Day 2 of 7. Fornalutx to Sóller. 8 km, 350 m of ascent. Which would be a piece of cake for all of us if it wasn’t for the heat.

We set off along the pretty, flower-adorned, cobbled streets of Fornalutx. But our route started ascending before we had even left the town, and that ascent then continued for three and a half kilometres with nearly no breaks. We were, frankly, suffering most of that time.


Finally we reached the viewpoint at Mirador de ses Barques and were rewarded by views all the way down to Port de Sóller. At the café we got some rest, and ice cream and refreshing drinks.

Here the relentless ascent ended and we now mostly walked downhill. The weather was no cooler, but not having to push uphill all the time made a huge difference.

The kids complained about the heat a bit but I got the impression that it didn’t bother them as much as me and Eric, it was more just something to complain about. Their real problem was boredom. Now they started playing “20 questions” with animals to pass the time. Soon they were fairly skipping along, walking ahead of us to the next point in our route description (“in 150 metres, pass an old gateway” or “when the path crosses a trail, keep going straight ahead”) and waiting for us to catch up.


The paths and trails were sometimes cobbled but often quite stony and uneven. I had to keep my eyes down in front of my feet much of the time, so I couldn’t look around as much as I would have liked. But that was perhaps not a huge loss – the surroundings today were less varied than yesterday. Mostly lots of stone walls and gnarly olive trees and dusty, brown ground.

Thoughts of air conditioned hotel rooms and a dip in the hotel pool kept us going, and we were justly rewarded upon our arrival.