it didn’t stop the group from departing on what was to be another interesting trail ride in southern Spain.

Back along the white trails and then turning a different direction from the previous days route saw the group ride west along and over mountain ranges alongside “The Lost Village”, El Acebuchal, known to be one of Franco’s last stands around 1966-67. Now restored the village is a popular tourist attraction, but a quick glance is all the rider’s got while negotiating wide trails twisting along the mountains edge towards the dry river section full of stones at Rio Chila, then along the Roman pathway outside Nerja and through the town of Marrow towards the days lunch stop at La Pena Escrita, a restaurant built on the side of a mountain range called the Sierra Tejeda’s, sitting at 4500-feet-high.

It was the half-hour ride to the restaurant that really blew the riders minds.

Rain belted down the hardest out of the three days as the trails over mountain ranges became slippery, steep single trail, up and over hills covered in knee-high ferns. When reaching the rise of one hill the next was just visible in the distance through stabbing sheets of rain. Then when leaving the tight trails and making the climb up the winding tar-sealed roads, that wrapped around the Sierra Tejeda’s like a snake around a fat tree, the temperature dropped to freezing cold conditions towards 4000-feet, and the rain that had been pelting down to that point turned into thick snow-flakes.

Rider’s arrived at the small La Pena Escrita carpark ten-minutes later wide-eyed and stunned at what they’d just ridden through, and at what was still falling down around them. Cold, wet, and hungry, they entered the restaurant where a nice open-fire blazed away in the corner of the bar. Soaked riding gear was removed and talk through cold lips about the incredible change in conditions dominated the first 15-minutes of conversation. Ian, who was also very surprised, took it in his stride, while his wingman, Dougie the sweep, cracked a few jokes in his thick Scottish accent to help keep everyone laughing and focusing on the bright side of the experience, which they did, and once the hot coffees started to warm up their insides all agreed that trail riding in southern Spain offers a varied mixture of surprises, but not one of them expected to come to Spain in Spring to find themselves riding through snow.

Arriving back at the mansion later that afternoon after a pleasant ride through sunshine had everyone confused as to what was going on with the weather, but they were all very happy to finish off their four days spent with the Redtread crew warm as toast and fulfilled from experiencing a trail ride that covered four seasons in four days.

The Redtread Mansion: When arriving at the Redtread country mansion the first thought you have is you’ve arrived in the wrong place, and half expecting Penelope Cruz to open the gate as it’s very luxurious for a place that runs trail-bike tours. Nestled high on the side of a mountain the mansion sits on a one acre block and offers views across many mountain ranges and to the Mediterranean Sea. Each rider has his own room with Sky TV, a stocked mini-bar, bathroom, kitchen and private terrace, which provides a very relaxed environment after a hard days ride. There is also a common room with well-stocked cheap beer and wine, snacks, a fireplace, Sky TV with a wide range of DVDs, while outside there’s a BBQ, heated pool, and pool table for riders to enjoy in-between rides.

Take The Family: Redtread welcome family members and they can arrange a number of activities from horse riding, bush walks, relaxing on a local beach, tennis, squash, golf, sight seeing, and more to keep the wife or kids occupied while hubby is out riding. The local village, Competa, is a typical beautiful whitewashed Spanish village where there are 30 bars and restaurants to choose from, and is a 5-minute taxi ride or 20-minute walk away for riders or family to visit at night. There are also banks, lots of shops, supermarkets and internet if required – just watch out for them closing for siesta at 2pm. Redtread can tailor your stay to suit just about every need so enquire about the options when making contact.

The Redtread Fleet: Redtread recently took delivery of a fleet of 2007 Honda CRFx’s – a mix of 230’s, 250’s and 450’s. The bikes are very well maintained. Each one has its own log book noting every service, tyre, and part change. A rider is expected to pay for any major damage caused resulting from an accident.

Redtread Tours: Offer various packages to suit every riders needs and are flexible enough to set up your own tour specific to what you would like to get out of your trip. They offer one day through to one week rides for a maximum number of 10 persons. All relevant info on the variety of tours can be found here: www.redtread.com/redtreadtours.php Redtread offer rider tuition on all tours, but if you are an advanced rider and want to get straight into the trails make sure you point this out when booking a tour. As mentioned in the story, riding gear head-to-toe is available on arrival, so no need to lug your gear half way around the world. You must provide a full motorcycle licence and passport when signing in. Not included is your evening meal, drinks and snacks.

How To Get There: Malaga airport in Spain is 50-minutes drive from Redtread, alternatively Granada airport is only 90-minutes away, and Redtread will happily arrange your Airport Transfers costing around 40-50 Euro (70-80Aus). Cheap airlines flying from within Europe to check out are: www.easyjet.com, www.ryanair.com, www.iberia.com A good site to check cheapest flights from anywhere around the globe is www.kayak.com

For any more information contact Ian or Sal at Redtread Honda Off-Road Motorcycle Tours on 00 34 627 834 430 or check out their website at www.redtread.com