A ride from the apartment

A 44.4 mile ride from the apartment today. Martin joined us for today's ride We started along the front then took the back roads towards Alcudia. We stopped for coffee from the machine in the Parc natural de S'Albufera de Mallora. Good value at 50 cents but the long coffee was like an espresso, the coffee with a dash on milk like an espresso with a dash of milk and the latte like an espresso with a little more milk added. All served with sugar already in the cup. We continued to Muro for lunch. Our usual cafe. We each had a vegetable pasty and coffee. Lyn and I shared a cake whilst Martin got his own sugar fix. ( He is not on the Desmond programme). After lunch we continued to Sa Pobla. An attempt to avoid the ring road failed as the road ended in a private track. We returned to the main road and went back to the ring road. The route back to appartment via the coves of Campanet and the back roads from the Golf club. The day started of at around 18 degrees but the sun came out and short sleeved tops were worn for most of the day.

posted from Bloggeroid

Mondays photos

Parc natural de S'Albufera de Mallorca,
Muro,
Martin getting a sugar fix.
Coves de Campanet

Sunday's Bimble

A late start today. We were late to bed as Martin and Sue did not arrive until 23:35 and that combined with a poor forecast for the morning meant we had a leisurely start to the day and we did not leave the apartment until after midday. There were a few spots of rain on our way to Sa Pobla
but these had stopped by the time we reached our usual parking spot. There was however a strong easterly wind that made the ride out of Sa Pobla hard going.We decided to ride to Llubi for a late lunch and started by taking yesterdays route to the path alongside the railway line. This time we turned off before the end of the track onto Cami des Rotes de Son Ramon. The path was not marked on the Garmin . We had to retrace our steps after one way was blocked by a gate but eventually arrived at Llubi. It was a short steep climb up to the village . We selected a bar in the main square for lunch, cafe s'acusticafe. Robert had another Pa amb oli and Lyn a goats cheese salad. After lunch we continued to along another mountain bike track to the train station at Estacio d Enllac. It was difficult to tell from the map were the exact crossing point across the tracks where the road we wanted was. We ended up taking the subway under the platform only to find there was not way then to exit the station from the far side. We retraced our steps few humdred metres to the road bridge and continued on the minor tracks to the outskirts of Inca. We returned to Sa Pobla on the water road pushed along by the strong tail wind. Robert recorded a speed of over 30 mph on the flat coming into Sa Pobla. A round trip of about 25 miles with some quite bumpy off-road sections. For the second day running Robert did not restart his Garmin after lunch do missed recording a section of the ride.

We returned to the apartment at 6:15 just after Martin and Sue had returned from their walk. After a refreshing pot of tea the evening meal of lemon chicken was prepared. When ready this was washed down with a bottle of wine we purchased from the wine fair the previous week .A dessert of lemon bananas was fabricated from the ingredients we had to hand. We finished the evening playing cards with Martin. Blogs were updated before we returned to bed. A fine day is forecast for tomorrow so will have another ride this time with Martin.


Lemon Chicken



Martin and Sue

posted from Bloggeroid

Sunday's Bimble

A late start today. We were late to bed as Martin and Sue did not arrive until 23:35 and thst combined with a poor forecast for the morning meant we had a leasurely start to the day and did not
we did not leave the apartment until after midday. There were a few spots of rain on our way to Sa Pobla
but these had stopped by the time we reached our usual parking spot. There was however a strong easterly wind that made the ride out of Sa Pobla hard going.We decided to ride to Llubi for a late lunch and started by taking yesterdays route to the path alongside the railway line. This time we turned off before the end of the track onto Cami des Rotes de Son Ramon. The path was not marked on the Garmin . We had to retrace our steps after one way was blocked by a gate but eventually arrived at Llubi. It was a short steep climb up to the village . We selected a bar in the main square for lunch, cafe s'acusticafe. Robert had another Pa lamb oil and Lyn a goats cheese salad. After lunch we continued to along another mountain bike track to the train station at Estacio d Enllac. It was difficult to tell from the map were the exact crossing point across the tracks eee and we ended up taking the subway under the platform to find there was not way then to exit the station. We retraced our steps few hundred metres to the right crossing point and continued on the minor tracks to the outskirts of Inca. We returned to Sa Pobla on the water road pushed along by the strong tail wind. Robert recorded a speed of of 30 mph on the flat coming into Sa Pobla. A round trip of about 25 miles with some quite bumpy off-road sections. For the second day running Robert did not restart his Garmin after lunch do missed recording a section of the ride.

We returned to the apartment at 6:15 just after Martin and Sue had returned from their walk. After a refreshing pot of tea the evening meal of lemon chicken was prepared. When ready this was washed down with a bottle of wine we purchased from the wine fair the previous week .A dessert of lemon bananas was fabricated from the ingredients we had to hand. We finished the evening playing cards with Martin. Blogs were updated before we returned to bed. A fine day is forecast for tomorrow so will have another ride this time with Martin.


