Beatrix pottering: The unconquerable castle

Halfway up a very steep mountain, we realised we weren't quite ready for Exertion Level 3. Our latest walk was turning out more strenuous than we'd expected.

We'd had a lovely morning saying "bon voyage" to my parents: they come with me to take Jemima to school, then we'd partaken of a Chameli's breakfast (very nice, as you might expect) before they went off to pack. Kevin and I picked them up at their hotel at 11.45am for the short trip to the airport, and waved a fond farewell as they set off on their journey home. Our subsequent plan: to drive onwards to Alaró, for the picturesque drive to Orient past the impressive twin peaks of Alaró and s'Alcadena; then a supposedly short walk uphill to the impregnable fortress of Castell d'Alaró.

This route was from our new book: "Walk! Mallorca", which mum had kindly brought with her from the UK. (I'd ordered it following the (slightly surprising) success of our hiking expeditions.) As we learned, it had its own interpretation of "exertion"...

It started easily enough: a well-worn track skirting the edge of a pretty olive grove, with the sounds of birdsong and the gentle "ding dong" of sheep bells echoing through the (very frosty) air - the sun was back, but it was pretty cold. And this was our first properly sign-posted walk, with groups of other walkers toiling up and down - apparently this is one of the most popular trails in Mallorca. But then the path turned into a wood of what the book told me was holm oak (the evergreen oak or holly oak, which I've now realised is one of the trees that makes Mallorca seem so green, even in the winter). And the path began to get a lot steeper.

We had been catching up with a group of slightly more mature walkers, and made the mistake of overtaking, just as it was getting steeper. Pride kept us going for a while, but in the end we had to stop and let them pass us - we just couldn't keep up the pace. But we persevered, huffing and puffing up the hill, until we eventually came to the large clearing of Es Pouet, with lovely views down the other side towards the sea.

Our plan had been to continue on to the Castell d'Alaró, right at the top of the mountain; but we realised we'd run out of time (and puff). So we gratefully went back down again, promising ourselves a return visit so that we can see the castle (and salvage our pride).

Instead we got back to the car, wound our way circuitously down Orient's many hairpin bends, and just made it to Chameli's to squeeze in a very late lunch before school pick up. It was lovely to see the sun back again, and even better to be our walking in it; but we'll stick to the lower exertion levels for a little longer...