Day 8 - Manacor RailRide & Port Cristo
6th Nov., 61 miles
Windmills east of Sa Pobla
Another day, another commute to Sa Pobla to catch the train; but wait, there's no wind! Or so little as to be negligible. Marvellous! I aimed for and succeeded in hitting the 10:10 train; this was important as I had to make a connection with the Manacor bound train in Inca. Thankfully all went according to plan and I have to say, the more I travel on the local TiB network, the more impressed I am with its efficiency, albeit from an admittedly narrow window of experience. Trains are regular enough, run on time, and I've had no problems getting the bike on. The journey from Sa Pobla with a 15 min wait for the connection in Inca, took just over an hour and cost €3.60 - a bargain in my book.
Manacor station buildings
Taking the train to its most easterly terminus allowed me access to parts of the island that would be tougher to reach, unless I was happy to do an eighty mile day … and I wasn't. Although I didn't hang around, Manacor looked like another pleasant, well cared for, interesting town like so many of the others. Part of that is possibly the number of folks sitting, relaxing and chewing the fat outside cafes - they seem at ease.
One of the wonderful back roads
After a couple of miles along one of the main roads leaving town, despite it having a generous shoulder, I was concerned that I might have made a navigational error during re-planning this route last night but no, a right turn had me onto the quiet backroads once more. Though they are peaceful and almost traffic free, it's not that you're completely off the beaten track, there are invariably dwellings of one sort or another every so often, whether a grand hacienda or modest finca. The landscape, however, was different yet again in this area; a tapestry of narrow, shallow steep sided valleys where the road threaded through the topography and amongst the agriculture. Larger farms and modest smallholdings seem to have to work hard against the climate and geology here. The land seems unforgiving, invariably rocky, and doubtless rather arid, yet where watering is possible, crops seem to thrive. Olives are abundant, citrus fruit aplenty and today I even spotted a couple of pomegranate trees!
Roadside pomegranate trees
It wasn't long before I found myself entering the outskirts of Porto Cristo and dropping down towards the sea front. The brief time I spent there looking out over the moored vessels and the lack of touristy paraphernalia vendors gave the impression of a more upmarket location than some through which I've so far passed. Having dropped down, of course it was a climb to leave the town, but I was delighted to find that Robin Hood's Bay this was not.
The next section was the coast road and as such rather wider than earlier, but the lack of traffic and wide shoulder made for easy and stress free progress. Unfortunately the road is quite a way back from the sea itself, yet still offered plenty of decent views both to sea and looking inland. I knew at some point I was due to head inland and hit the only major climb of the day, which even then, thankfully, was not of the same order of magnitude as climbs earlier on the trip. The route up through the valley was fascinating; one moment with expansive views across to the other side, the next through a shaded glade and over a crest to see something anew. Rather than a long drawn out ascent, this was more a series of short, sharp, punchy climbs, never requiring an extended period of effort and much more to my preferred style of climbing.
Passing through the small settlement of Son Macia, I was struck by the road signs indicating the location of the Farmacie, something I've noticed several times now. That's not something we have back home and I think it's a really helpful touch for anyone travelling through an unfamiliar area to be able to quickly find medical advice … assuming it's open of course (this one was!). I was now on a section of route I only planned last night and met my first error of judgement. I turned off the lanes onto a major road, then immediately back onto another lane, except this one was gravel. Nothing ridiculous and perfectly fine if I'd been on the touring bike with wider tyres, but I now had to hope that these 25mm tyres would cope. For the couple of miles along the dusty track, cope they did. I can only imagine when plotting the new section I must have forgotten to specify 'paved roads only'. My mistake.
Eglesia de Sant Pere, Petra
The next town was Petra, and although not the amazing historical complex in Jordan, nevertheless, an attractive and historical location in its own right. From Petra to Maria de la Salut and finally Muro where territory began to look familiar. I got a second run through the incredible landscape between Muro and Sa Pobla where the agricultural land is peppered with these stubby circular towers which might at first glance seem to have a military origin. That theory quickly gave way to the more likely scenario that they are the support structures atop which sat windmills for drawing water from underground aquifers to irrigate the parched fields.
Redundant windmill towers across the parched fields south of Sa Pobla
The final stretch was along my Sa Pobla commute and got me back for four and in time for a run which I once again ashamedly forwent in favour of a stroll to the supermarket to pick up a simple picnic to eat on the waterfront. It's becoming a habit; one I could get used to.
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