Lemon Chicken



Martin and Sue

posted from Bloggeroid

Sunday’s photos

Start of the ride from Sa Pobla,
Off the map,
Lunch in Llubí,
Mountain bike track

A ride from Sa Pobla

We parked in our usual spot on the outskirts of the town. We had to divert to get there because the road had been shut because of the Mallorca 312 cycle ride. We set off before any of the riders arrived. Today's ride took us out of Sa Pobla on the minor tracks across the fields towards Llubi. We had a few miles on a mountain bike track alongside the railway line past fields of garlic. We joined the road for the final couple of miles to Llubi and then we were on a paved track again towards Sineu. The 6 miles between Sineu and Petra were on a quiet road. We arrived in Petra around 2:00pm. We decided not to stop for lunch with the hoards of cyclist in the main square but instead continued to Ariany with the hope of getting something in the bar we had stopped for coffee at on a previous trip.
We were 500 yards away from our destination when we found the road blocked for the 312 cycle ride.We diverted thought the fields and had a steeper climb up to to village past the church. We had a coffee in the bar, they did sell cold tapas but the choice was limited and we were not tempted. We tock the longer way to Maria keeping to the minor tracks. We hoped to find a bar that sold food but we were not hopeful as we made the final climb to village. Arriving in the centre we had a choice of 3 bars and a restaurant that were open. Will picked the bar where we could sit in the shade and ordered a mixed pa amb oli each. We could have shared one plate but that did not stop has from finishing what they brought us. We could have taken a direct route on the road to Muro but instead took tracks to Santa Margalida. I wanted to avoid the main road to Muro and take the track marked on the map. The track was located will the aid of the Garmin but it did take us down a flight of steps out of the town. The route would have taken us within 2 miles of Muro but we found the track gated so had to divert onto the main road. It was 18:15 when we arrived in Muro and our favourite bakers was still open. We stopped for a coffee and a cake. We then had a 4 miles mainly downhill back to the van.
A trip to the new Lidl provided provision for tea. It was then back to the flat to prepare for Martin's and Sue'd arrival.

posted from Bloggeroid

Saturday Photos 2

The road ran out,

Santa Margalida

Saturday Photos 1

A second ride from Sancelles

We slept well after our visit to Sony's bar on Thursday evening. For today's ride we drove to Sancelles , parking in our usual spot. The plan was to cycle to Alaro for lunch. I picked a route on the minor tracks to Santa Maria. Where we past the most elaborate private crazy golf course in the garden of a house on the outskirts of the village. We then continued to the cami de Muro and cycled on it until it finished at Santa Maria. The town was busy but we were soon on the back road climbing up to Alaro. We had done the route on a previous trip, the road must have been resurfaced and only 1 short section of cobbles remained. On reaching Alaro we headed for vegetarian cafe we eat in 2 years ago. They were not able to survive on our infrequent custom and had closed down. Most of the cyclists obviously preferring the standard offering in the main square. We purchased a couple of pies for lunch from a bakers and sat them sat on the wall in the main square to eat them. Did you spot us on the webcam? When we set off there were a couple of options for the ride back from Alaro. As the weather was excellent we decided to cycle back via the Orient, an additional 25 miles . Once we had negotiated our way round the back streets we were on the 5.2 km climb of the Coll d'Orient. Lyn competed the climb at a steady pace whilst Robert chased down a cyclist , looped back to Lyn before chasing the cyclist down again. On reaching the village of the Orient we stopped to apply more sunscreen. We then had the ascent of the Coll d' Honor. From the top it was a long fast descent to Bunyola. We did not stop in any of the numerous cafes an instead continued down to Santa Maria. An ice cream parlour provided some excellent homemade ice cream and a coffee before we returned to Sancelles via the Cami d'Muro. A gentle breeze pushing us along.A round trip of 43 miles with 813m of ascent. We eat in Puerto Pollenca in Restaurant Can Pancho. The food was good, but not cheap,and they lived up to the good reviews they had on TripAdvisor . We shared a fish ravioli to start and then each had a slow cooked lamb shoulder with quince and pine nuts. We ignored the temptation of having another drink in Bony's bar and instead returned to the apartment.

