Sunday 4th October

Another sunny start and time to leave our monastic surroundings after a quick coffee in the not so spiritual cafe now attached to the Santuari. We drove cross country to Alcúdia to have a look around the Sunday market. Traffic jams greeted us as we entered town, but local police attempted to direct the traffic as well as the flow of people. In the market the usual tourist tat of cheap leather goods, fake designer sunglasses/purses/perfumes, “I Love Mallorca” t-shirts and “traditional” clothing gave way to a food tent, with a wide variety of cheeses and sausages to sample (we tried some red stuff on bread, we’re still not sure what it was even after eating it), then onto a miniature agricultural show where you could buy your sheep bell (as heard in the hills) or a John Deere tractor (John?).




We saw our first Camel Trophy reference so I had to take a picture of it, even if they were stuck on the back of an old Nissan Patrol, and the “Land Rover Classics” plaque was also misleading.




After a quick lunch we headed out on foot up the 445m high Talaia d’Alcúdia, a four hour walk up to the highest point on the peninsula. SPOT


The wild Mallorcan goats made their presence know by their rather pungent aroma, as the track climbed through pine forest, olive trees and scrubland before the final ascent up a rocky scramble to the top. The 360 degree views were fantastic over both the Badia de Pollença and Badia de Alcúdia, although the mosquitoes on the way down proved tiresome.



I also learnt that neither a Buff nor marino wool are any defence against their feasting, as they are just as happy biting through the material as bare flesh. We both came back with another twenty or so bites to add to our tallies - now where’s that antihistamine cream?

We made it up to the the Ermita de Nostra Senyora del Puig above Pollença by about 8pm, having carried up our bags by foot the last 15 minutes after the road changes to a cobbled track.



The road necessitated low ratio and lots of reversing to get around the hairpin bends, all good fun. Tonight we are in a proper former monk’s cell with stunning views down to Port de Pollença and the sea beyond. It’s the simple and austere monk’s life for us with wifi and hot showers, these monks had it good. SPOT