Group Holiday – Senior Walkers

Day Two – Walk 1

At last night’s walk briefing, and on our itinerary, all the walks were set to start at 9am probably due to the potential heat later in the day. It also gives us a plenty of time after the walk to swim and do other great things!

So we went for breakfast at around 7:40 –and with a massive buffet selection, you’re not going to go hungry. Cereal, fruits, pastries, meats, cheeses and all sorts of eggs, bacon and other things.

Today at 9am the temperature was high 20s, so it might be hot going.

Today we had a couple of guides for the 20 of us walking, 10 from our group and the other 10 from Scotland, Cornwall and the Midlands. The guides were Patricia (Pinky!) and Christine, or Chris for short. They were to be our guides for the week, though Chris was not available for walk 3. They gave us some information about the walks with maps and other features to look out for on the way.

Today we were going through the dunes of CalaAgulla, along quiet country lanes and then back near the hotel in case anyone wishes to shorten the walk. The longer walk took us past an 18thcentury watchtower (Sa Torre Esbucada) which the British destroyed it in 1808. The walk continued to the Capdeperalighthouse, down a rugged path, passing the beautiful CalaGat small (crowded!) beach and along the promenade to CalaRatjadaPort where the main walk finished, though still ¾ mile to our hotel. We had a drink or two under the shaded brollies of a café. Didn’t see a lizard, but there’s still plenty of time.

The walk was 7½miles in total with ascent 250m.

We arrived back to have a swim in the large pool, then a swim in the warmer smaller pool!

After dinner, there was a very good trio playing a variety of popular rock music, so well worth listening to. Bed at 10pm.

Day Three – Market Day

The sun was rising just after 7am with a wonderful looking sky over the very calm Mediterranean sea. Today was market day, soafter a leisurely breakfast a few of us walked the ¾ mile to the port near to where the market was based. It was another very hot day, so I didn’t spend more than 5 minutes in the crowded streets.

Nearby is a lovely looking gallery, and free to enter. So we decided to look inside later in the week.

I had found out that there were two possible mermaid sculptures, one made of stone and the other from metal. We decided to walk along the promenade to see the first one as it wasn’t too far away. The other is at CalaLliterasnear to our hotel.
After seeing the “mermaid”, we carried on a bit further to a small crowded beach at CalaSon Moll and then headed along the back streets towards CalaLliteras. We didn’t find the 2ndmermaid as it appeared to have been moved. The base was there, but no sculpture.

The obligatory visit to the yoghurt house (I had 2 fruits and chocolate sauce as toppings), then to the hotel for a swim in the medium pool.
Most of us congregated in the bar from about 6.30pm ready for dinner around 7.

The dinner is also a buffet, and again there is masses to choose from –different meats/fish each day, vast amounts of salads, local dishes –and there are just too many desserts to choose from. So you have to have at least 3, or maybe more …

All the items are well labelled in 3 languages -Onion Rings or Battered Squid was a funny topic of discussion during dinner.

After dinner, hot chocolate in the bar for some and admiring the “Birds of Prey” plants (as someone said …) No lizards yet, but loads of time to see one.

Day Four – Walk 2

Early breakfast on a walk day so that we can be ready for the 9am start. All this year’s walks start/end at the hotel, so no extra transport is needed.

Today was even sunnier and hotter, but we were looking forward to the walk –despite the hilly section! Initially along the promenade passing the stone “mermaid”, we were told information about some of the beaches and why they look to be covered in seaweed. However this is called “PosidoniaOceanicaor Neptune Grass and is part of the ecosystem to help soak up CO2 and keep the beaches from washing away. The fruit looks like small fluffy balls.
Passing the old CalaRatjadafisherman’s houses –which were apparently the initial houses of the town –we were then shown the old Mallorcanslings and how to use them! These were made from the fibres of a certain cactus plant.

At this point the group split into two, with some taking the longer steeper route.Both routes stop in Capdeperafor a drink in the village square, but the longer route is almost 2 miles longer so we would meet up again at the end.
The longer walk steadily climbs up a stony path via Puigde saCova Negra, and the top is at the radio beacon dome for aircraft navigation. It’s then mostly downhill to the village of Capdeperawhere we stop for an hour for a drink.

After the stop we meander the last couple of miles on the edge of CalaAgullaback to our hotel to finish. The longer walk was 8.1 miles with 360m of ascent and the shorter walk about 6¼ miles.

Again the yoghurt house was beckoning, so we had to go –followed by a swim in the hotel pool before dinner.

There were a few room issues during our stay, new plughole, TV can’t get BBC news and keep blowing a fuse. We were unsure about the cause of the latter …

Still no lizards.

Day Five – Explore at your leisure

Another hot and sunny day, and with a free day –we had breakfast at different times, although we did seem arrive within a few minutes of each other.

A few of our group had booked the Express boat trip to neighbouring town of CalaMillor, leaving at 10:30. 5 years ago, the group had booked the same trip in very windy conditions … a long lasting memory! However the sea was calm, and has been all week, so the boat ride looked really good. The trip was only about 45 minutes, so gave just under 5 hours for the 4pm return from CalaMillor.

