Distance: 10.2 miles / 16.5 km
Elevation: 2,289 feet / 697 m
Colls: Puig d’Alaró (825m)
After seven days of continuous cycling, today was supposed to be a rest day! I had spotted signs to Castell d’Alaró on Tuesday (day 4), and ever since then I had been doing a little bit of research. In almost all articles, the walk to this castle was very much recommended. I never expected it to be a trek as big as this though!
Alaró
Alaró is a small town to the west of Port de Pollença. To the north are the some of the largest peaks of the Tramuntana mountains, whereas it’s fairly flat to the south. The centre was quite busy and I struggled to find a suitable car parking space. After a bit of cursing, I managed to squeeze in to a tight spot near the entrance to a building site Austin Powers style.
Just around the corner I visited Cycling Planet, which is a great bike shop and café. The tables are made from wood from the old Palma velodrome – almost all have at least one of the painted guide lines intact. Given it was approaching midday on a Saturday, I had expected it to be busy – and so it proved to be. I’m going to return on a later date (mid week sometime) to sample some of the food.
Something that did catch my eye was some good jersey and sock designs. I’d say all options are too jazzy for me.
Start of the walk
My lack of research proved to be an instant problem as I wasn’t even sure how to get on the walking paths. I settled on the idea that if I walked towards the mountains, I was headed in the right direction. Eventually I found a map where I learnt that the castell was 115 minutes away from this point. I started looking about and noticed that everyone else had rucksacks full of sandwiches, walking poles and water bladders. I had no drinks nor food and some fairly ill fitting skater shoes with little grip left on the soles. It was going to be an interesting walk!
Despite rain being forecast and in the air, it was still quite warm and humid. It’s the law to wear a face covering in Spain, even when outdoors. It became evident quite early on that my disposable mask would not cut the mustard, and my inability to breathe as freely would make this walk challenging.
Above are two photographs I took quite early on in to the walk – purely because the scenery looked nice. I didn’t know this at the time, but the castell was at the very top of this mountain!
The climb
Once out of town, the walking path is uphill fairly constantly. I made good progress near the bottom, passing many families who seemed to be moving remarkably slowly. The walking path consists of mainly hairpins, and as I completed each I looked over the edge to see how much faster I was than some Germans I met whilst staring at the map. After I’d completed twelve or so, they were already five behind. The guide time wasn’t going to be accurate for one of us.
Es Verger
Not long after this, it started to rain. Thankfully, this coincided with me reaching a restaurant about half way up called Es Verger. This place was made famous by Rick Stein, who claimed he was served the best lamb he’s ever tasted whilst dining here. I couldn’t really be bothered with a meal, but I did fancy a beer and an excuse to remove my face mask. It was annoying that the restaurant only had small beer glasses, but even so the Germans did manage to overtake me here.
From here the walk became more dangerous with a couple of steep drops. It was probably a good thing that the restaurant only had small beers! The shallow slopes were also slowly changing in to ever steeper steps, and I was gaining elevation quickly. It was here that I saw the Germans going back down – a couple of them looked especially tired. I was a bit sad as I’d made it my mission to catch them up again. I’m sure stopping for a beer would have made all the difference!
Each photo shows Es Verger in the foreground and the town of Alaró in the distance. I really love the second photo especially because it highlights quite clearly the winding road I had climbed up to this point.
Castell d’Alaró
The Castell d’Alaró ruins slowly made their way in to sight as I approached the summit. Considering they’re from the fifteenth century, they’re not in bad nick really. I wasn’t expecting a lot after one review succinctly said ‘it’s just a ruin’, whilst others complained about the uneven steps. Very few mention the history of Castell d’Alaro – it seems not a lot really happened here. Two people were burned alive on a spit by Alfonso III of Aragon in 1285. Clearly, life could be worse. We complain about all sorts nowadays.
Views of the Tramuntana Mountains
Reaching the summit presented me with a spectacular panoramic view of the Tramuntana mountain range. This had been hidden from sight for the duration of the climb, and came as somewhat of a surprise. This was definitely the highlight for me (and other reviewers), though I wish I had something a bit better than an iPhone camera to hand. Don’t go anywhere near the edge if you’re scared of steep drops!
I chose a shorter but steeper path for the return journey. The total distance walked was 10.2 miles in four hours and 2 minutes (5 hours with beer drinking included). This means I was actually a little bit slower than the guide time despite being quicker than most.
I’d say that this has been my favourite day so far – mostly because I did not know what to expect. I’d recommend it if you’d like a day off the bike and have a means of getting to Alaró!
