20160514 The Luck of the Irish

Friday 13th May – The next 4 days was going to be special as I would be spending time with a fantastic group from the Emerald Isle – Gearoid, Suzanne, Moss and Jonathan. Sadly Tom couldn’t make it as he had broken a few ribs – valid excuse!

Day 1 – The plan – A nice easy 70-80 km spin, ease in the legs, take in the sunshine and have a great day out.  What happened? Well, it was Friday 13th!  On the way to Sa Pobla, the clouds rapidly built up, went very dark and then we saw and heard the lightning and thunder! Quick rerouting, divert to the place all cyclists go on a day like this, Muro and it’s cake shop!

Two hours later, after coffees, cakes and pies, we ventured back out.  what else could happen, the skies were clearing.  Head towards Inca for a route via Mancor but it didn’t look sensible, so back around Puig Santa Magdalena, past the Horses and service road by Ullaro.  The next 10mins were straight out of a drama/horror movie scene. The 24 deg warmth suddenly drained away very rapidly and we all felt an extreme chill round our ankles, that spread rapidly upwards. A misty fog ahead, hailstones and snow on the roadside, slippery road surface… Wait stop, Snow!  This is Mallorca and it’s May!  Careful braking, pull over and take a few pictures, we need evidence!

Wow, that was something else!  The remainder of the ride back was quite uneventful after that experience.

Sat 14th – Mountain Day!

This was one of the most enjoyable and scenery wise, stunning days out on the island.  We had an amazing day and everyone rode so well, right up to the end of the ride, back in the Port.  We headed out the slightly longer routing via Campanet and Caimari to get to the ‘Petrol Station’ atop the Coll de sa Batalla.

Top up the bottles, coffee and cake and then traverse across and past the Sa Calobra junction to the Gorg Bleu.

You can’t cycle past here without a few photos, so that’s what we did.

Then a great pace up to the top, past the reservoirs and through the tunnel.

We decided on entering soller via a drink stop in Fornalutx and we were not to be disappointed with our choice. Wow, amazing and even – sure, let’s buy a place here, it’s so beautiful!

Into Soller central, take in the magnificent church, pretty buildings and tramline.  To avoid the extra few km of going back downhill to get out and then climb back up, we headed out the way you shouldn’t go…  Then the most enjoyable or should that be the “We are getting hungry but what a wicked climb!” ascent of the Coll de Soller and then sweeping bends down to rejoin the road towards Bunyola.

Food was now a priority, so we stopped at a little used Restaurant by the turn off for Bunyola, thats more setup for catering for large groups and parties but a lovely building.  After the short but pretty climb through Bunyola, all that remained was to enjoy the mostly tail wind flattish ride back from Santa Maria.  We weren’t disappointed, it went to plan and in less than 2 hours, we were back in the Port and a wonderful ride completed. All the way back, I kept glancing to the left and what a wonderful view of the Tramuntana mountain range.

A massive well done to Gearoid, Moss and Suzanne as they really excelled and rode so well.  140km, just under 2000m of climbing and on a hot day with some gusty headwinds while climbing!