Wedding anniversary

It's our wedding anniversary today, so congratulations to us!!

We were thinking about going on an afternoon wine tasting tour, but then changed it to a dolphin watching and views of France trip instead.

First stop was the pretty little harbour at Rosel where we got off the bus.

This was on the north coast of the island and we hiked along the undulating coast round to the eastern side. This side is directly across the sea from Normandy.

But first came the dolphin viewing spot at St Catherine's breakwater.

We had been told by a local islander that it was a great viewing spot, but we looked really carefully, and there wasn't a dolphin, or beach ball or hoop in sight.

However, right on the horizon we could make out the feint coast of France, but it wasn't big enough to be able to be seen in our photos.

This is a great view though of the enormous breakwater, and you can imagine the coast of France beyond it.

As both highlights were not as high as originally hoped, I thought that a new high would be a shortcut across the long bay.

It looked gorgeous from a distance, and a lot of it was lovely sand, but gradually it turned wetter with water draining from rock pools higher up the beach.

It got to that stage where we had gone too far to turn back, but to head forwards meant getting even wetter feet, but I enjoyed it anyway.

Back on dry land we walked southwards with my shoes allegedly drying much quicker than Darren's.

Final stop for a late lunch was at Gorey with the huge Mont Orgueil Castle towering above us.

Parkrun and a long walk back

Parkrun day today at Jersey, and Happy Birthday and Double Parkrun Alphabet Day to Susan. 

She hand iced letters on to many chocolate biscuits for parkrun finishers, and Darren did his best to be the winner of the unofficial 'who could eat the most biscuits' competition.

Then we set off walking to Corbiere Lighthouse along lovely quiet lanes, eventually seeing it in the distance with the tide out.

Putting us to shame, Paul reached it on the way to running 25 kilometres to the start of the parkrun, but couldn't get across because the tide was in.

No such problems for us, and we wandered across enjoying the beautiful views.

Apart from the fact that it was blowing a gale, it was very peaceful which would have been very different to the scene here during the war. There are many tank and gun emplacements all along the coast, and I popped inside a massive concrete viewing bunker.

It's very well camouflaged and is a small square space where, standing on tip toes, I could see the whole coastline and horizon. If Allies had been approaching I would have easily spotted them.

Then we set off along the coast passing lots more fortifications. This one was right down near the sea and had a little railway track to move materials.

The cliff views were beautiful.

The beaches were stunning.

Today I have just run out of words to describe the gorgeous scenes, and it had nothing to do with the cider at the finish.

Jersey castle and war tunnels

We are having a long weekend in Jersey and arrived in the late afternoon yesterday. We had a bit of a lazy evening and then woke up this morning ready to explore.

What a start, with a walk to Elizabeth Castle.

It was built in around 1600 when Sir Walter Raleigh was Governor of the island and he named it after his queen, Elizabeth the first.

It can only be reached on foot at low tide, and by a happy coincidence, that was when we arrived.

It was a proper castle, built on huge boulders, with a grand entrance and fancy turrets.

We didn't actually go inside as it didn't open until 10am, but it was well worth the journey, and then we headed back along the causeway to a bus stop.

On the way we passed this superb sculpture called 'Freedom' which was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth the second in 2005 to commemorate 60 years since the liberation of the island.

The bus arrived on time and swiftly carried us to the War Tunnels.

Jersey was invaded by the Nazis at the start of the Second World War and were occupied by them until VE day in 1945.

The tunnels were built by the Nazis using local labour as well as prisoners from many other countries including Russia. Working conditions were very bad and many people died during the construction.

It was originally used as a hospital but is now a very well laid out museum telling explaining what happened on the island during the war.

We were given copies of identity cards of genuine islanders and told to look out for their story amongst the exhibits. Darren's was a young man who was among the very few who managed to escape by boat, and mine, very disappointingly, was of a collaborator who was almost lynched after the war and was taken to England for her own safety. She was given £5 and released and who knows what happened to her after that.

We then walked back to St Hellier and the sun had gone in, the castle causeway had also disappeared and the only way to visit the castle was by an amphibious bus.

Back in Palma

Our last morning in Andratx, and a nice early morning run along the seafront. It was very quiet, and I have just discovered that the mansions on the hillsides are full of celebrities, but there was no sign of Claudia Schieffer or Brad Pitt out running today.

I like this photo as it's the only one that Darren has taken of me where I manage to look both cheerful and speedyish.

Then we caught the bus back to normality in Palma and a long overdue visit to the Cathedral. Not for confession although there was lots of the little booths in the cathedral, but to be wowed by the interior.

It is a beautiful with the sun shining through the stained glass, and I was interested to see lots of flagstones with skull and crossbones on them.

Of course I thought that they must belong to a pirate's grave, but no, it is the ancient symbol to show the entrance to a cemetery.

Another very interesting feature was an enormous modern art installation. We could see the top of a wave, and then possibly fish and unknown squiggles.

I looked this up on Google too and it is by the artist Miquel Barcelo. It shows the miracle of Jesus multiplying the five loaves and two fishes.

Following on with the modern theme, we then went to the plaza outside the Museum of Modern Art. We didn't go in, which was probably wise, and instead looked at the art outside. 

This one caught my eye - not in a good way - by Richard Long, made in 2004 and called Five Paths.

