GR 221 – day 2

Sant Elm – Font de s’Obi Shelter

Tuesday, 27th February 2024

33,7 km – total 41,1 km

Although there wasn’t a storm, it did rain. During the night, I had to move the backpacks because water was dripping on them from the roof. I forgot to turn off the 4 AM alarm, but I quickly fell back asleep. We wanted to get up at 6:45 AM, but it’s still raining heavily. When the wind blows, the rain even hits us. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to us to put the tarp on the back side. It’s not too bad, but I keep waking up from the rain hitting my face. We finally get up at 8:15 AM, don’t cook anything, just pack up and wait for the rain to ease a bit.

We set off at 9 AM, and reach Sant Elm in half an hour. We find the only open place and have coffee with a carrot cake, and also ask the lady to fill our water bottles. We start the climb into the La Trapa nature reserve. The whole time, we have a view of the island Se Dragonera.

When we reach the exposed cliff, the wind is pretty harsh. The thermometer shows 10°C, but when you’re hiking uphill, it feels warm. We arrive at La Trapa and climb a ladder into a fenced area.

There are fields here, and they’re preserving native Mallorcan species that have almost disappeared due to frequent fires. From here, we finally get to a well-marked trail with signs.

We turn north, and instead of a beautiful blue sky ahead, there are clouds over the mountains.

We hope the sky will clear. The path is all muddy, sticking to our shoes, and I look like a piglet. We try to pick up the pace. We wanted to eat once the sun came out, but that might mean we won’t eat at all today. So, we stop at some ruins at noon and eat baguettes on a wall. Three tourists with large backpacks pass us—I’d guess they’re Czechs. The next part of the trail is well-maintained and fairly busy.

At the end, there’s a parking lot, and from there, we’re alone on the trail again. The trail has been rerouted recently because my map shows the new route while Jozef’s still shows the old one. We follow the markings, at least avoiding the asphalt. Ahead, we have a climb up to 850 meters, and along the way, we meet lots of goats. We keep passing a Brit several times.

The clouds we saw from below fortunately rise with us, and when we reach the top, it’s clear.

After 10 minutes in the sun, Jozef changes into shorts, and five minutes later, fog rolls in from the sea, and the temperature drops to 6°C.

Of course, he refuses to put his pants back on, saying he’s fine like that. What follows is a long descent on a rocky road with switchbacks.

A bit of asphalt, then a pleasant walk through a dense forest. In the town of Estellencs, we hoped to find a store, but everything is closed. We have 4 kilometers left with a 250-meter climb. We haven’t eaten much today, so we snack on nuts to get some energy. We arrive 20 minutes before sunset. The view is beautiful from here. We quickly unpack our sleeping bags to air them out before the dew sets in.

There’s a fantastic shelter here, and according to the map, a spring, but it’s completely dried up. There’s a bit of stagnant water in the trough, but there are some larvae in it, so we don’t even want to filter it. We’re not sure what to do since we have only half a liter of water left. Jozef goes to check a stream marked on the map, but it’s also dry. I’m already considering whether we’ll need to hike to the town (3 km). Luckily, the shelter has a rainwater tank, which is locked, but the hinge is broken, so we can open the lid. It’s about 3 meters deep, but we have a rope and a pot with a handle.

We’re saved, so dinner will be the pasta I’ve been looking forward to for last two hours. We fetch water and filter it. Jozef is paranoid that the water isn’t safe to drink even after filtering, and wants to use it only for cooking, but I convince him it’s fine. We all have our fears. I change into my pajamas and write. Jozef cooks and prepares for bed. We won’t be alone tonight—the three Czechs have arrived. They don’t talk much with us. We have a second batch of pasta. I go outside to upload the blog, looking for a signal. It’s already quite cold, and my feet are freezing. Jozef goes to sleep, and I keep writing the blog in my sleeping bag. Meanwhile, I overhear a discussion about borovička (a Slovak juniper spirit), which they’re drinking. I also hear them planning to arrive in Polenta (they ment Pollença) on Saturday before I drift off to sleep.