Mallorcan Winter Miles

Jen and I escaped to Mallorca in late November in search of warmer air and dry roads. It was warmer but damp mountain roads kept speeds down through the twisties. We rode most days and what follows describes a couple of those rides.

Sunday

Trip to the lighthouse? Looks like a pleasant afternoon ride with Jen. Our first ride on hire bikes this week. The skies are grey, laden with winter rain but we are full of the optimism of Brits abroad and the weather is still better than back home. The road twists through 180 degrees enough times for me to lose track of which way is north. A few tourists emerge from hire cars at the lighthouse to point at the wild goats and peer through the mist  to see the waves breaking on the rocks below. We spin our way back to the calm of Port de Pollença to beat the setting sun.

Tuesday - 225 Day

I glimpse another flash of yellow on white stone at the road side, one less km to ride, one more completed on the tarmac rollercoaster that I’ve been tracing since 9am this morning.

Reaching marker stone 95 represents several hours of hard riding over the highest roads Mallorca has to offer, out past the top of the Sa Calobra climb then skirt a half empty reservoir to switchbacks under Puig Major’s summit culminating in a tunnel that spat me out to the best sea views I can remember. Views may warm your heart but they do nothing for frozen digits. Must get down to sea level, warm air and sunshine.

I  roll off down more than 15km of deserted descent to Soller. The corners are sweeping but polished and since loosing the front wheel of my hire bike on a left hander yesterday I’m cornering super cautiously. Bruce at cycle shop Pro Hire back in Port De Pollença warned me about these roads; 'like ice' when damp, and today they are damp and cold. 

From the village of Soller the MA 10 twists south west carving a tortuous path between mountain and sea, snaking inland to cross rivers and seaward to cling to cliff tops. I even pass the turn off to Shangri-la, pity I‘m short of time today, sounds intriguing. All the while those marker stones are counting progress, perhaps they should also tot up metres climbed; GPS app Komoot has me forewarned - nearly 4000m to do today. That’s going to hurt. Fortunately the views north over the Mediterranean are impressive enough to take your mind off mere mile ticking and the further south west the road winds, the quieter the road and the more dramatic the views. During the last twenty miles towards the southernmost tip of my route I only see two cars. This is where the M-10 is at its most dramatic; clinging to the side of a 45 degree slope that rushes away to my right to meet the sea several hundred metres below. Clumps of pampas grass shelter between the boulders on the hill above, dwarfed by the towering limestone peaks above.

Eventually the mountains make way for the road to turn south, it climbs switchback by switchback to a col that marks the halfway mark for today’s route. The long descent is my first opportunity to rest in over an hour but the respite is short lived. Two more cols beckon, neither large but still several hundred metres of climbing each. Waning spirits signal food is required, fortunately there's a shop open in the next village; fresh water, chocolate and a croissant return some enthusiasm to ‘La tête et les jambes’. 

The final col is slow going, tight switchbacks climbing through dense woodland. The road is singletrack, damp, slippery and green with lichen from lack of use. I'm starting to wonder whether I'm still on route, surely I should have left the mountains by now?

A few miles later the route does leave the mountains and I pick up a tail wind that I can surf all the way back to Port de Pollença. The sun is dropping low in the sky now, the Mediterranean landscape reflecting a thousand points of light following a rain shower. Verdant grass, purple flowers and deep blue sky, so much colour compared to November in Yorkshire. The north east coast of Mallorca is close as the sun drops under the horizon, the lights of Port de Pollença beckon, soon reached via the smooth cycle path from Alcudia.