DESCRIPTION OF THE WALK

We begin the route in the parking facility of the Sanctuary, Nostra Senyora de la Victòria, a fortified building built in 1679. From here, we follow the forest trail; in an ascending direction, we quickly arrive at the point known as “Ses Tres Creus”, a scenic viewpoint over the Bay of Pollença which we access by means of the path that is on our left.

We then continue on the same path and at the first curve, we pass the former horse trail on our left which leads to Penya Roja, a strategic spot in the defence of Alcúdia. We then continue on the forest trail until we arrive at Pla de sa Talaia, which we identify by to its water tank to extinguish forest fires. A former horse trail known as “Pas de s’Aritja” starts here, which allows us to access the Talaia d’Alcúdia of 445 m, where shortly before reaching the summit, we abandon the hill road of Es Coll Baix on our left.

On the mountain peak, we find the ruins of a circular base from an old 16th cen-tury tower destroyed in 1936. A short distance below, we can see two buildings where soldiers sought protection during the air raid alarms of the Spanish Civil war.

WALK 6WALK 6WALK 6 LA TALAIA D’ALCÚDIALA TALAIA D’ALCÚDIA The communal mountainsThe communal mountains

The route extends through the communal lands of La Victòria, formally used by the Alcúdia resi-dents to collect wood and “garballó” (palm hearts) as well as for sowing and hunting thus con-tributing to maintain their precari-ous subsistence economy.

This peninsula is currently one of Mallorca’s main natural spaces, characterized by the intense contrast between extensive pine groves and the mountainsides covered with vegetation moulded by centuries of intense exploitation, fires and livestock grazing pressure.

WALK PROFILE STARTING POINT: Ermita de la Vic-tòria (132 m) FINAL POINT: Ermita de la Victòria (132 m) GRADE: easy TIME REQUIRED: 4 h 45

LENGTH : 10.206 m TOTAL ASCENT: 592 m TOTAL DESCENT: 612 m SUITABLE FOR: children over 6 y.o

NOT SUITABLE FOR: children’s pushchairs, wheelchairs

1 Comellar de ses Fontanelles Ses Fontanelles

From the tower ruins, we retrace our footsteps and take a detour on the right on a trail which extends in a south direction along the crest which separates the ravine Torrent des Parangons and the coast among a layer of “càrritx” (giant local grass species), with several scattered “ullastre” (wild olive trees) and garballó.

After a short climb up to Puig des Boc (342 m), we begin a descent which permits us to reach Es Coll Baix , where there is a shelter with several tables and benches. This spot is also a crossroads, since on the left there is a path which descends to Es Coll Baix beach and on the right, there is a for-est trail on which we continue our hike.

The path subsequently approaches a ravine where on the right, we can see a large number of boulders dragged by successive landslides and they warn that in the case of torrential rainstorms, we must postpone the excursion for another day. We follow the streambed starting from this point, crossing it at different times and we pass near the Ses Fontanelles Sobiranes, a pool of water in the middle of the ravine streambed.

Afterwards, we arrive at Coll de Na Benet (164 m), a hill which is characterized by a small grove of wild olive trees, which are in very bad shape due to the exces-sive pressure from the untamed goats. From here, we continue in a downward direction, following the ravine streambed of Ses Fontanelles , and ignore the de-tour which appears on our left known as "Es Escalons”.

A little later, we reach the water pool Ses Fontanelles Fondes; once we have passed it, the descent concludes and the plain called “de Ses Planes” begins, where we leave behind two branch roads on our left; the first one is linked to the campground of La Victoria.

We then continue on the slope of Sa Talaia, where we pass by an abandoned stone quarry and we arrive at the ravine Torrent de S’Aladernar where a steep ascent be-gins, which without any major difficulty, allows us to return to the starting point.

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Feral goat

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Beach Platja des Coll Baix