“Drive along the coast, they said. It’s flat there.” The sentence still echoes in my head as the road tilts upwards shortly after Nerja – not much, just enough to understand that this is no Sunday stroll. To the right, the sea, glittering, enticingly flat. To the left, the hills, looking like they have something to prove. And right in the middle, you, the idiot on the bike. The road stretches on and on. It could elegantly follow the coastline, but it doesn't. Instead, it winds through olive...

One likes to imagine that the southernmost point of Europe is somewhere dramatically raging: the Atlantic to the left, the Mediterranean to the right, and a heroic cyclist in between. In reality, in Tarifa, it looks like this: 45 kilometers of gusty winds, 466 meters of elevation gain, and at the end, a gate. The ride starts innocently enough: out of Tarifa, along this flat stretch where the road still pretends to be a coastal promenade. To the left, the water, which never really warms up; to...

Ericeira is primarily a surfer's paradise – blue, salty, and full of boards patiently waiting for the next whitecap. But cycling here is also a great option. No heroic feat required, more like a long leg-shaking session. Up and down – just like riding the waves. The road follows the steep coastline, sometimes up, sometimes down, only very rarely brutal, always with a view of the sea. The water glitters as if freshly painted, somewhere below small waves crash against large rocks. The smell of...