Torrente de Pareis

Not all of the time was spent underground. Two visits were made to this spectacular gorge near Escorca.

Location: Escora

From the Restaurante D'Escorca, walk through the churchyard, turning left at an old Olive tree. The book "Walking in Mallorca" gives a good description of the route. Walking along the path to the gorge, a very deep shaft - Avenc de sa Miranda - is passed on the right. Stones dropped down here take a long time to hit the floor! The main point to note is if you reach a large rock window on the left, you have just passed the path down into the gorge!

Description:

Once in the gorge, follow the way to the left. Where the gorge takes a sharp right-hand turn, a side gorge - Systema Sa Fosca - enters on the left. This can be climbed for a fair distance until a lake is encountered in a short "cave" section.

Back in the Torrente, the way continues around, over and through many massive boulders. On the first visit, the gorge was almost dry. However, on the second visit, several lakes had to be crossed. This didn't cause too much of a problem as the water is quite warm. Shorts are all that is needed, at most. It is a good idea to carry a short rope (about 20m) to use as a Tyrolean Traverse on the longest of the lakes. The route continues through some very impressive scenery, with the walls reaching a height of about 300m and only 3m apart!

Eventually, the gorge opens out to form the beach at Sa Calobra, at the end of the Restaurante road. It is good pre-planning, if possible, to arrange a car to be parked here for the return journey up the long hill to the restaurant. However, lifts back up the hill are easy to come by.

One point to note is, once Pareis has been entered, it would not be a good idea to try to return up the gorge. The steepness of the path would make such a journey very tiring indeed. A lamp is a good item to carry as darkness falls very quickly here.

Cala Val de Boquer

This secluded little cove is located just outside Pto. Pollensa and can only be approached on foot. It is at the Eastern end of the Cal Pesso ridge (Serra del Cavall Bernat). Find the farm "C'an Boquer" and, walking through the gate, follow the obvious path for about 1 mile. The cove is very picturesque and offers some very good swimming.