DAY 2 - Tuesday 14th Oct
Cap d'es Falcó area - Es Xarco
I hadn't slept too well in the first night but I hadn't expected that neither. The first night in a tent is always a bit special and our one man tents were really small (but on the other hand super handy to build and carry them). I also wasn't used to go to bed that early and so the almost 12 hour night from
9pm to short before
8am seemed eternal to me. I did sleep a few hours, but in patterns of about 2 hours each. Still, I got up feeling pretty fresh and with lots of energy to walk.
After breakfast and packing our bags it was time for the 4 remaining hills of the Cap d'es Falcó zone. The hills are also known as the '5 MFs' of Cap d'es Falcó and yeah, they are pretty hard for Ibiza walking standards. The weather forecast had been correct too, around half an hour into the walk the rain came. We all had raincoats and backpack rain covers, but when it started to rain really heavily, we searched for shelter under a big tree until the worst was over. A nice cup of tea was prepared while waiting - the British never disappoint and every problem in the world can get sorted with a cuppa it seems
. We still got totally soaked as the tree was a useless pine and not a huge and properly protecting leaf tree. With the hiking paths now wet and therefore slippery as hell, the rest of the Cap d'es Falcó trail got even more challenging. We had still 2 MFs left and especially going down those tracks turned into a pretty tricky task. And while it still was raining a lot, we all succeeded without getting hurt, albeit some of us with a bit of a muddy bottom
Arriving at Experimental Beach at the bottom of Cap d'es Falcó we were treated to a nice surprise as the wife of a member of our group was waiting for us with hot coffee, croissants and ensaimadas. Just the thing we needed as we all felt a bit cold and damp. After this unexpected caffeine & sugar hit we continued our trek along Es Codolar beach, the pebbly stretch right by the airport. By then, the rain luckily had stopped. At the same time it was very windy which was great as it helped drying our wet gear we were wearing.
We had another quick stop at the shop/bar in Es Codolar (they do amazing fruit smoothies there!) and then continued southwards. We walked to the old Phoenician ruins and down the military tunnels of Sa Caleta, before then passing by Sa Caleta beach itself (sadly no time for cafe caleta today!). Then further on to Cap Jondal, the mountain between Sa Caleta and Cala Jondal. We didn't competely climb up to the top at first, but rather hiked further south to the front of the slope, close to the big hole in the rock which you can see from both Cap d'es Falcó as well as from Es Cubells. We had lunch (lunchbox again) at a beautiful place which I won't explain, but where I'll be back for sure.
After lunch and with fresh energy we hiked up Cap Jondal and then down to (luckily closed and quiet) Blue Marlin. Yemanja was open though, but no rest for us yet. We continued further along another bit until we arrived at the next beach, Es Xarco. This is where we put up our tents somewhere in the area. So today, we only walked 14kms, but with all the hills it was clear we wouldn't get as much distance done. The weather had gotten much better mid-afternoon so we all had the chance for a wash - a nice swim in the sea
Superb atmosphere in the area around sunset with Cap Jondal being illuminated with the setting sun.
We got our campfire going just before it got dark, so dinner was later to
han yesterday and I think I got into my presidential suite...erm one man tent at around
10:30pm. Another superb day, the fact we were out there with the elements made it an amazing experience. I'm not a fan of rain, but it was nice to get some to be honest! Went to sleep looking forward to continuing our journey around i
Ibiza. Today was one of those days when I was reminded of how privileged we are to call Ibiza 'home'.