She had been asking to climb a mountain like Mummy and Daddy (having seen photos of our various hikes), and today we were starting with something gentle: a 45 minute walk up a well-marked path to Santuari del Puig de Maria near Pollença. We needed have worried: she is fitter than we are. It must be all the scooting.
After a lovely sunny drive to the north-west of the island, we'd found the turning and parked the car with others near the bottom of a narrow tarmac-ed road. It led up past some very pretty old stone houses until it started its switch-backing route up through beautiful green countryside. Before long, we could see Pollença town lying beneath us, crouched golden in the green valley. And then it got further and further below, as the road climbed and climbed.
After about twenty minutes the road stopped, and the route turned into a cobbled path, thankfully edged with stones as by this point we were pretty high, and still getting higher. We weren't alone: this is clearly a popular route, and we met a variety of other people hiking up and down: families with children Jemima's age, elderly couples with those walking poles; groups of teenagers in all the gear: all of human life was represented. And at one point, while we were toiling up the steep cobbles, we were overtaken by a young man striding up at speed with a large box of some provisions on his shoulders: the only way to get anything to the top is by foot, which given there is a restaurant up there, is quite impressive.
And so was Jemima. Not one complaint; seemingly tireless; she just kept going, saying (with some pride) how easy she found it. And then we made it to the top, to another one of these impossibly perched elegant religious buildings with fabulous views. "My head is hot!" she said. So we got her an ice cream which she ate sitting in the sun with a view of Pollença town far below at the foot of the mountains, which spread out ahead of us until they ended in the sea. Beautiful.
After an explore of the atmospheric Santuari: a darkened church, terraces with sheep, various warm stone buildings, and a scattering of puffing visitors (including babies and dogs - they all made it up, obviously with help), we started the journey down. The cobbles were actually quite difficult to walk on, as they were large, with big gaps between, and a bit slippy. But clutching Jemima firmly by the (very sweaty) hand, we made our way down, marvelling at the views en route. Jemima even wanted to run down, she was so full of beans. We could say her first mountain climb had been a complete success.
After we got back to the car, we drove the short distance to Port de Pollença on the coast. Having found a parking place with difficulty (what it must be like in the summer!), we started down the newly "reformed" (as they say round here) and not quite finished seafront Paseo. There were a lot of cyclists: Mallorca is a major cycling destination during the winter, and this was clearly a main route: the Paseo had its own cycle lane with people of all ages and shapes whizzing up and down in Lycra.
A little way along we found Tolo's, which turned out to be a popular cyclists' venue: they had Pasta Wiggins on the menu, and the interior was full of bikes, photos and signed jerseys. The food wasn't Chameli's cheap but it was absolutely delicious: Kevin's prawn masala was the best curry he's ever had; I had amazing Mallorcan-style fish and chips, with light-as-a-feather fish with my favourite padrón peppers and a huge pile of moreish fried onions; and, unusually, the kids menu had fish on it too, so Jemima had tasty pan-fried bream. What a lucky find.
A final (full) Paseo wander, and then it was home-time. We drove back across the island, the sun still shining, happy hikers.
Best foot forward...
Jemima drew us a map (we are climbing the yellow mountain)
Our uphill path
Water break
The Santuari
And down again
Port de Pollença - racing along the Paseo
Jemima took a photo of Daddy (and his beer)
They don't have benches, they have stone sunbeds...
The mountain Jemima climbed!
