Sa Colabra

Worth going large to get a better sense of scale.

After the exertions of yesterday a more relaxing day was demanded. TJ put an order in for a white sand beach and warm sunshine but on this mountainous side of the island such beaches are not so easy to find. The closest we could get was Sa Colabra, which we could reach by boat from Port de Soller. Our bus from Deia ran quite late so we only had a couple of minutes to locate the boat and get our tickets - which we just about managed. The trip around the coast was incredibly spectacular and is highly recommended. The mountains drop vertically into the Mediterranean here, the limestone etched and carved by the sea into fantastical shapes, the cliffs riddled with caves and covered in small pine trees which have somehow claimed a vertiginous hold, often in the most improbable of places.

Sa Colabra is the point at which the awesome gorge of the Torrente de Pareis reaches the coast. As the boat came into the tiny harbour we could see right up to Massanella where we had climbed the previous day, some four thousand feet above us. The gorge is a narrow cleft in this huge limestone massif, over one thousand feet deep at the top. It opens out slightly at the coast before closing in again to form a tiny beach of shingle - which provided for some wonderful sheltered swimming. Although the destination is very popular and there were lots of people about, not too many seemed inclined to swim. I'm not a great swimmer but I really enjoyed it. The water felt remarkably warm once you were in.

After a little while the unbroken blue skies were invaded by increasing amounts of cloud so we set off to explore the gorge, just far enough to get a feel for the scale and experience the desire to return to take on the entire length of it at some point. While we waited for the return boat to arrive I went for a short run up to a col to look down upon Cala Tuent, a quieter little beach and another spot worthy of further attention in the future. The roads down to these remote points also demand to be cycled on another trip. A few people had biked around from Soller and were taking the boat back. Way to go I'd say!

I'm not normally keen on being a simple tourist but there are occasions when that's just the thing that needs to be done. It was a great and very relaxing day out.

Click here to see the view from the sea, looking into this cleft in the cliffs.