Mallorca Primavera Walking Event - Day 4

And so to the final day's walking.

The walk was described  like this...

PAGUERA – ES CAPDELLÀ – GALATZÓ – SES SÍNIES - PAGUERA

The trek begins in Paguera and heads out towards the Tramuntana mountain range, declared World Heritage Site by the UNESCO, going through Es Capdella, Galatzo up until Ses Sinies and returning to Paguera.

The hill of Galatzo is the most important elevation of the municipality of Calvia, its most distinctive symbol and the place that turns into a true milestone of the place. This route symbolizes rural Calvia and, despite the proliferation of second residences (some belonging to foreigners and a few to agro-tourism), it preserves the fullness of the traditional essence of Mallorcan villages. It is here where the fields still exhale that ancient flavor and where the properties, with their almond trees, carob trees, olive trees and grazing sheep, bestow the area with a bucolic touch, far from the hustle and bustle of the coast.

This was our route, which again wasn't quite as advertised, but it was all well waymarked.

A lot of the route followed where we had gone on Friday, but then we went further into the mountains.

There had been flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder as we got up and had our breakfast and it was raining gently as we got ready to go. Birthday girl Miranda was well prepared, of course, and even had a spare poncho for Helen.

We set off to the start in the damp.

It was still a bit drizzly as the walk got going.

But after 15 minutes into the walk I was able to take my waterproof jacket off and consign it to my rucksack for the rest of the way. Looking back, though, the skies  still looked threatening.

We were following the route from Friday up to  Es Capdella. I was walking with Helen and Nicky who were doing the 20km walk. They were chatting away quite happily and I realised if I stayed with them until the 20km turned back I would get back a lot later than the rest of  our group. Miranda, Sue and Chelle must already be quite a way ahead. So I left Helen and Nicky to go at their own pace and put the afterburners on to overtake the field in front of me - not so easy as the path was only really wide enough for 2 abreast.

I eventually got past the bunch to see, about 200m in front of me Chelle and Miranda walking together. So I thought I'd try and catch them. But now we got to the steepest part of the walk...

I was gaining on them steadily, but rapidly building up an oxygen debt. "Hang on, John", I said to myself. "You are 61 years old, asthmatic, still a bit overweight and suffer from high blood pressure." About 30m from the top of the climb... and about 50m behind Chelle and Miranda still, I stopped to catch my breath.

We carried on past Es Capdella. Miranda went on ahead as Chelle kept stopping to take pictures. Oo. This was fabulous scenery. Chelle still hadn't noticed I wasn't far behind her and every time she stopped to take a photo, when I got to the same place I did too. Photos like these...

And now we were approaching the rest point and the turning point for the 20km walk at Galatzo.

Here I found Miranda, Chelle, Sue and Angela, another british long-distance walker who we met earlier in the week....

...and a black pig. I'm not sure what Chelle was trying to tempt it with.

Here is the sign instructing the 20km walkers to turn around and head back the way we came...

...but our route took me further up into the mountains along the Ses Sinies trail.

...along with my fast lady friends..

A lot of the 30km walkers didn't do this extra bit, saying it was too hard, but it seemed fine to us, although the path was a bit stony.

We got good views too.

I thought it funny that this waymarker was sat in the middle of the path... as if we could have gone in any other direction!

The official turning point was a bit of an anti-climax as we were still some way from the top. But there was an optional extra bit up a hill, which we took.

 
As I started on the path, I asked someone coming back down if it was worth the climb. He said "No" , but I carried on anyway.

We returned to Galatzo. By now a lot of the 20km walkers had arrived.

I texted Nicky and Helen to ask where they were. They were already on their way down but offered to wait for us at the cafe in Es Capdella. While Miranda queued for the toilet I had a look around before we started the return leg.

What we hadn't realised, was we had an extra loop to do on the way down that the 20km walkers didn't.... and more climbing to do!

This was the view from our final viewpoint.

This couple stopped me as I went by. They wanted to know what was going on and why there were all these people walking. They come to Mallorca every year and expected lots of peace and quiet on the mountain trails.

Helen was starting to stiffen up, so she and Nicky stopped waiting for us at the cafe and carried on. We eventually caught them less than a mile from the end and we finished together.

Then it was party time as we waited for Chelle.

And here she is!

Why was she finishing behind us, you may be wondering? Well, not content with doing 30km each day, she was on a mission to accumulate more of her 50 marathons in a year target by turning every day's walk into a marathon distance by adding extra miles before and/or after each day's walk. Today she added extra miles by walking further up the mountain with a couple of Dutch guys, before they had enough and turned back. So here she was having finished her 4th marathon in 4 days. Well done Chelle! We had our photo taken again.

You may have noticed in previous pictures that the walking village was strung with washing lines with pairs of socks on. Well now we were finished, we were rewarded with a pair of socks each. Miranda collected some for the others.

...as the band played on and the dancing continued.

We returned to the hotel seeing the sea was still rough enough for people to go surfing.

Then it was back to Los Poetas for Miranda's birthday dinner.

...and her turn to try and blow out the candles.

Sadly, this was the last day and we are heading back tomorrow. It was quite an adventure. The walks were spectacular... we agreed they were better than Marbella. I was well pleased to have completed the 30km walks 4 days in a row. I never imagined, a year ago, I would be doing that! As for the company, it was great and every night was a party night. What a fantastic trip. I think we will all be back next year.

Here is a slideshow of my photos (Flash required).

You can find all of my photos of the day here on Flickr and more details of our route here on MapMyWalk. And when I looked at it, here I found a surprise...

Someone had created a route of part of our walk.. Suffer up to Es Capdella.

And, what is more, in my effort to try and catch Chelle and Miranda I became the leader and King of the Mountains!

Well, out of 3 so far this year, but I was only 1 second slower than the fastest time recorded in previous years.