• Cultural Landscape of the Serra de Tramuntana

Visit: 25th January 2020

The Cultural Landscape of the Serra de Tramuntana covers 120 square miles of the rugged northwest coast of Mallorca. Over thousands of years islanders have transformed the steep terrain into terraces suitable for crop cultivation. The region benefited from the import of knowledge from invading Arab forces, who brought water-management expertise to the Balearics in the 13th century. Technologies that came with the conquerors included qanats, which are underground channels to transport water. In mountainous terraced environments it is important not only to channel water to the growing areas to feed the plants, but also to channel excess water away to prevent erosion of the precious fertile soil.

This was the destination of the only foreign holiday I took in 2020. Back in January, blissfully unaware of the chaos that was brewing in a faraway Chinese market, I travelled with my pals Ross, Nowell, KC and Kunal from Gatwick to Palma de Mallorca for a weekend away. After much dillying and dallying we were eventually met on arrival by our advance party in the form of Gokul and Chirag, who had arrived earlier and had singularly failed to pay any attention to our landing time. January is not high season in the Med, so we had little competition for seats at the various bars we visited after getting in to Palma.

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The next day Chig took off on his bicycle while the rest of us traipsed around Palma, where we saw a military ceremony and visited the city’s Gothic cathedral.

Once we’d collected our thoughts and cleared our heads a little we got into our rental car and drove out to see the Serra de Tramuntana, where we met Chig for lunch in the village of Esporles.

Winding along rural lanes flanked by orange groves it was easy to see the appeal of the area to cyclists and landscape lovers alike. The 100km route granted us plenty of views, but I’m sure I heard a collective sigh of relief when the ever-so-slightly hungover occupants of the vehicle eventually made it back onto the straight roads of Palma’s approaches.

KC insisted on a detour through Magaluf, a place he had apparently enjoyed many raucous nights as a younger man. To the rest of us it was hard to see the appeal however, and with almost every bar and nightclub closed for the season even he conceded the place had lost its lustre.

And that was it! No more WHSs in 2020 (except a revisit to Cornwall). When Covid lockdowns lift and travel becomes feasible once more, we will be back. But until then it’s domestic WHSs only, and our memories of good times past.