Bob on BAC Majorca 2007

Wildflowers along the roadside


Date tree grove where I ate lunch


View of cliffs for tomorrow's ride

The Ride - We left the Hotel Delta today for a south-to-north ride of the island. Our destination was the Hotel Miramar in Port de Pollensa. We retraced the first few kilometers of yesterday's ride to Llucmajor and then veered off on a new route. The route took us through or around the towns of LLucmajor, Randa, Monturi, Lloret, Sineu, Llubi, Sa Pablo and Alcudia. The weather was a little cool and the skies were threatening.

The ride gave us a good cross section of the island. It was mostly level with a few rollers - not very difficult. Our suggested lunch stop was in Sineu, but I was there too early to eat. Riding out of Sineu, I came to a turn on the route sheet. The road we were supposed to go on was really narrow with a sign that had a pointer to some word that looked like "racoon". There was no way that I was going on a mystery road like that so I continued on. Besides, other cyclists were going on the main road and my GPS said that it was OK. I rode on to Llubi where I stopped at a bakery and bought a really good pastry to supplement the tiny lunch from the hotel. We got bananas in our lunch today which were good but not quite as good as the oranges yesterday. At this point, my GPS got me back on route. Later I stopped by the side of the road in a date tree grove to eat. While there, I watched dozens of cyclists go by. Some were in their fancy clothes and high-priced bicycles while others were in their street clothes riding English-style upright bicycles.

When I arrived in Alcudia, I was back to the sea. There were a bunch of tourists in Alcudia, mostly English. We left the Germans at the southern end of the island. I noticed a bunch of fast-food joints and what looked like T-shirt shops and other souvenir stores. Very tacky....

The rest of the ride was along the shore. There was more traffic but the shoulder was wide enough so it was safe. When I looked toward Port de Pollensa, I could see the jagged cliffs where we would be riding tomorrow. While riding into town, I could feel a few sprinkles of rain. We were lucky that we didn't get the predicted showers. When I got to town, I had to walk a few meters to our hotel.

Final stats:

Google Earth

The Hotel - For the next two nights were are at the Hotel Miramar. The hotel was directly across the pedestrian walkway from the beach. It had a beautiful, flowery courtyard in the rear and a garage across the street for bicycle storage. Because this is a dominantly British area, the hotel staff spoke excellent English. All of our rooms were in the front of the hotel and had a sea view. We had free wifi in the lobby. I discovered that it also worked in our room.

The Food - Breakfast at the Delta was in the same restaurant. I stoked up on protein again so I wouldn't get too hungry early in the ride. For dinner, Bill, Lorenzo and I went to a restaurant for paella. It was OK but not as seasoned as I expected. One of these days I'll find a good dinner restaurant with local cooking.

Non-Cycling Activity - After everyone arrived, Bill, Steve and I walked down the pedestrian walkway and had some refreshments at a cafe. When we were ready to leave, it started raining. We skirted back to the hotel ducking under canopies. We had a good happy hour with a couple of cheeses, prociutto, wine, etc. We also had a birthday cake for Lois.

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