Walking the GR221, Mallorca – Day 2
Estellencs – Esporles – Valdemossa
8 October
Stats: ascent 1170m; descent 920m; time taken 7h 30′
Jaume had warned us that today and tomorrow would be long days – no mountains, but plenty of up and down and many kilometres to walk. We’d be walking through forest for much of the time, though there would be good views as well.
Today’s first objective, roughly half way, was the town of Esporles. Our route there was affected by a recurring problem with Mallorca’s wish to sell itself as a walking/hiking destination: the designated route of the GR221 had been closed by a landowner whose estate it crossed and who had managed to get a court ruling that she was entitled to do so. The fact that she was British encouraged Jaume to explain to us at length all that was wrong with the current Balearic Islands’ government’s policies on land access issues.
The diversion meant climbing an extra 150m to reach a path which contoured above the designated GR221. In compensation, the views were better. Later, in the forest again, our path briefly entered the property of the Englishwoman (named Blaize, Jaume told us) but here we were far enough away from the house for her to have provided two stiles to allow people to cross her boundary wall. According to Jaume, before the stiles appeared the wall had been knocked down by mountain bikers.
Although the walking was fairly easy we were glad to reach Esporles and stop in a café for coffees and cold drinks. Jaume, of course, knew the owner and bought several bottles of water for us at wholesale prices. Then we were off again, uphill and into the forest. This was typical Mallorcan walking in this part of the island – a mixture of broad tracks and narrower paths, stony underfoot, some of the tracks still with ancient cobbles in places, and breaks in the trees giving occasional glimpses of the coast or distant settlements. Along the way we passed relics of the ways in which people used to make a poor living – charcoal burning, lime kilns and threshing floors.
One last long descent and we were in Valdemossa, a busy town with cafés and shops! It was already 5.00 and we had a 45 minute drive back to Estellencs so we dashed into a supermarket to buy provisions for the next day while Jaume hurried off to fetch the people carrier. We could buy bread tomorrow, he said.