Mallorca is just an island – yet there are plenty of nice roads to explore. One important thing to consider though is the time of the year & day & hours you are taking a classic car out for a tour. Keep in mind that you share the road with many cyclists, locals, and other tourists – including hikers. The MA-10 from Andratx in the west to Pollença in the north can be considered mandatory if you plan a classic car tour. It is such an amazing road. I was lucky (and after the first tour mindful) that I choose times with little and sometimes no other traffic – otherwise this can be stressful. There are plenty of serpentine curves – most of them easily doable with a Morgan (as long as you drive carefully).
As the the turning circle of a classic Morgan isn’t the best. As C6622 is retro-fitted with EZ-Powersteering the windy roads were effortless and fun to drive. Some of the serpintines however have such a tight radius that I had to pull back in a few places because I could not make the turn in one go. While I loved driving with the Morgan – I must admit that a classic Mini Cooper or MGB would be even better for a trip. Maybe the perfect car for Mallorca is the new eletric Mini Moke (ok – maybe not – it has an insane price tag)
Doing the approx. 110km of the MA-10 – the main road from West to North – in one go might be possible. However, the travel time Google maps calculates is too optimistic. With other people on the street, tight turns and too many places worth taking a break it makes sense to break it apart into sections. First we did the west section from Sant Elm. The coffee break in Banyalbufar was great. While it is possible to drive down the steep single lane road to the beach (there is some limit parking down there) we opted against it. Instead we tried driving down to Port des Canoges – which was even more challenging. The single lane road is in a rough condition – after three serpentine curves in a row that I could not do in a single turn – we decided to not persue this challenge completely and headed down via the MA-1100 to Palma again.
`The second trip I made started with a hike up to Castell d’Alaró. From the parking lot Agroturismo Son Penyaflor (make sure to have 5€ in cash) the approx. 500m uphill path was really worth the effort. It took me about 2,5hours to complete and get back to the car park. After the hike I took the MA-2100 via the small village named “Orient”. I wanted to take a break there – but could not find a suitable parking spot. I continued to Bunyola and turned right on the MA-11 heading to Sóller. At the Jardins d’Alfàbia roundabout I stayed on the MA-11 and headed into a tunnel – which was a mistake, as I missed out I missed out the Coll de Sóller. When I got out ot the tunnel the weather was changing and it was getting late. I decided to leave Port de Sóller and Valldemossa for another trip.
My third section of the MA-10 was from Pollença to Santuari de Lluc. My timing on this road was not the best. Dozens of cyclists and a couple of slow busses made the trip slow and less enjoyable. The MA-2130 down to Selva was better. We spent 9 days on the island and it feels like there is much more to explore.
Fixing C6622 