Mallorca!

Hello my friends....after all the fun and fanatic activity of the first week of the world cup i decided that i needed a holiday and so I jetted off to the sunny Mediterranean island of Mallorca...I must say the Spanish people there did look a bit glum....

...oh boy....we had to be at Gatwick airport veeeeeeerrrrrryyyy early in the morning...*yawn*....

....but a mere two hours later I was in the busy arrivals hall at Palma in Mallorca...we hired a car a drove up to the very North of the island to a place called Cala san Vincenc......

.....what do you think?......

......thanks to my busy-pawed pal @archiethepatti I was able to get my towel staring onto a sun lounger and get to work on my tan....

....a quick walk around the village for supplies...er...nothing to see here...move along please....

....I saw something which gave me an idea though.....

....so here I am with typist....we hired a super swanky bike...made of titanium with electric gears and lightweight carbon wheels....it was worth more than the car we hired!....

....when it wasn't in use it had to be locked securely to the balcony railings in our hotel room....we told the hotel man we would NOT be leaving it in his unlocked garage....pfffft.....

....Mallroca is very popular with the professional cycling teams for Spring training.....eeek!....look at those mountains over there! Are we really going up there?....oh dear....

.....*gulp*....this climb took almost an hour to complete....it was actually two climbs of about the same length....there were fire hazard signs everywhere...probably for cyclists with burning legs......

....the Mallorcans left us with lots of very useful signs so we always knew where we were...probably to help with summoning cars for lifts home.....at kilometre 5 on the Ma-10 road to Soller....

.....here we are half way up that hill.......

......what do you think??!!.....

...every day we made sure we ant in to see our pals at Pro Cycle Hire in Pollensa to say thanks for the wonderful bike....

...and to replenish our energy reserves at their excellent cafe....we heartily recommend their services to anyone planning to visit the island...cyclists or not.....typist says it was some of the best espresso he had ever tasted....and THAT is a traditional Mallorcan pastry...bit like a croissant but more yummy....*whispers* we forgot the Spanish name  for it...

...we only rode for a couple of hours a day...I insisted on some time by the pool!......

....and not every day was an uphill ride...we did get to ride out along the flat coastal roads from Pollensa to Alcudia and beyond....its a hard life in the peleton!....

...parked up in a shady spot in Alcudia.....

...to check the route and cool down....

.....and see some of the sights......

...and mooch around the shops.....

....we were delighted to see that the Mallorcans take their cycling very seriously and provide cycle lanes marked in blue....

...or red......

....the flat does have its compensations....

..and just look at what some of the crazy locals got up to!....

...those are kite surfers hanging from those big birds!!

....and if you are prepared to take on the hills there are some wonderful compensations....this is at Formentor...or at least at the top of the big hill on the way there....

....as long as you are brave....!...oh yes, #flatmarley came with us and there will be more of his Mallorcan travels on the "other" blog shortly....

....he was quite keen on our cyclist picnics...when we could find a shady spot to stop....thankfully there are lots of trees in the mountains and its not difficult to find a place to take a break from the sun...did I mention it was hot? It was...most about 80 degrees I think....

....but it was lovely and cool in the evenings......

.....there is our hotel at sunset from across the bay......

....and the old town at Pollensa was dark and shady.....

....we avoided the steps on which Pollensa is built in the heat of the day......

....and it was nice to nibble on tapas in the shady town square in the evenings....

....we even had the odd thunderstorm to cool us down......

....and the Spanish are very good at making cool, dark buildings to escape from the heat of the day....the hotel was nice and comfortable....

....and full of interesting things to look at.....

...and after a hard day working on my tan.....

.....cool things to drink at all times...very important to keep hydrated when you are cycling all day...we were getting through a litre of water an hour on the roads....

....and our local goats had tips....they were very keen to bleat each time we rolled out of or into the village ....

....we could always opt to stay inside if we had had enough sun....

...we LOVE Mallorca....

ahem....and for the cycling nerds out there...here is a link to typist's Strava page to show one of the mountain ride...STRAVA....we only rode for about 2 hours a day so that we had time with the family....you can see the other rides there too.....

....*sigh*...back to work now....


El Clapton....and HERE is the link to #flatMarleys Mallorca adventures...