Build some capacity to be alone - by Felipe - Island
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Build some capacity to be alone<br>and reflections after walking Menorca's Cami de Cavalls
Felipe<br>Apr 27, 2025
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This piece is about spending time alone. And first, a bit on my experience walking Menorca’s GR223 and why it’s a damn fine walk. The most practical aspects of the walk; daily stages, numbers, and links to stage maps, can be found at the end of the piece.<br>This walk is part of my current walking season. Before this, I walked the GR221 in Mallorca. After this I will walk Madeira’s thru-hike.
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fishing boats in the port of Ciutadella, Menorca
I’m writing this from a quiet café in Maó. Two days ago, I completed Menorca’s Cami de Cavalls. I started here, in the islands’ capital Maó (also Mahón), and 9 days later, after walking 185km of (mostly) coastline, I had circled the island and walked back into the city. Menorca is the gentle island. (I stole this line from a 1960s BEA airline advertisement for flights to Menorca that I saw at the interesting Museo de Menorca).<br>Flying to Menorca from Palma is a delightful experience. A separate domestic flights terminal with flights to Ibiza and Menorca, mostly Spanish people, much more quiet. No Burger King-, Starbucks-, Golden Arches-ness crap. Just one stall with coffee, water, and pan con tomato, sobrasada, jamon - yum.<br>A half-filled propellor plane, brought me to Maó airport in about 20-30 minutes. The taxi ride from the airport to the city centre takes 9(!) minutes. About 90 minutes after departing from Palma airport, I was in my hotel room in Maó.<br>Naturally, having recently walked the GR221 in Mallorca, I couldn’t help but make comparisons between the two islands. Difficult, I soon found out - Mallorca and Menorca are different in many ways.<br>Well yeah, they’re obviously family. Sisters, I’d even say. But they’re the kind of sisters you see from a distance or maybe meet once - you know they are related, sure. But spend a bit more time with them, and you quickly realise that they are so clearly different. At some point, you might even begin to suspect they have different fathers.<br>Menorca is quiet, tranquil, flat, calm. The landscapes, even the people, feel gentler. Mallorca, by contrast, feels big, rough, sometimes rude and a little trashy on the weekends. Menorca radiates friendliness, softness, kindness, innocence. She’s a little shy, likes to stay in the background. She’d rather stay (relatively) undiscovered. She’s not trying to impress you. And that, ironically, is kind of attractive to me.<br>Oh, and there’s a little brother too. Ibiza is, I imagine, the hippie sibling - who I haven’t met. Not sure I will any time soon, I heard he has some childhood trauma’s to resolve.<br>— Alright, enough with the extended metaphor. Pathetic fallacy and all that…
fine views on the path<br>The “Cami de Cavalls” translates from Catalan as “Way of Horses”. The path dates back to the 14th century, originally used guards on horses patrolling the islands perimeter against potential threats coming from the sea.<br>It’s a damn fine walk. April is a good month to walk it - temperatures pleasant, few tourists. I did get some (intense) rain, and many restaurants and accommodations are still closed. You can tell that many of the towns you walk through come alive in summer, full of people on all-inclusive holidays.<br>To me, the diversity of landscapes stood out. Wild, martian-like landscapes around Far de Favàritx. Lagoons, wetlands and salt flats in the Albufera des Grau national park. Naturally formed rias - fjord-like bays that are used as harbours, such as in Maò (one of the largest natural harbours in the world) and Fornells. Dramatic cliffs around Cala Morell (I loved this place). The old capital Ciutadella, with yet another dramatic lighthouse Far de Punta Nati just to its north.<br>And then you get to the southern coast; sandy coves, pine trees, and turquoise water that feel Greek. All of it is frequently alternated by scrubby inland stretches, with dense maquis vegetation. Big, wide skies. Many dry stone walls, olive, fig, and carob trees giving a hint of big sister Mallorca.
quiet beaches and coves of the east and north
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My goal here isn’t to decide whether walking Alone or walking Together is better. My goal is to reflect on the difference of the experience, for me. My thoughts are probably not your thoughts. And, spoiler: there’s no better. Both are great. What I AM saying is that you should do your own walks. Alone and together. Doing so, you will build some capacity to be alone.
I laughed when I read this message upon waking up. Classic her, sending questions like these at this time. Great way to start her (busy) work week.<br>Her question stayed with me as I was walking that day, alone. This question, and my anticipation of shifting from me walking alone to me walking together for the last...