We walked to the port and saw them off, and decided to book the slower “bottomless” boat (as someone said!) to CalaMillorleaving at 12. So with time to spare, we visited the quite impressive art Gallery.

Our boat arrived just after 12 and we set off at 12:15, initially stopping at Font de saCala–a funny place with just a rock for a landing stage, then passing a sea cave before stopping for 20 minutes for people to have a swim. We then sailed straight pastCalaMillorto Sa Coma, and went back to CalaMillorarriving on time at 2pm.

We strolled along the long promenade and stopped for a drink and chips in one of the cafes.

Both boats were due to leave at 4pm, so we surprised the others just before and had a chat before their boat arrived on time to leave. Our boat arrived 20 minutes later. We arrived back at the port at 5.20pm. The boat trip to CalaMillorwas 14¼ nautical miles and 9 nautical miles return. Not a lizard in sight, and seeing one on a towel doesn’t count,

After our dinner at 7pm, we went to the bar to listen to the entertainment, They certainly liked Genesis and were loud, but we didn’t move. 4 hot chocolates arrived for 3 of us, and we wanted it more hot! So after a couple of goes, it came back lukewarm.

Today it was between 32 & 36 c –so perhaps the hottest day of the week.

Day Six – Walk 3

What’s this? A few light clouds early on but they soon disappeared. We had the usual early breakfast for a walk day.

Today’s final guided walk was going to be cut short due to the heat, as the extra 4 mile loop had no shade. Chris was unable to lead today, so joining Pinkywas Joseph –or Pep for short.

We made sure we were covered in sun cream and bug repellent, but unfortunately one of us got stung by a wasp 5 yards from thestart! It was fine though.

The walk started across the empty and very soft sandy CalaAgullabeach, which was actually quite tricky, then after passing CalaMoltobeach we started the mile long fairly gentle climb to 85m, passing a Lime Kiln on the way. This was followed by a mile long descent into CalaMesquidabeach. The first part of the beach was nudist, but when we reached the brollies, 3 of us changed into our swim gear and went in the sea. It was warmer than the hotel pools, and shallow for quite a long way out –ideal for a swim.
We joined the others at the café for a drink before all setting off to retrace our steps back.

We split into two smaller groups with one doing a slightly longer route back at a little faster pace. So the aim was to all return back to the hotel at about the same time.

The longer walk was 6½ miles with 250m ascent, and we arrived a few minutes after the others –who apparently did a longer walk!

A trip to the yoghurt house was essential to combat the high temperatures –low 30s, followed by a swim in the hotel pool. So –double swimming today.

Again we met outside the bar at 6.30pm for dinner at 7, then a hot chocolate for some after.

Where are all the lizards?

Day Seven – Free Day

Our penultimate day, so another leisurely breakfast around 8.15.

Some of our group had booked a boat trip –meaning that all of our group did some form of sea faring during the week –some of us got the bus to the town of Arta about ½ hr away. We decided to walk to the beach at CalaGat, and as we were going to pass many sunny walls and rocky faces, I was determined to find a lizard.

We had a little light cloud, and the sea had a few tiny waves, but still pretty calm. It was hot again and 27c as we passed the pharmacy sign at 10am.

Arriving at the port, we started to walk along the promenade towards CalaGat –then something on the promenade wall caught our eye. It looked life a leaf stuck in the crack –but it was much better than that, and even beat seeing a lizard!

It was a Praying Mantis about 3 inches long simply standing on the wall. Quite a few other people saw it too and took pictures.

We arrived at CalaGat after another 15 minutes and although we had intended to walk a bit further, we decided to stop for a drink in the beach bar for an hour or so then walk back. On the way back, the mantis was still there basking in the sun. A quick walk around the harbour –and we saw another lovely sight of a Swallowtail butterfly.

A bit of packing, another yoghurt house visit and then off for a final swim.

After dinner at 7pm, an entertainer was a bit under par as he didn’t do many songs justice!

Day Eight – Departure Day

The coach to take us to Palma airport was due to leave the hotel at 10:50, so we had plenty of time for our breakfast, and toreminisce over the week’s holiday.

It may have been a changeover day as there weren’t many at breakfast.

Our coach came on time and we arrived at the airport at 12:05.

We were through bag drop by 12:45 and one of our party was frisked again like they were in Jersey earlier in the year! I had my bag swab checked.
The flight left at 14:15 and after a very smooth journey we arrived in a cool Bristol at 15:25.

There was quite a queue for the buses to the car parks, but it was only ½ hour wait before we picked up our car and headed home.

We were all home by 6pm, which wasn’t bad after leaving Hotel Bella Playa in CalaRatjada, Mallorca just 8 hours earlier.

A really wonderful trip, and our guides Patricia (Pinky), Christine and Joseph (Pep) were especially excellent, knowledgeable and very friendly. They certainly made the walks great to be on –particularly in the heat we had during the week.

No lizards.