Ramblers Holidays, Walking from Port de Soller

I've recently returned from a walking holiday organised via Ramblers Holidays, based from Port de Soller in Mallorca. Ramblers Holidays  are a firm that has been organizing holidays for keen walkers for many years. I chose to go with them on this holiday as I was going to be travelling by myself, the single supplement was reasonable, local flight departure and the quality of the leaders. Ramblers is quite a traditional firm, and sometimes the booking process felt slow and frustrating in the internet age. Everything once confirmed was great, you receive an information pack several weeks before departure so you know what to pack, the flight tickets arrived in plenty of time, and little details like luggage labels were included.

The hotel used for this holiday was Hotel Marbell - I had many negative points about this hotel, but as I look at my latest Rambler's brochure they don't seem to be using this hotel next year, so I'll take my grumbling to Tripadvisor and not clutter up this blog post.

The holiday is graded as 'D'. While the length of the walking days fit the profile of a 'D' grade, the walking underfoot is quite hard work as the paths are stony and  very easy on which to trip and slip. The location in the island meant that the walks were generally quite steep, as Port de Soller is surrounded by steep hills. As a very overweight asthmatic, of average fitness I was able to walk with the group and keep up, so as long as you're happy with walking on steep and rocky paths it's all fine. The local transport, operated by Repic were great - they were always there to meet us at the end of the day, and were only slightly late once to collect us at the start of the day.

The leader of our holiday was Bob, a regular leader for Ramblers. He was always there with a dry comment on the walk, and was knowledgeable about the terrain we should expect when giving the pre-walk briefings.

The town of Port de Soller was very walker friendly, you could order a sandwich to take on your walk from the Spar and there was a small outdoor goods shop Tramuntana Tours


I'll describe the walks we did as part of the holiday, other departures may vary, as the weather can make some of the walks difficult. A map covering the majority of the area used for the holiday is   ISBN 9788480903585. It seems to be available more cheaply in the local outdoors shop in Soller. The map is 1:25,000 and very clear. Sadly the paper used for the map is very low quality and it is prone to splitting.

Day 2

Just to get us started, we had a walk taking us from Soller, to the village of Fornalutz where we had a tea break in a lovely cafe. From there we went uphill and then back down via the Hermitage which was our late lunchstop. The Hermitage had this little chapel which had very unusual decoration inside, like a grotto with rock formations and statues of the Virgin Mary.

After that it was a walk down to Soller town. We were given the option to walk the 3km into to Port de Soller, or to explore the town and catch the tram home. I went for an explore and visited the train/tram yard

Unfortunately the church in Soller was closed for refurbishment so I couldn't explore there, but the small streets, interesting shops and cafes kept me busy.


Day 3

A walk along the coastal path to Deia, calling at Cala Deia on the way. We stopped for coffee at a farmhouse cafe run by this charming french lady. The chocolate cake looked fabulous. Onwards to Cala Deia, this would usually give us a chance to have a swim, but some wild weather had blown in from the north, making the sea at Cala Deia very rough. Surprisingly, one of the cafes was still open (Patro March), so there was chance for a cup of tea and watching the waves crash against the shore.

From there it was a walk up through the valley towards the village of Deia. We had an hour to explore and get a restorative cup of tea. I walked up the hill, past the stations of the cross embedded in the walls to visit the very humble grave of Robert Graves (author of I, Claudius). The grave was marked with a simple concrete marker, that appeared to have had his name written in whilst still wet.

Day 4

The scheduled walk on this day was to travel by bus to Cuber reservoir, walk up for a total ascent of about 100m, and then walk down the Pilgrim's steps to the village of Biniarix (approximately 650m).

I played hooky this day, and went for a walk to the lighthouse at Es Cap Gros which gives stunning views along the coast.

I had a coffee at the newly refurbished refuge, part of the network of refuges support the Pedra En Sec walking route

Day 5

Official rest day!  I decided to visit Palma city. There are two methods for getting to Palma, tram to Soller and  train onto Palma  , or the express bus 211 operated by TIB  . The train + tram combination costs €14 single, and the bus is €2.90 single. There is a long siesta gap in the train service which could make getting home quite awkward.