posted from Bloggeroid

Friday photos 3

Fridays photos 2

Coll d'Orient
Orient,
Ice cream in Santa Maria,
View across to the mountains

Fridays photos

Crazy golf,
Santa Eugenia,
Closed down ,
Lunch in Alaro,
Climb to the Orient

Wednesdays Photos 2

Where are we

Where are we now

Back st the van

Wednesdays photos

Ariana

Petra

Strawberry growing

Road to Sant Lloret des Cardassar

Pie with peas

20 miles for a pie

The forecast today was mixed. The actual forecast depended on which one you chose to believe. We decided to drive to Ariany and start a ride from there. The temperature was cooler than previous days and after much debate Lyn opted to start the day with a windproof jacket and leave her sleeved and gillet in the van. We took the minor tracks to Petra about 3 miles away and then had 5 miles on the main road with a gental ascent out of Petra so we could drop down to the Bosch valley. There was not a lot of traffic but a strong head wind slowed our progress. There were a few spots of rain as we started the rapid descent to the valley but the rain stayed away all day. We turned off before Manacor and then took the MA 3323 to Sant Llorenc des Cardassar. We were ready of a pie but still had 9km to go before we reached the town. The stong head wind and ascent slowed our progress. There was a short steep climb with 5km to go and then it was a long steady descent. The bakery Ca N'amer was quickly located and we ordered a pie with peas and a coffee each. After another coffee and a shared vegetable pasty we were ready for the 20 miles back to the van. We took the bike path on the disused railway line to Mancor. Once we negotiated the ring road we tried to take the scenic minor road out of the town we had cycled on previously. We thought we were on the wrong road so took the next road along off the ring road. After 3 miles the road on the Garmin finished but the road continued!
We knew where we were and where the road we need was but had no tracks displayed so we could plan a route. Eventually a couple of miles on a stoney road brought us out on the road we needed. We continued to Petra and took the minor tracks back to Ariany. A round trip of 41 miles. I paused the Garmin during the lunch stop and did not start it again after lunch so only recorded half the ride. We will have to return to map the exact route. The windproof tops stayed on all day and the rain stayed away

posted from Bloggeroid

Open on Wednesdays

Yesterday evening we paid our first visot to the Pines bar opposite the apartment to see the second half of the champions league semi final. We did have the match on in the apartment with Spanish commentary but Robert managed to miss the first three goals.After ordering 2 beers in our best Spanish the Bar turned out to be run by an Englishman. The bar was filled with regulars who we allowed to build up a tab. R watched the match ehilst L read her book.

Today's ride started from Llubi. When we last parked there in 2016 we saw a tornado in the afternoon and would have got very wet if I had not accepted Bob's offer of a lift back to the van. Today the day started a little cooler. Long sleeve over tops were put in the van but not used and the gillets that we took with us on the ride stayed packed up all day. We cycled from Llubi to the Cami vell du Muro . A minor road frequented by cyclists that offers good views across to the mountains and passes alongside several vineyards . We turned off to Consell and then aided by the Garmin worked our way around the back roads of Binissslem. The only problem we had was a short detour when we ignored a homemade no entry sign and found the road blocked by a railway line that was not shown on the Garmin map. We climbed to Lloseta and then continued to Biniamar arriving around 13:00. Bar Mayorga was unlike Monday was open. We ordered a mixed pa amb oli each. Lyn had water and I had a small beer. Excellent value at 11 euros 30. To get back to Llubi we decided to go via Muro and stop at Cafeteria Ca'n Barcelo.Our first visit of the holiday. Business must be good as they had expanded with an additional row of tables outside.
We had a coffee each and shared a piece of apricot cake . We then took the minor tracks back to Llubi with navigation sided by the Garmin. Returning to Puerto de Pollenca we stopped in the new Lidl on Sa P.obla on route. We eat in the apartment again with a main course of lemon chicken.

posted from Bloggeroid

Wednesdays Photos 1

Wednesdays Photos

A ride from Sancelles

Another warm day with a maximum temperature of 26.5 degrees.

We decided go start today's rode from Sancelles and ride to Porreres for lunch. We took the van to Sancelles and after a couple of trips round the town located the car park we had used previously. We started riding at 11:20 and once we had got our bearing we were on the minor road to Ruberts where we took the mountain bike track towards Monturi. To extend the ride we then turned towards Algaida . On reaching the main MA15 we took the service road along side for about 1.5 miles back towards Monturi before turn off on the minor road to Porreres. We arrived at around 1:30 and headed straight for Sa Placa a bar we had eaten in on a number of previous trips . We selected the menu of the day. 8.50 for a main course, desert and a drink. Lyn selected the fish and Robert a Mallorcan dish recommended by the waitress. It was tasty but not quite what he was expecting. When it came it turned out to be black pudding on a bed of cooked onions and pimentos on half a muffin with a friend egg on top.

We returned via Monturi, Lloret de Vista Alegre, Ruberts, Costix and then took a long loop back to Sencelles. The temperature cooled a few degrees in the afternoon and that made the cycling easier that than the morning.

We got back to the apartment at around 18:15.

Summary of the ride 36.6 miles with 539 metres of ascent

posted from Bloggeroid

Tuesdays ride