Join me as I recount and remember my first ever long distance solo hiking adventure crossing the Tramuntana Mountain Range in Mallorca in January 2018.
Walking this route had been a dream of mine for a few years when I was living in Mallorca.
Today I share with you Day 3 of my adventure across Mallorca. To read Days 1 and 2 please click on the buttons below.
Friday 19 January 2018
Today was a much shorter day than some of the other days. It was a well needed rest day before several longer days with steep climbing that are to come later on.
As you can see from the messages to my family, my legs are starting to suffer now. I hadn’t trained for mountain walking before the trip, especially with a weighty backpack to carry, and I could notice it now.
The scenery seems to get more and more beautiful on this stretch of the walk.
The donkeys were an extra special treat too. There were sooo many donkeys as I got closer to Port de Soller. I think they are a sight for sore eyes, I could look at them all day.
Whatsapp Message to Family
07:23 Deía to Port de Soller (12.5 km) expected walking time 3hrs.
Weather forecast is much the same as yesterday starting off cloudier and with a bit of sun later on too. Body check: feet are good, no blisters which is a relief after the 10 hours I did yesterday. However, thighs are very ooey ouchy this morning after all the climbing. I think it will pass when I warm up but I’m crabbing across the walls to get to the bathroom at mo and sitting down is more of an ‘aim for the chair and fall’.
Hostel in Deia is great- warm and cosy with only 4 bunks in a room, in fact, I’m the only one here so another great night of sleep.
Planning on getting to Muleta hostel in Port de Soller early afternoon so that I can wash my hair and some clothes and have lunch in the village.
Sadly the photos taken on my old mobile don’t really do the amazing views justice, but they do give you an idea of what the paths were like, as well as the feeling of height that you get on some sections of this walk.
The hostel had a different style to the others I had stayed in up to now. Muleta Refugi has one massive dorm, as you can see in the photo. I chose to sleep in the top bunk so that I could get a good view out of the window. The refugi is close to the Faro des Cap Gros lighthouse on the west side of the bay. It looked over the bay and Port de Soller from high up on the cliff and felt surprisingly isolated from the town.
A Sociable Evening
Today was a special day for me, as my then partner was coming out to have dinner with me and join me for half of the next day’s walk. This also meant that I could give him some of my unnecessary gear to take back with him which lightened my load considerably. I think my pack weighed around 5 kilos less afterwards!
I found it amazing how just having a few days of all day hiking to myself could have such a profound effect on my mental wellbeing. Yes, my body was tired, but my mind was calm and rested and I felt like I was drinking up all the beauty from nature’s scenery.
12:26 Arrived at next hostel and I’m pretty sore still to be honest, but at least it’s a short day and the walk today was easy. So a restful afternoon coming up I think.
Lunch in Port de Soller
I checked into the refugi and then made my way down to the town to look for some lunch. I ended up eating patatas bravas (fried potato chunks) with a very spicy sauce to go with them, and a salad. There weren’t many options open at this time of year, especially for vegans and understandably given the lack of tourists, but I was glad to have some freshly made food.
I mainly ate nuts and dried fruit when I was walking, which I love. But after several days of them I was starting to crave juicy fresh foods. The nuts were quite hard to digest actually.
At the time I did this hike I was eating a mainly vegan diet with lots of salads and wholegrains. These turned out to be the things I missed most while walking. I did pick up a few pieces of fruit from the local shops as I was passing through. However, you are limited to how much you can carry if you want to keep your weight down.
Food in the hostels
The hostels generally offered white bread and jam for breakfast and an omelette (tortilla) if you wanted it. Sadly the bread was often quite dry and a little stale. I am guessing that during busier seasons they would receive fresh daily deliveries. Understandably, when I was the only guest it probably wasn’t worth it for them.
Dinner was fresh and delicious in Refugi Muleta. I couldn’t ask for more – it was hot and freshly cooked and there was plenty of it. It was a pasta dish with a vegetable and tomato sauce accompanied with a nicely made salad. So so good, and just what I needed to power me up for the next day.
Booking your meal online
I had easily booked my meal online (here) when I booked our places there. Embarrassingly, although I had clicked on the vegan option the information hadn’t been passed on to the Refugi though. They had already gone out and bought some fish for our dinner. It sounded like it would have been delicious, but I wasn’t ready to veer that much off my vegetarian diet. I hope the staff enjoyed it instead :).
Recommendation: if you are booking a bed and have special dietary requirements it’s a good idea to also send an email directly to the hostel making it clear to them what you need.
Next week I’ll be sharing with you day 4 of the Mallorca adventure. From day 4 things really started ramping up a notch, from all perspectives!