I'd done some research on the internet and discovered a cafe that sells churros and the thick hot chocolate that is very filling and rich. So on my way into city I stopped at
Xurreria Rosaleda
Costa de la Pols, 12 Baixos
07003 Palma de Mallorca

Fabulous! So unhealthy but so tasty! After that I had to try and work off the huge amount of calories so I visited the cathedral which while small, has a large number of alters around the church. One was a recent installation by a modern artist, which was very unusual

The cathedral is also pretty impressive when viewed from the outside.

Day 6

A walk starting from the Ses Barques mirador (viewpoint) over Soller, walking eastbound to Platja Tuent. There was a stop in a valley where we could purchase freshly squeezed orange juice from a small farmhouse. It was needed as following this was a steep ascent out of the valley. Once over the saddle of the hills, we had great views along the coast, and our lunch was taken on a large rocky outcrop.

The walk continued along the coast, gently undulating until we reach Tuent. There we could stop for a refreshing drink at the cafe, or go down to the beach for a swim.

Our group of walkers had some very keen swimmers, who took every chance they could to go into the sea, as it was still warm and pleasant.


Day 7 (Or "You can see Ibiza from here!")

This is the crowning glory of the week! A bus journey to Valdemossa, from where we walked steeply uphill to join the 'Archdukes Walk'. This walk may be at the very top of the grade but the scenery is more than worth the extra effort. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Valdemossa is a pretty tourist town, featuring many cafe serving local delicacies such as almond cake, and horchata made with almonds which was very refreshing after a tough day walking.

Day 8

It was sad to say goodbye to the people in the group, who were all very kind and friendly to me, and to the beautiful scenery around Port de Soller. Hopefully I'll meet them again on other Ramblers Holidays, as they have a very loyal customer base.

Great Manchester Run Race Report

Well, the day dawned bloody confusing on the weather front. BBC seemed to imply that while it was cold now, by lunchtime it would be sunny and getting warmer. After much to-ing and fro-ing about what I was going to wear, I opted for a short sleeve shirt, capris and no coat (and a fetching line in goosepimples at the start line).

The start times are getting later and later for the slow wave in this race, it was 12:20 before the last wave got under way, with the usual pointless warm up 30 minutes before the start. The usual shuffle over the line, getting funnelled into the narrow starting gates. Once over the line, everyone exploded off like champagne corks, with a few people regretting it almost instantly and having a breather outside the Rain Bar. The route was the same as last year, with a lot of the pinch points removed, but less scenic.

Fun things spotted en route:
- a girl dressed as Rose Tyler carrying a cutout of David Tennant.
- The Bupa Boost section with a guy proffering vaseline on a gloved index finger (well it made me run faster).

Bad things en route:
- Running out of jelly babies before the pink wave went through.
- Cherry powerade at the start making me gip.
- The giant 30 ft long caterpiller that ran me into the barriers 200m before the finish.

So in the end I finished in 1:19:12 a new PB for me, inside my target time of 1hour 20 and 3 minutes faster than last year. (Beat my race number too ;-) )

MrKitty finished in 55 minutes and the two guys from work managed to get round in 1hr5 and 1hr11, slightly outside their target times, but still feeling very proud of themselves.

Apparently the fat walker factor was high in the Blue wave (target time 1hr) MrKitty was going mental at all the people who were walking by the Rain bar, when they were in a wave where you expect people to be at least jogging.

Nokia - You took your time

But at least you've given E71 users free navigation

http://conversations.nokia.com/2010/04/06/nokia-e71-and-e66-get-free-navigation-today/

A great 5K Series for the Summer

Sale Harriers are organizing their great 5K series of races in Wythenshawe Park. All the organization of the event is flawless, with marshals encouraging you throughout the race. It's so inclusive too - when they say everyone is welcome, they are! The race timings are put up on the internet usually within an hour of the race finish, there's prizes and there are goodies at the end of the race.

