GR221- Esporles to Banyalbufar by foot.

The latest hike was the route GR221, the footpath from Esporles to Banyalbafur, otherwise known as Cami des Correu. This route takes you along the edge of the Tramuntanas on the west coast, through wonderful pine and oak woods with some outstanding glimpses of the sea and at the Banyalbufar end great views over the Moorish cultivation steps. 
Rather than start in Esporles it is a lot easier to use the car park a few kilometres up the hill at La Granja tourist attraction. From here walk up the main road and after approx 100 metres or so the footpath begins on your left.
This path is well marked and would appear to be going through a lot of improvements, especially at this end (at the time of writing). It starts as a cobble path, but note, very large cobbles, and then follows what must be a water course in  wet weather. In areas it can be quite difficult and you have to watch your footing, but don't worry there is no clambering over rocks or such like. The first 20 minutes is quite a steep climb with footing improving after a while to a smooth dirt track. Once you reach the top you enter the oak woods and would expect to hear little, but unfortunately on the day of my walk it was the round island motorbike rally as all you could hear was the constant ning-ning and thump-thump of a thousand Wild Hogs somewhere below negotiating every bend as quickly a they could.
Despite this (slight exaggeration) it was still an extremely pleasant walk and with most of the route in shade, reasonably cool. There is not much in excitement on the route apart from a couple of old charcoal pits and the odd piece of the original road as you start the descent down into Banyalbufar. There are some excellent stopping points to enjoy the views en-route and make it worthwhile taking a snack bag with you if you are not planning to lunch at one end or the other. On reaching Banyalbafur, on this particular Sunday, after listening to the bikes for so long, it was good to see genuine gridlock with all sorts of bikes, classic and normal cars along with the odd tourist bus going nowhere. Get off and walk!  On arrival at this end there are a number of restaurants offering good value menus, even on a Sunday (12or 13€, 3 courses, wine and water).

  

















A lot of the guides seem to infer that this is a fairly easy route but it is worth noting that the climbs at both ends are steep and you do need to be reasonably fit for them. I did both ways at around 2 hours each and my legs felt like they had had a good workout. All in all a very pleasant way to spend a morning walking, just don't do it on the day of the annual motorbike rally!