Sunflower Books: Landscapes of MENORCA: WALKS AND CAR TOURS

Menorca, 4th edition (2005); updated 15/06/08

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Updates for walks and car tours (drives) on Menorca given below supplement those provided in the guidebook. It is vital that this Update is read in conjunction with the text of the book, but note that the Update applies only to the edition stated and not to any earlier editions. (If you have an older edition of this book and want to "upgrade" to the latest edition at half price, click here.)

Information has been forwarded to us by users of the book, and Sunflower Books offers the data in good faith but cannot be held responsible for any misleading or inaccurate content in the Update. Unless indicated otherwise, what appears here has not been verified by the author or publisher, so please allow due caution when new or amended routes are suggested. Each piece of information is dated; bear in mind that some of the older observations may have since been overtaken by events or further changes. If, during your holiday, you are using the current edition of the guide and are able to provide any additional updating to add to this page, we will be pleased to hear from you. Please send information, preferably in hard copy, by post, to Sunflower Books, PO Box 115, Exeter EX2 6YU (or if you prefer, by e-mail, to mail@sunflowerbooks.co.uk).

GENERAL

The Menorcan authorities are taking tourism seriously these days, and more and more of the treasures of the island are being made easily available to visitors. Now even the main churches in Mahon are open and well worth a visit. The big addition to historical sites opened up is the former military Base of La Mola at the entrance to Mahon harbour. Of course many of the places which you could visit freely in the days of the first edition of this book now charge for admission, but not much and there are concessions for children and also pensioners, so remember to have your BR464 with you.

Menorcan names.

One thing which causes much confusion for visitors is the multiplicity of names for just aboput every single place on the island. In the main towns it seems at times that every street and square has at least two names, and every time I visit the island more have appeared. Now the language aspect has become ever more complicated. Most of the Span ish names have gone, but that does not mean that we are left with just the Menorquin names. Oh no. Spain has two official languages: Castillian and Catalan. Since Menorquin is a dialect of Catalan that is seen as its official language. Except that Menorquin is far from identical with Catalan, so this simply adds yet another name to join the other two. The farm that in the first edition appeared as La Trinidad, and then as Sa Trinita, now appears on a road sign as La Trinitat which I swear nobody on Menorca has ever called it! I try to keep to the same name for places throughout the book and update.

Buses

The TMSA buses now depart in Ciutadella from the opposite side of the Placa de S'Esplanada from the Torres buses, not from carrer Barcelona. People who arrive on that bus should begin walks in Ciutadella at the point given for those arriving on the Torres buses.

Bus Timetables

Current timetables ("horarios") can be found on the websites of the relevant bus companies. All three have either English language sites or translations. Their web addresses are:
TMSA - www.transportesmenorca.net
Torres - www.e-torres.net
Autos Fornells - www.autosfornells.com

Touring map

The road from Es Mercadel to Fornells is the Me15, not Me13. The 'Ronda] skirting Ciutadella is now complete and aids access to Santandria, Cala Blanca and Cala 'n Bosch from the Me 1. (e-mail, 6/07)

Car Hire

Here is a useful tip for people returning hire cars to Menorca airport. To get to the hire car parking follow signs for Arrivals (Llegadas), NOT departures (sortidas).

WALKS

General: The authorities have spent a great deal of time and money waymarking coastal footpaths. They have also created cycle routes which may be of interest to walkers. We could get no official information on these improvements. (User, 110/07)

Walk 1 The new bus station has been completed and leads directly on to the Placa de S'Esplanada. There is a tourist information office in the bus station as well as toilets. Note that the museum of Menorcan Antiquities is closed on Mondays during the summer. The museum is housed in the cloisters of the Franciscan friary; I strongly recommend a visit if only to see them.

Walk 2 After the 1h30min point, when you come to the farm of Sa Torreta you will see that there has been a considerable amount of recent building. This necessitates a change in the route to the poblat. Go through the facing gate at the end of the field and turn right. Follow the track beside the farm wall for 150m. then turn left and enter the farmyard. Pass to the right of the threshing floor and just before reaching the farm buildings turn right through a wide gap in a wall. Cross a field, go through a similar gap and turn left. After visiting the poblat retrace your steps to the threshing floor and follow directions in the book from that point.

Walk 7 At the 2h15min point it is no longer feasible to turn left; the entire area between the Me-14 (airport road) and the industrial estate is one huge construction site. So you will have to turn right and finish the walk by turning to page 64 and following the directions given for Walk 8 from the 2h47min point to the end.
If you are doing the shorter walk there is no good reason to continue beyond the basilica, so turn round here and follow the directions for Walk 8 from about the 3h point.

