Mallorca Day 11

Friday, May 11 - Our hotel is a pair of large Mediterranean style villas. Each room seems to be different. Bill and I have a large room with a full bath and a covered balcony overlooking a lemon grove and the sea in the distance. The hotel is family-run meaning that several generations work here. The same man who checked us in also showed us our room, served refreshments at happy hour and served us dinner.

Dinner last night was good. For starters, we had a choice of carrot soup or aubergine pudding. I chose the aubergine. It was cooked like a souffle and served cold. Very tasty. Our entree was a choice between fish cooked Mallorcan style or duck. I had the fish which was very good - moist and full of flavor. Dinner didn't start until 8:00 so we weren't in bed until 11:00. That was OK because breakfast didn't start until 8:00 this morning.

We awoke this morning to warm temperatures. Breakfast was served on the outside balcony. It was the usual buffet. No eggs were ready so I had a very good granola along with assorted pastries.

The ride started south along the coast. It had more of our previous long rollers high above the Mediterranean. I rode alone mostly because the other riders were doing various alternate routes. They were afraid of the mid-day heat and their legs were getting tired. I reached Andratx after 23km and turned inland. The rest of the ride was on narrow country roads with little traffic. The road went up and down through three different valleys. I passed several small villages. In Capdella, I went into a botiga (bodega in Mallorcan) where I spotted Alison. With her Spanish language skills, she helped me buy a freshly made salami and cheese sandwich with tomato. (It turned out that the shopkeeper spoke some English and I could have done this myself). I also filled up my water bottles with a large agua sin gas. The picture at the top of this page is from the store. I ate my lunch at the top of the next hill in the shade watching other cyclists go up and down the road.

The temperature was now varying between 85 and 92 so I was anxious to get back to the hotel and cool off. I did, though, go through some beautiful countryside. On one stretch as I was riding along a high wall, bird calls were echoing back and forth. I was going to record them, but I was too focused to stop.

I got back to the hotel at 12:30, showered, had a snack (bananas and dark chocolate) and drank lots of water.

Daily statistics:
Max speed - 35.7
Time - 3:30
Average speed - 10.9
Miles - 39
Elevation - 4470