It needs to be viewed from a distance and is just five rows of stones.

Just around the corner was an upside down church, it had no label so I don't know anything about it, but I think that I like it.

Cala d'Egos beach

Another lovely hike on a sunny day - is it always like this in Mallorca?

This time we set off from our 'quirky' hotel in Andratx, over the harbour bridge and up the mountain on the other side.

It was a long way up, and one of those climbs when you think that you are nearly at the top but then you get there and see a bit more to climb, then you think again that you are nearly there, but you see a bit more to climb. Do that about seven or eight times and then we really were at the top.

Then it was a stroll a good walk along the top and then down towards the beach at Cala d'Egos.

The water was very clear and a beautiful colour, and I just had to test the temperature. Actually quite refreshing, but I wasn't up for a swim.

Then, of course, it was back uphill again, which I actually found much easier than climbing down.

Towards the end Darren warned me that the path was particularly slippery and about two seconds later I agreed with him as I landed with a thump on my bottom.

Brilliant outing overall though with fantastic scenery and the equivalent of over 160 flights of stairs climbed.

Andratx

Another change of hotel today, this time to the very south west of the island and the port of Andratx. We didn't realise it in advance, but it is very upmarket and fancy.

Our hotel is expensive for us, but in comparison to our previous hotels, this one is very basic and olde worlde, although very clean and authentic, and with the most amazing garden.

Our room is hidden somewhere behind these fantastic plants.

After settling in we decided to explore, and venture over the hills behind the hotel.

This area was even more surprising and was full of multi million euro mansions, mostly hidden behind very high walls. But due to the extreme hillside locations, we got glimpses of fantastic gardens and modern architecture.

The sea views were pretty good too, and there were goats that appeared to live on the steep cliffs by the side of the road.

Eventually we made it down into the very quiet town of Camp de mer and found a bar for a quick drink.

Then it was just a case of walking back over hills to finish off the outing.

Running weekend

Yesterday we couldn't do a parkrun as they don't have them in Spain, so we did our own on the promenade at Alcudia.

All of our legs felt heavy, but we made it in reasonable times, and just one little detour over a bridge and along a little side road.

Disappointingly we took different routes around it, so ended up at very different finishing points and couldn't find each other.

After we were reunited we checked out of the hotel and moved to just outside Arenal, which is back near to Palma. 

We had a good breakfast this morning in preparation for a busy day, and included a tasty bucks fizz just because it was there.

We had decided that today was our March half marathon day, and we walked one block to the seafront. The place was packed with hundreds of walkers, runners, cyclists and a few roller bladers.

It was a nice run and fortunately quite cloudy, although I was pretty shattered by the final turn back at about 17 kilometres.

I tried to get back into the groove, and then we realised that we were being cheered on by a group of hens dressed in sparkly bunny ears that were on a petite train.

They kept level with us for a while and then overtook us. We then got them back at the train stop, and pulled ahead. They overtook us again, etc and this got me through the next three ks.

In the end we got dropped, but not long after we got our 21.1 k and were done.

Cycling on the flat

There are literally thousands of cyclists on Mallorca at the moment, almost all are colourfully dressed in lycra with clip cloppy shoes. They glide around in either small groups or huge pelotons, and the ones at our hotel eat huge stacks of food at every meal.

Of course we aren't like that, but we did hire bikes today.

Mallorca is full of hills and mountains, and most of the cyclists head straight for them, so to buck the trend we headed straight for the flat.

Our first stop was along the coast at Porta Pollenca, and then we cycled inland to Pollenca for a nice coffee stop.

Then we took a lovely quiet route along quiet lanes and cycle tracks, but accidentally missing the two towns that we had planned to see.

We did find the very untouristy town of Sa Pobla and stopped in the beautiful and very quiet town square for a beer and nibbles.

Onwards then and back to the coast to Can Picafort. This was a strange place with no tourists and everywhere shut for siesta. We eventually found a supermarket that was open and Darren went in to buy two Magnums. Unfortunately they didn't sell them single, but only in packs of three.

I looked around the car park in a very halfhearted manner for anyone that I thought might appreciate a free Magnum.

After finding no one who fitted the criteria, we decided to eat an extra half each rather than see it melt in the bin.

So, a very successful day, lots of easy cycling and the full house of cycling treats.

Alcudia and a walk almost to a beach.

We set off on a hike to a secluded beach that was on the peninsula next to Alcudia. It started along quiet lanes, and then we entered what I think was a national park.

It was a beautiful forestry area, and nothing likes we see in England. The land was very dry and it was full of cacti and succulents, and lots of tall spiky glasses with white flowers.

We gradually climbed from sea level to 250 metres above it with gorgeous views of Alcudia and the surrounding area.

Then we dropped down into the forest again and walked along a dry riverbed, with warnings to avoid torrents of water that could sweep us away - although no chance of that today.

Eventually we got nearer to our secluded beach and started the walk down to it.

It looked amazing and there was only about four people on the beach, but it was a long way down the hill with the knowledge that we would eventually have to retrace our steps.

And then we had to scramble over rocks and it was still a long way, so we decided to enjoy it from distance with a sandwich and a sit down.

On the way back we were excited to see a couple of wild goats that live on the cliffs, and thought that we were very lucky.

Half an hour later when we had seen at least 40 more we stopped taking photos and decided that they were absolutely everywhere.