Walk 8 Do not even think of walking between Alaior and Torralba any more. Get a taxi from Alaior or Cala'n Porter to Torralba d'en Salort and begin the walk there.

Walk 9: Walk 9b: The gate at BINIXEMS DE DEVANT seems to be permanently locked now, and the suggested alternative 100 meters down the road is also blocked. There is now a new stone stile in the wall approximately 20 meters past the farm (User, April 2007) + We started in Arenal d'en Castell & tried to find the road to Sant Llorenc which should be a left turn off the Me9. We never found it & did a circle down Cami d'en Kane to the Me7, hoping to pick up the other end, however we never saw it & ended up at the junction of the Me 7 & Me9. So we started the same circle again but not finding the turning off the Me9 took the one recommended in your book. Walk 9b is totally blocked with signs & gates. We did most of 9c, saw some pretty plants, crickets sunbathing in unopened cow parsley,lizards & heard some chatty birds. We decided to take the car down 9c as we had walked most of it & the road was good, expecting to join the Me7 (& find the road we had not spotted). There had also been about 4 cars up or down it whilst we were walking. However, all the minor tracks & the red road on your map on page 67 are blocked by gates & signed private property of the
Caza. (This is the Cova de Dalt & Cova de Baix end.) So we had to turn round and drive back the way we had arrived (towards Alaior) . (User, 6/08)

Walk 13 The path through the valley is narrow but quite passable at the moment, but I would still recommend long trousers (jeans actually)and sleeves. The green dots have gone, but there are plenty of red ones and the odd arrow. Binigaus Nou shows definite signs of habitation but you should be all right for visiting the hypostyle chamber.

Walk 14: A signposted cycle route existes so the walk could be extended, however there seems to be a lot of new tarmac as well. (User, 10/07)

Walk 16: This area has been extensively improved (and it already was great) by new waymarks and other improvements. From the 20 min mark the route is waymarked and gaps have been made in the walls. Be sure to take the side route to a new viewpoint over Cala Mitjana, it even has safety rails. The climb out of the bay is along your route, but now with waymarks and cut steps. The onward route is as described and waymarked, the final descent into the bay again being aided by newly cut steps but care is still needed, the last step being about a three foot drop into the stream. You can now continue by following the waymarked route all the way to Sant
Tomas. This is a wonderful extension. (User, 10/07)

Walk 17: The uphill track to the left at the 26min point has disappeared. It has been completely overgrown so that it is not just impassable but untraceable. This has proved to be fortuitous as you will see. [But not true - see the next update - Sunflower.] But there are now two distinct walks. The Long Walk takes the left-hand track at the 13min point and goes uphill. After about 15 minutes you pass the entrance to Son Mestres farm on the left and in another 25 minutes come to Santa Galdana farmhouse.Turn left here and follow the directions in the book from the 50min point. The Short Walk follows the directions in the book to the 26min point, but instead of turning left carries on straight ahead. Another 17 minutes walking will bring you into a truly spectacular valley where fencing will end your outward stroll. You must now turn round and retrace your steps. The whole walk will take just under an hour and a half, but if you love nature and especially birtds it may well prove one of the most enjoyable hours and a half of your holiday. + Your current update says that the path at the 28 min point is impassible. THIS IS WRONG. Follow the walk instructions carefully and look out for gate made out of pallets which is clearly visible about 10 yards from the valley floor. At the top of the climb the wider path where the book advises turning right had a cairn which seemed to block this path, so I followed a well walked goat track which wandered around a bit but reached the second pallet gate you mentioned and followed your instructions out onto the lane. The gate after the farm onto the tarmac lane now has a stile. We found the gate near Poblat Torre Trencada (2h24min) firmly lockedand in our opinion unclimbable. [This was confirmed by another user, 10/07.] There is now a new alternative, near the Torre Petxina school: you will find yourself on the Ciutadella Ferreries cycle route. Follow it in the Ferreries direction and it soon becomes a very interest walk through the gorge (there must be some very brave cyclists). (User, 10/07)


Walk 18: Now waymarked and easy to follow with some new sections nearer the cliffs giving even better views. (User, 10/07)

