From the Market we walked through
the village and down a short road to the Pont Roma (Roman Bridge) for photos,
back up the road and along to the start of the walk of the Camina Per Mallorca.
Our general route was up the
Valley D’En Marc following the Torrent de Sant Jordi. Along the way we had to go onto the MA-10
road a couple of times due to “rights of way issues”. Apart from that early sections were along
very quiet roads and tracks past an array of small farms consisting largely of
stone walled fields of fruit or olive trees and small herds of sheep or goats. The
amount and size of the stone walls was amazing, they are everywhere, some up
to 10 or more metres wide.
The track had been climbing
steadily for a while when we turned off into a woodland of Holm-Oak and started
climbing more steeply giving us a first taste of the terracing and zig-zag paths to come. Rafael gave an
introduction to the cultural and industrial background of the route we were
using. Simply put, there is a network of paths all over Mallorca that lead to
the LLuc Monastery. These paths have been used for centuries by pilgrims travelling
to and from LLuc on pilgrimages and the Consell
de Mallorca are trying to protect, enhance, re-open as many of them as possible
to cater for the increasing tourist market for hiking and to safeguard a natural asset.
We met a couple of mushroom pickers who said that for them it was
a money earning exercise. We saw many more ferretting about in the woodlands
and fields.
The woodlands along these routes have for centuries been centers for making charcoal and lime as well as herding. Today we can see the visible remains of stone huts, kilns etc.
We stopped for lunch on some
rocks near the Font de ses Cases, then pushed on along decent tracks to
Binifaldo. Here the party split Rafael, Bob and Phil (Canucks) went off to
climb Puig Tomir, while Andy, Pete and I (Brits), Sandy and Mary (Canucks) took
the short cut down to Menut, across the MA-10 and down to LLuc for some
well-earned beers Another thing that was to become a daily ritual.
Unfortunately Rafael, Bob and Phil were prevented from climbing Puig Tomir by a
rain and hail storm. Later we all met up
for a great meal in one of the three restaurants on the site.
LLuc Monastery is now, as best I
could tell, a very large Hostel/Hotel of four large, four floor wings around a
quadrangle that has a church set with in it. There is a bar and restaurant in
the building and three others in the complex also car parking and a Visitors
Centre. Andy and I shared a twin room with en-suite and television but no tea
making facilities. Definitely more hotel than the YHA type of hostel we are
more used to.
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