Mallorca Primavera Walking Event - Day 1

And so to the first walk. It was described  like this...

PAGUERA – CALA FIGUERA – EL TORO – SANTA PONÇA – PUIG DE SA MORISCA – PEGUERA

The trek begins in Paguera, heading out towards the sea until Cala Figuera and skirting the coast along El Toro and Santa Ponca. At Puig de Sa Morisca it joins the 20km route and ends its itinerary in Paguera, the starting point.

Trek through the municipality of Calvia, made up of different rural and touristic centers. It combines the western foothills of the Tramuntana mountain range, declared World Heritage Site by the UNESCO, which end in this municipality’s coast with one of the longest and most outlined shores of all the municipalities of Mallorca. Calvia is bordered by mountainous elevations, with a central valley that opens up to the sea, containing coves, beaches and cliffs. The northern part of the municipality is in the heart of the hilly part of the Tramuntana mountain range. The municipality has excellent weather thanks to its opening to the south, giving it more hours of daylight, and also thanks to the fact that it’s protected from the northern winds by the two most important elevations of the area, Galatzo and s’Esclop.

This is our actual 30km route, which differed from both the paper brochure we had been given and the website.

I walked with Nicky who was doing the 20km walk up until the routes diverged. I was glad I'd decided to do the longer route as we got some great views as we walked along the coast that Nicky missed out on.

Here are some of my photos.

We left at 8:30. It was only 10 minutes walk to the start.

5 of us walking and Helen was there to see us off.

We were encouraged to do some warm-up exercises.

The start was a bit slow as they were stamping everyone's badge. They dropped that for the rest of the days!

 
We climbed out of Paguara and were soon out in the countryside.

A sight that was to dominate the horizon throughout was the mountain Puig de Galatzo

This windmill also featured on another walk.

We saw plenty of flowers and blossom. I think this is a mimosa, but I could be wrong.

  We saw some goats...

 ...and donkeys...

 and a nursery of giant bonsai trees.

At the rest point we were encouraged by the cheerful helpers, and provided with water and apples.

And now a selection of the coastal views.

 

One of the staff offered to take my photo at one of the viewpoints.

After an excursion along the Ruta Musulmana through the woods, we rejoined the 20km walkers at the second rest point, where we were offered a cooling spray for the legs and knees.

Then it was back to the walking village. I was in among the crowds of 20km walkers now, and steadily overtaking them.

And then look who I found in front of me - I had caught Sue and Miranda!

We walked the rest of the route together. And, yey! Here is the finish... and time to use my beer tokens.

It was a lovely party atmosphere.

And, just as in Marbella, the Dutch had brought a band with them, De Amerblaozers. They were great fun.

Before dinner, I couldn't resist having a paddle. The sea looks inviting, doesn't it>

We ended up at Restaurant Domin, where we were last night, again.

 
I was still in my shorts and T-short and it started to get a bit chilly as the sun went down, but the waiter lent me a jumper.
 

It was a lovely sunset.

Here is a slide show of my photos (Flash required).

You can see all my photos of the day (and a couple of video clips of the band) here on Flickr and details of our route here on MapMyWalk

Tomorrow, the countryside walk!