Walk 19: The Ermita car park appeared to be locked so we carried on down the road to a new large car park for CALA MACARELLA to start the walk. This has steps down to the beach and is signed to take 15 minutes. Where you leave the road after the 10min-point this track has now been tarmaced all the way to MARJALETA farm (the 50min-point) and it looked as if it was going to be tarmaced all the way to AL PARA. Just before the "power lines" on your right the gate has been completely blocked by a new dry stone wall (about 1.75 meters high) and if that was not discouragement enough behind this new wall the track was blocked with prickly trimmings. However, having come this far we walked 20 meters to the right of this new wall through another gateway and then scrambled over the wall to be welcomed by a blue blob of paint. These paint blobs continued sporadically to the "loosely filled" gateway, which was anything but. Again we went to the right climbed into the adjoining field and then back on the track. As you refer to the map on 96-97 we picked up luminous pink arrows. But just as we forked left a few meters short of the stone wall the gate was well and truly blocked up again. We climbed to the left this time! As we arrived at CALA MACARELLA we noticed that the coastal path (Walk 18) appeared to be closed, although it looked as though the locals had just walked over the temporary orange netting anyway and interestingly the diversion sign to CALA MACARELLETA seemed to point at the gate we had just walked through which had a "propidad privada" sign on it. On leaving CALA MACARELLA after about 15 minutes the dirt track merges with
the tarmac road to the new car park (we turned right here to our car, about 0.75 km); the walk continues to the left. It would appear that the car park arrow on the sign has been crudely changed from a right arrow to a left arrow. It would appear the locals unimpressed with the prospect of a fifteen minute walk have man handled the barrier out of the way so they can drive straight to the beach (this might be useful for walk 17 as you might miss this junction). Summary don't bother with this walk - too much tarmac and substantially blocked gates (User, April 2007)

Walk 20 Those who arrive on the TMSA bus will already be on the Avinguda del Capita Negrete and should therefore begin the walk there (shortly after[10] in the text, page 117.)
The entrance to the Salort Palace [5] is on your left, about 30 metres short of the end of Major del Born Street, through an open, unmarked wooden door. It is directly opposite the larger, more imposing entrance to the Torre Saura Palace.

Walk 21a The southern section of the Ciutadella ring road is now complete and most of this walk has disappeared completely.

Walk 22 Work on the ring road (ronda: Rc-2) means a temporary change to the start and finish of this walk. When you get to the horse roundabout (about 20min point) keep straight ahead on the Me-1. Do not turn right into the Cami Vell, but walk beside the main road until you come to the new ring road. Cross to the far side of the ring road, turn right and walk along the verge for 300 metres. Turn left at the first junction. The next 100 metres is horrible and dusty, but then you are at the Pedreres de S'Hostal and you can follow the directions in the book from that point. Follow this same route back into town at the conclusion of the walk.

Walk 23 The gate to Bini Atram (35min) has had concrete blocks put in front. These have been re-arranged to form convenient steps so that climbing over the gate presents no problem. Note that these measures do not have rambling tourists in mind (there are too few of them likely to venture this far off the beaten track) but, like the "private shooting" notice, local poachers. Who probably re-arranged the concrete slabs. Doubtless it is the same gentlemen who are responsible for making the exit from the Curniola estate so much easier now than as described in the book at about the 2h05min point. When you reach the sand quarry walk beside the bushes towards the far right-hand corner of the field. 15 metres short of the wall turn right along a narrow but quite obvious path that winds northwards for 30 metres through the low bushes to a broken down section of wall. Walk through the wall, turn left and immediately pass through a gap in another wall. Follow the path beyond it until it turns right and continues towards the sea, widening out and passing in front of newly-built houses. When the path reaches Auriga Street turn left , and left again at the roundabout into Via Lactia and pick up the directions in the book at the 2h15min point. There are bus stops in Cala Morell which give the times of buses from Ciutadella as: 08.45, 11.00, 18.30 and from Cala Morell as: 09.00, 11.15, 18.45. I would check with tourist information in Ciutadella whether the bus still runs and whence it departs the city because from the totally deserted aspect of Cala Morell I would doubt whether anybody has ever used it. + We attempted this walk on Feb 10 2008 and found a problem at the gate to Bini Atram (35 min). In the update you say some "concrete blocks have been re-arranged to form convenient steps...so climbing over gate presents no problem". In fact the blocks have now been concreted together to form a solid 6' wall across the whole of the iron gate with no steps or crossing places, and it is too high to climb. My husband crawled through the hedge on the left, but across the next field found that the gate ahead was blocked with pallets and fencing. We gave up and retraced our steps. Perhaps this could be checked to see if an alternative way can be found. We did notice new MAIN gates up to Bini Atram farm on the Cala Morell road - perhaps the walk could be routed this way? (User, 3/08)