Further hikes and adventures in Mallorca

For our first hike of the holiday, we visited the Torrent de Mortitx in the Tramuntana Mountains. To tackle the whole lschmbetagth of this deep and narrow canyon you need a rope and wetsuit, and the route requires a long cliff dive and 1km swim! We therefore restricted ourselves to exploring the safer (and drier) upper part in order to prepare for the more difficult Torrent de Pareis a few days later.

I was excited to get to the canyon but the route down turned out to be spectacular in itself. We had to scramble down a steep path, overgrown with diss grass, through dramatic karst limestone formations. Comments on our Facebook photos likened the landscape to that of Jurrassic park and it certainly had a wild, almost prehistoric feel. There were booted eagles and black vultures overhead, warblers and woodchat shrike darting between the bushes and springtime flowers including wild varieties of gladioli, asphodels and cyclamen.

When we reached the coast we scrambled out over the water onto a rocky arete in order to get a better view of the scenery. The waves were crashing all around us as we stood on the end, staring along the cliffs and into a gargantuan cave that had been carved into the mountain by the power of the sea. It was as dramatic and wild a place as you could hope for.

Next we had to loop round and head back, scrambling up the canyon. I don’t think we were quite ready for the level of physicality required after an already demanding morning, but it was a fun and dramatic experience once we got into it. There were plenty of airy sections; traversing in order to avoid deep pools filled with very vocal frogs, which added some heart-in-the-mouth moments.? We were incredibly privileged to spot a pair bonelli’s eagles flying through the canyon; these rare birds were recently reintroduced and have been breeding successfully.

I had promised Amy a relaxing beach day but somehow I smuggled a short hike into the schedule. We did a 3 km cliff top walk from the popular beach at Cala Romantica to a quieter beach in Cala Barques. Here we did get to relax, reading in the sunshine and snorkeling in the pristine crystal waters, before following the same trail back to our car. The coastal scenery here is very beautiful and we found a particularly stunning sea arch that it was possible to walk across. There was also plenty of wildlife to see and we found moorish geckos hiding under the rocks. One additional highlight was watching a young peregrine falcon learning to fly.

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Despite all the adventures we had completed so far, on the penultimate day I was feeling slightly disappointed that we hadn’t climbed a mountain yet. In order to rectify this we set out to ascend Puig Tomir (1104 m); one of the most impressive-looking on the island. In fact, he was almost too impressive looking and I must admit to feeling slightly nervous on the approach, looking upwards at towering cliffs and steep scree slopes.

My nerves soon passed once we started the ascent. There were some stunning views behind us, including Puig de Massanella (1365 m), who we climbed last time, and Puig Major (1445 m), the biggest peak on the island. The hardest part of the hike was a scramble up a steep and narrow gully, but there are some metal rungs and chains attached to the rock on the vertical parts to make it easier.

I have been to some stunning places in my time, but the views from the top of Puig Tomir must be some of the best I have seen. Portrayd by the book as “a view like watching a movie”, the 365?degree?vista makes you feel like the whole of Mallorca is below you. Of course, you can see the impressive mountains, but also the dramatic coastline from Port de Pollenca through to Port d’Alcudia and beyond, including expansive sea cliffs, inlets and peninsulas. It was the perfect place to stand and say goodbye to an amazing two weeks on the island.