DISCOVER MALLORCA

When you think of the Spanish island of Mallorca, what jumps to mind?

Sunburnt Brits sizzling on la playa, Germans forming an orderly queue at the breakfast buffet, Magaluf club nights we’d rather forget or, better yet, never admit happened? Stereotypes aside, there’s a great deal more to Mallorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands.

CYCLING PARADISE

From the capital city Palma in the south to Port de Pollenca in the north, the international cycling community enthusiastically and sustainably exploits its natural resources. Ask any seasoned cyclist about Mallorca and they’ll wax lyrical about the roads, especially those that navigate the stunning Serra de Tramuntana mountain range which dominates the islands northwest coast.

Pressed a little harder and they’ll tell you about two roads in particular, both designed by the same architect and both dead-ends, carved from the mountainous terrain with the sole purpose of accessing some of the islands wildest, most rugged and beautiful nooks; Carretera de Sa Calobra and Cap Formentor.

THE ARCHITECT

The architect behind these masterpieces was Antonio Parietti Coll, born in Palma de Mallorca in 1899, later moving to the Spanish mainland to study road engineering in Madrid and, wow, he was really paying attention in class. Unlike many roads built across Europe during the same period, Parietti Coll’s goal in Mallorca was to boost tourism, and in doing so, create the possibility of incredible journeys, purely for the journeys’ sake.

So what’s so special?

SA CALOBRA

First up, if only due to it’s location slightly closer to the capital, Carretera de Sa Calobra (officially named Coll del Reis) is situated on the island’s mountainous north coast. It’s the only way to access the small village of Port de Sa Calobra and, at a glance, this ingeniously engineered route appears to have been thrown down in a drunken rage. The circuitous, spaghetti road cuts through the seemingly impenetrable landscape using the cliff edges natural curves to avoid the need for tunnels, searching ever downwards from the craggy, barren peaks, passing below the tree line to the azure blue edge of the Mediterranean.

Built in 1932, it is certainly the most spectacular road on the island, 31.000 m³ of rock were removed and repurposed during it’s construction, which is all the more impressive when you consider that the construction was done manually, without the use of machinery. If you’re not sweating enough on the way back up, give a thought to the workers who laboured relentlessly to pick out the route.

Cresting the top of the descent, you’ll know the real action is about to kick-in when you hit the infamous Nus de Sa Calobra, a ‘necktie’ loop turning 270 degrees, threading through itself and opening up the vista down, down, down towards the sea with dramatic effect. Sa Calobra is a ride which demands commitment, as once you’ve made the almost 700 metre descent, the only way out is back up the way you came, tackling head-on the 7 to 11% gradient that so effortlessly drew you down to the port.

At a little over twelve kilometres from top to bottom it’s not a long ride, but more than fifty curves, sweeping turns and hairpin tight switchbacks that hang on the cliffs edge, will keep you acutely focussed all the way. The road is very narrow in several sections, barely wide enough for two cars, and in other places there are no barriers to interrupt the view or prevent an unintended exit. It’s an addictive ride, which once tasted will have you coming back for more.

Traffic in the peak summer months is heavy, as many road trippers and coach loads of tourists make their way down to the port, so it’s highly advised to head out early. Most visitors come to walk through the dramatic natural tunnel carved between two huge slabs of rock to a concealed beach where Tom Hanks & Halle Berry featured in the science fiction drama 'Cloud Atlas’, directed by The Wachowski brothers, better known for the Matrix Trilogy. Once you’ve experienced the scenery, the choice of location to shoot their epic is clear. This spectacular landscape, where the Tramuntana mountains plunge into the sea, capably doubles for both New Zealand and Hawaii, alongside the beautiful bay at Soller further along the coast.

CAP DE FORMENTOR

Further north, Parietti Coll also designed the stunning road to Cap de Formentor lighthouse, one of the most visited attractions in Mallorca. The twenty kilometre road from Port de Pollenca, completed in the 1930’s, was built to supply the construction of the Formentor Hotel, which until then could only be reached by sea. Like it’s sister Sa Colabra, Cap de Formentor is a wonderful work of engineering, drawing curves out of the rock face, blending with the environment and re-using the rock extracted from the cliffside.

Having climbed out of Port de Pollenca, the first striking viewpoint is Mirador Es Colomer, the roads highest point at 232 meters above the sea, and serves as the fitting location for a monument in memory of Parietti Coll. A winding descent then crosses the peninsula to Formentor Beach, also known as Cala Pi de la Posada, an idyllic kilometre of white sand in a perfect arc, unspoilt by development and set to a backdrop of dense pine and oak trees. Out to sea, boats moor in the picturesque cove and and around Illa de Formentor.

The road is busiest until this point, as the beach is extremely popular with tourists throughout the summer months, however passing the entrance to the beach, the road becomes dramatically more peaceful and is (almost) the exclusive territory of cyclists, hikers and the occasional bus. The welcome shade of a deeply forested section runs beyond the last area of houses, rising up again to capture stunning views over pure aqua blue waters at Cala Figuera.

Here, Parietti Coll uncharacteristically employs a short tunnel on the final stretch to the peninsula’s pinnacle. Several twists and turns, each revealing increasingly dramatic views out to open sea and back towards the Tramuntana mountains, ultimately lead to the iconic lighthouse, where the land finally gives way, crashing 200 metres into the sea. The jagged, Jurassic limestone landscape behind to the south sits in stark contrast with the endless sea to the north which only on the clearest days is interrupted by neighbouring Menorca on the horizon.

The lighthouse’s construction was completed some seventy years before the road and at great expense, as the engineer Emili Pou had to bring all the materials and labour in by sea. Today it houses a bar to pick up well earned refreshments while you breathe in the sea air and anticipate the ride back, once again, from where you came. As all that reach this point under their own steam will know, the real beauty of this island cannot be appreciated if your journey was concluded back at the beach.

While Sa Calobra and Cap de Formentor are certainly among the most famous locations in Mallorca they are by no means the only roads worth seeking out, the island is literally packed with thrilling rides and epic routes to discover, all for the journeys sake.