The Cave's Garden, the powerful marine of the Majorcan Tramuntana

Palma“It was a grey and rainy day; in the middle of a scrubland of strawberry trees and myrtles, my men had lost their way and we trod for a long time, before finding the path that leads from the Cave to Valldemossa” (What I know about Miramar, Archduke Ludwig Salvator, 1911). It was the month of September 1867 and the ‘prince, scientist and traveller’, as the scholar Helga Schwendinger defined him, had opted for the sea route to visit this town in the Tramuntana mountain range. He disembarked at the coast of Son Ferrandell, at the coastal spot known as Hort de la Cova d’en Claret. A place that the people of Valldemossa remember, above all, because three centuries earlier, on October 1, 1552, when precisely the Clarets owned what was later known as Son Ferrandell, which at that time also included Son Olesa and Vistamar, a fleet of 400 pirates disembarked there with the intention of sacking the town and capturing people to sell them as slaves or obtain a ransom.

The objective of our route is a very special spot on the north coast of Mallorca. A cultural landscape marked, first of all, by the insecurity and fear derived from continuous pirate attacks during the 16th and 17th centuries, followed by agricultural and livestock uses, today totally lost, and by smuggling activity, very common in the 19th and 20th centuries. L’Hort de la Cova d’en Claret is located within the municipality of Valldemossa, but the itinerary we have traced begins at Port del Canonge, the second population center of the municipality of Banyalbufar. It seems that the toponym derives from the fact that the canon of the Cathedral, Miquel López, owned this area at the end of the 15th century. We do not have public transport to the start of the route, only lines 131 and 202 leave us at the access to the Port from the Ma-10. Too far to consider it a practical option.

The route

[00 min] Our starting point is the car park located above Port del Canonge itself, in the municipality of Banyalbufar. A pebble beach surrounded by alcoves (boathouses) where fishing boats used to find shelter. From the 1940s onwards, a development of detached holiday homes was established on the slopes overlooking the cove, mostly owned by people from Esporles.

From here we set off walking, heading east, along Avinguda de la Mar, the name given to the street that goes around the top of the port and leads us to a dirt track, blocked by a barrier, which we can pass through an opening on the left. A small path that runs along the cliff edge takes us to Casa Blanca [10 min], already within the municipality of Valldemossa. Looking back, we can admire the landscapes of Son Bunyola, the mola de Planícia, l'Evangèlica, and the wooded slopes, overlooking the sea, where the Camí de Baix de Son Bunyola runs (popularly known as the Volta del General, a toponym that actually refers to the connection point with the Ma-10).

The path winds through terrain heavily affected by storms and landslides, but it is well-trodden enough to follow without problems. From Casa Blanca, it descends to the left to a small cove, from where it quickly climbs again to reach the dirt track that connects Can Sales with the sea [20 min]. We turn left, where the path gives way to a staircase that descends comfortably to a pebble beach. Protected by the embrace of the Coll del Pi, an alcove appears, half-repaired to maintain its scarce and basically recreational use. In the past, this place was surely the scene of intense smuggling activity, given its position and accessibility. Looking towards La Foradada, the pebble beach of Can Sales extends, very popular during the summer for adventurous swimmers and daring kayakers.

[25 min] We recover the wide dirt path we left earlier, to follow it now in the direction of the houses of Can Sales. Our walk evolves protected from the sun by dense thicket, basically pine forest, until we encounter a metal barrier. A stile on the right allows us to overcome this passage without difficulty. Immediately after, the path describes some turns between terraces, ancient cultivated fields now abandoned. [40 min] We go around the splendid, grand and beautiful villa of Can Sales to the east, leaving it on our right. We continue uphill and, immediately after, we turn left onto a dirt path that heads towards the sea again. [50 min] Where the track ends, we find a wire fence with a wooden stile, on our left, at the foot of Puig del Moro. Once overcome, we follow a path that should lead us, in a clear descent, through the ravine where the Torrent del Cable flows. Almost at the end, we cross the torrent bed that drains the valley and emerge onto a kind of natural viewpoint where the waters pour over the sea [1 hour 00 min].

Episodes of our history

If we continue to the right, the path leads us to the esplanade overlooking the beach of l'Hort de la Cova [1 h 10 min], an extensive pebble beach that stretches between Pedra Llarga and la Cadireta. The place, as we mentioned in the introduction, refers us to various episodes of our history. From the incessant attacks of Turkish and Berber piracy to the first incursions of Archduke Lluís Salvador along the island's coast.

We leave the beach and join the dirt track where our route now continues. Suddenly, we leave a clearing on the left that leads to the areas of Cova dels Coloms, les Basses and la Tenassa, where it ends. Our path gradually turns to the right. First, it crosses the torrent del Cable [1 h 25 min], right at the point where, among the undergrowth, we can contemplate with some difficulty, the spring of la Cova. After a gentle climb, we arrive at an important crossroads [1 h 35 min]. We leave on the left the path that climbs towards the George Sand urbanization and the Puig de la Moneda and continue straight ahead, to the west, in the direction of Son Bujosa. A few minutes later [1 h 40 min], we leave the path on the right, to head again towards Can Sales. The path is closed with barriers, to prevent the transit of unauthorized vehicles. However, several wooden stiles allow us to advance on our route. [1 h 55 min] Once we reach the white and majestic houses of Can Sales, we find ourselves on the same path we took on the way out, which we will now follow back to Port del Canonge, where we end our walk [2 h 40 min].

@Fita_a_Fita