I love it when we can combine two of my favorite activities in one weekend: hiking and sailing.
On day one we decided to escape the city and enjoy the weather on the mountains. Our goal was the tallest peak in the Northwest of Mallorca, Puig de Galatzó: 1026 meters above mean sea level.
Equipped with my cameras we drove off and followed the highway to Andtratx. The port there is actually a scenic spot and at the same time the beginning of Mallorca´s long-distance trail GR221.
We continued however and followed the road which eventually will bring you to Soller. Somewhere in between Andtratx and Soller we parked the car and started our hike. Even though it was cloudy at the beginning it turned out to be the perfect day for a hike. The trail rapidly winds itself uphill and soon you can find yourself at a lovely spot with a marvelous view. The deep blue sea underneath and the forrest around us creates an impressive color spectrum.
You can find numerous places on that trail to enjoy breathtaking views of the sea or the little village of Estellencs. On top of that mountain, however you will be able to see Palma and Andtratx.
After a short break we followed the same track back and found ourselves back at the car after some 5 hours in the nature. We did almost 10 km and we climbed more than 730m.
What a day…
But apparently this weekend wasn’t over yet. Next morning brought us new adventures. We cast off in our rental boat Make, a 39 ft. Beneteau Cyclades. The plan was to sail to Cabrera which is a natural reserve just some 35 sm from the port of Palma. The weather was good, wind forecast was alright with 15-20 knots.
Once everything was stowed we disconnected the ground-power and started the engine. Unfortunately the plotter was still missing on the boat so our groundspeed was a rough guess. So was the windspeed indicator. But according to the forecast we should still be in limits.
Once we left the harbor we set sail and enjoyed the very first hour quite a lot. Then the wind picked up and we were forced to put a reef into the main sail. Only at that moment I saw the trailing edge of the sail was ripped and with the increasing wind I wouldn’t want to risk further damage to the sail. What a shame, our sailing adventure was over. Unfortunately I couldn´t film anything of that moment as we were busy with the boat.
We did however enjoy the few miles we spent on the water and we look forward to the next time.
Sailing Celina 