26th April 2019
After many, many months of training, our first day of riding in Mallorca had arrived. What a day to start with, a gentle ride out to the lighthouse at Cap de Formentor! The ride served a couple of purposes:
- Test out the bike after reassembling it following transport in a bike box.
- Give the legs a good primer before the big event the following day.
We set off, the weather was so much warmer than we had left behind in the UK. It was great to be in summer kit and see the sunshine. We were very lucky in that the day before, when we had arrived, the weather had suddenly improved from what was more typically cold, wet, and windy UK weather!
Our route started from Playa de Muro and followed the coast northwards to Port d’Alcudia, a lot of it along a cycle path with a great view of the sea. One of the first things I noticed was the quality of the road surfaces in Mallorca, they were incredibly good! Almost all of the tarmac was very smooth to roll along on and lacked the potholes that we are so used to seeing. We continued on to Port de Pollença, again with lovely views.
Coll de sa Creueta
Carrying on from Port de Pollença, we and encountered our first climb of around 2.5 miles, a cat 3 – Coll de sa Creueta. Of course, with the main event the next day we took it very steady! There’s a nice place to stop at the top and take photos.
Moving on towards the lighthouse at Cap de Formentor, we encountered a tunnel. After passing through the tunnel, make sure you look to the left, you’ll be treated to a fantastic view down to the sea which is a beautiful shade of blue!
Approaching the Lighthouse at Cap de Formentor
The last stretch took us towards the lighthouse. There are some lovely views of it on the approach (which I didn’t capture until on the way there 🙈). The roads twist and turn for the final approach, with queues of traffic at a standstill waiting for a space to become free in the car park. It’s a very popular tourist spot with most visitors driving there. One word of caution, the final few hundred metres can have a queue of cars around narrow bends where cars that are leaving can only just squeeze by. Be careful not to end up sandwiched between cars (as nearly happened to me twice!).
Once at the top there’s a cafe to visit to top up those essential glycogen stores, I had a rather nice piece of cheesecake 😊 There’s a good outdoor seating area to enjoy the lovely views while you eat and drink. Here’s a panoramic I took showing the winding road to and from the lighthouse.
On to Pollença
We followed the route back, winding our way down from the lighthouse, through the tunnel, descending Coll de sa Creueta, and passing slightly north of the coast past Port de Pollença. There was no real plan of exactly where to go, other than a trip to see the lighthouse, and now our stomachs dictated that we find a nice place to stop for lunch! We figured Pollença would be a good option and headed south-west until we got there. To our initial surprise, there were many narrow streets without a soul in sight, but then, after a short time, we suddenly found ourselves in a fantastic square full of restaurants and lots of people!
This was a great place for lunch. Sitting outside in the warmth of the sun was incredible just a day after leaving a cold and rainy UK. A good pasta dish sorted us out, and a beer, of course – it’d be rude not too!
We left Pollença and made our way back to Playa de Muro, stopping at Port d’Alcudia for an ice cream 😊 All in all, it was a fantastic first day in Mallorca! We were all feeling ready for what tomorrow would bring – the Mallorca 312 ride…
Here’s the ride we did out to the lighthouse at Cap de Formentor:
