day trip to Sant Elm

 

05-03-24

A big day out in the middle of our Majorcan trip, we hired bikes and cycled to a pretty coastal town 15miles North, where we climbed a medium sized hill. The worry with an escapade like this is that something goes wrong because you are unfamiliar with any one of a whole heap of stuff. From the workings of a bike you've never been on, to cycling on Majorcan roads, to misinterpreting the red arrows on the hike. Huge potential for cock-up and instant death. Or at least a little sunburn. Anyway, somehow we survived and it was one of the best days of the trip.

15 mile cycle Santa Ponsa to Sant Elm
(slight variation on way back)

So Mary crocked her foot a couple of weeks prior to the trip. While it was defo on the improve it wasn't up for any heavy impact work like running. I knew there was a bike hire place near us from google homework so I packed a few things with what I thought was remarkable foresight. I didn't take a helmet as they'd surely have them for hire. However I did take a puncture repair kit, tyre levers, the bike handlebar attachment for the DJI Pocket camera and a cheap light padlock I'd bought specially. I have a couple of decent locks for my own bike but they are too heavy to take abroad. So I bought a cheap padlock and wire (£10) from a local Asian shop. I saw it while in buying tupperwares for sugar and tea-bags. I imagine it would open if you spoke harshly to it but it was all about looking the part. It was suitably lightweight to take in a suitcase and did the job very well.
I am very pleased to report there were no punctures.

We collected the bikes about 3 minutes after the hire shop opened. The guy was surprised to see us as we had claimed it would be a relaxed start to the day for us, when we arranged the hire the day before. We started to say how we'd changed plans and were now going a more ambitious cycle but he waved away explanations saying he didn't need to know what we hoped to do. He was very friendly and relaxed although did require a 50 euro cash deposit in case we didn't return. We had got the cheapest bikes in his place, which looked modern 20 years ago. 21 euros per day per bike. I was impressed the price included helmet and spare tube and he didn't try to sell any added extras. The bikes could be dated from their V brakes but everything worked perfectly, was well maintained, and they got us there and back.

Cycling on the wrong side of the road was better than I remembered. We'd done some cycling in the North of France maybe 30 years ago and when the traffic thinned out on remote country roads it was all too easy to switch off and go round a roundabout clockwise. Or turn left onto the wrong side. However there was enough Majorcan traffic to remind us which side was preferred. A couple of times we had to brave horrendous large roads with traffic coming from all sides on slip roads, but the majority was diverted onto cyclepaths running parallel to the larger roads. Great to see cyclists being looked after and encouraged this way.

this was like a Bond Villain's HQ on top of Dragonera Island
(shaped like a dragon's head)

The trail was a bit boring to start with but quickly got halfway up the hill when the views became amazing. We went slightly off piste for a while and this became an issue when we got to a tricky place where there was only one route up as a decent path but it was not well marked and if you took any of the other alternatives you'd end up scrambling or rock climbing. I had my big expensive camera and was intending doing zero rock climbing. Mary found the correct path after a bit of toing and froing and we went up no problem. We left a couple of German or Dutch ladies who had decided to go another way entirely. We were following a route I'd put on my Suunto before leaving Edinburgh which was accurate if we paid attention. It eventually took us up to La Trapa which I believe might be a disused trappist monastery but I haven't had the time to research it. It was super photogenic and there were loads of small birds about cheeping and peeping which added to the brilliance of the place. We ate our sandwiches then carried on climbing to the top of the hill then round the back which then joins the original route back to the start.

further back

showing the whole island

black vulture

lighthouse on dragonera island

Spilostethus pandurus

wall (f)

black redstart

cirl bunting

cirl bunting

black redstart

I was pleased to get a decent video of a black redstart. Although they were seen regularly they were quite shy. This one had quite a lot to say standing on this post. And wasn't going to let a gang of German tourists who were just arriving right behind me put it off. Happily the Germans were doing the circuit in the opposite direction from us. 

lunch time!

The trappist monastery was one of the most spectacular venues I've visited. It helped we were there on an amazing day and everything was singing or buzzing away. Just a tremendous place and highly recommended. I think the video at the bottom of the page shows it best. I made the video a bit large and have had to stream it through Vimeo as it was too large to blog directly. If I can get that to work. 

wall again

eyprepocnemis plorans maybe?
or any one of half a dozen google suggests!

the view at the back of the hill, once summited

It was quite a hike to get back down off the hill however it was much easier going
than on the front seaward side and just a matter of keeping going

We were pleased to find the bikes where we left them and took a slightly different route back to SP. Mary was doing the nav off her new gps watch and it was the first time she had set it up to use as a SatNav. So there was more than just an element of this could go wrong at any time. However we mostly got it right and another 90mins or so took us back to to the bike shop for about 5pm. I had a minor mechanical when a spoke broke or became detached from the rim, but after some headscratching just folded it around the others and handed it back with a broken spoke. What a great day out!