The Serra de Tramuntana: A Mountain Range Built by Hand
Balearic Islands, Spain
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Pedra en Sec
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300
XP
+100 Spain
= 400 total
1 day
The Serra de Tramuntana: A Mountain Range Built by Hand
300 + 100 XP
The Tramuntana runs ninety kilometres along the north-west of Mallorca and it was listed by UNESCO on 27 June 2011 not for the rock but for what people did to it — a thousand years of dry-stone terracing, water channels, cisterns, charcoal platforms and mule paths, built without mortar to make a near-vertical limestone range produce olives and oranges. The technique has its own name, pedra en sec, and it is still practised. This is also the wet side of the island: up to 1,507 millimetres of rain a year against under 400 in parts of the south.
Required Activities
1
of 6
Walk a stretch of the GR 221, the Ruta de Pedra en Sec, on the mule paths and stone steps the terracing was built with
2
of 6
Look at a terrace wall closely and work out that there is no mortar anywhere in it
3
of 6
Find the cisterns, water channels and charcoal-burning platforms that made a vertical mountain farmable
4
of 6
Go into the Real Cartuja at Valldemossa and find the cells where Chopin and George Sand spent the winter of 8 November 1838 to 13 February 1839
5
of 6
Read what George Sand wrote about the Mallorcans in A Winter in Majorca, and work out why the island has mixed feelings about her
6
of 6
Work out the rainfall difference: up to 1,507mm a year here against under 400mm in parts of southern Mallorca
Walk a stretch of the GR 221, the Ruta de Pedra en Sec, on the mule paths and stone steps the terracing was built with
Look at a terrace wall closely and work out that there is no mortar anywhere in it
Find the cisterns, water channels and charcoal-burning platforms that made a vertical mountain farmable
Go into the Real Cartuja at Valldemossa and find the cells where Chopin and George Sand spent the winter of 8 November 1838 to 13 February 1839
Read what George Sand wrote about the Mallorcans in A Winter in Majorca, and work out why the island has mixed feelings about her
Work out the rainfall difference: up to 1,507mm a year here against under 400mm in parts of southern Mallorca
Before you go
The Tramuntana roads are narrow with tight hairpins and are genuinely unsuitable for a large motorhome. Walking here in July and August is punishing.
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About Balearic Islands
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
300 XP
Spain country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
400 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in Spain.
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