Fancy it? You can enter for the individual events on the day or you can get a discount by registering in advance using this form.

Hopefully this year I'll actually get to run them - last year I sprained my ankle so badly I could barely walk while they were going on.

British weather :-(

Booked to go camping in the Lake District ... what does the weather forecast say?

Overnight temperatures of -3!

Going to need my woolly hat I think.

Changes..

Lots of changes in my life at the minute. The failing company I work for has been acquired by giant evil megacorp, and we are going through our 'onboarding' process.

The thing that has thrown me the most - changing my email address from my maiden name to my double barreled married name. Why does this feel so weird? Had I never accepted the name change really?

Nokia - Economical with the truth

There has been a lot of buzz about Nokia making their navigation free forever.

However, it isn't that simple, unless you are on the short list of phones that support Ovi Maps 3.0.3, you don't get the free navigation at all. This means if you have a smartphone such as the E71 you don't get the free navigation, and there are some rumours that you cannot buy new navigation licenses.

Next time, no nokia for me.

Best Warcraft boss encounter strategy walkthrough - EVER!

This strategy was originally written by Numi, of the My Little Pwnies guild. Their wiki has vanished and the guild's forums no longer seem very active. The pictures alone meant that we started calling Obsidian Sanctum the DUVET of DEATH!

Alright guys, Sartharion is a serious boss, and it's going to take a serious strategy to beat him. I drew up a strat for taking him out, and I want everyone to follow it to TO THE LETTER.

The encounter starts with the raid at one end of a rectangular area surrounded by lava, with Sartharion at the other. I'll be referring to where the raid starts as the "bottom" of the area, with "left" and right" being relative to this perspective.

As soon as the battle starts, the tank will pull Sartharion over to the right, rotating him 90 degrees. The tank (represented here by a bear druid) will be backed up to just before the lava, and roughly centered between the top and bottom of the area.

Here's what that looks like from the tank's perspective:

That's all there is to the initial pull. Positioning is important, but if we're a little off, it should be easy to correct mid-fight.

Melee DPS (represented here by two cat druids) will be on Sartharion's side, a bit spread out. They MUST avoid being near Sartharion's face, as he has a nasty cleave. Being near his tail will make it easier to hit Sartharion when he rotates (more on that later) and dodge lava walls (more on that later). Thankfully, Sartharion has a HUGE hitbox, so you can be a bit flexible with the positioning.

Ranged DPS (represented here by a moonkin druid) will be a little ways back from Sartharion. They should err a little more towards Sartharion's tail, because...

Healers (represented here by a restoration druid) will be in the same row as ranged DPS, more towards his head. Again, don't get too close, or his Cleave will destroy you.
Here's what the positioning will look like for most of the fight, from the DPS's perspective:

Now, the major thing about the positioning is that the platform is divided up into five or so zones:

Lava walls will occasionally rise up from either the left or the right, and slowly sweep across every other zone. This is preceded by an emote about Lava Surging around the Platform or something.
When they rise from the right:

...they'll cover the even zones (2n). If we're in position, the tank will not have to move, and everyone else (possibly even the melee, depending on Sartharion's position and how close to the edge of his hitbox they are) will have to run up to Sartharion's belly to give him a hug. Er, avoid the lava wall, like so:

Until the main tank has experience with exactly where the safe zone is, he should try to keep an eye behind him to make sure the first lava wall doesn't catch him by surprise.
When they rise from the left:

...they've cover the odd zones (2n-1). If we're not in position, THAT'S A FIFTY DKP MINUS. Otherwise, the tank will have to strafe right, the melee will have to back off, and the ranged classes will be safe. That'll look like this:

Notice that Sartharion has rotated. It's possible the melee DPS will be able to clump up near his tail and continue to hit him (he doesn't have a tail swipe, apparently). (EDIT: Sartharion does have a tail swipe that stuns.) If it's possible, go for it, otherwise chill out until the lava wall has passed and the tank has rotated him back into position. From the tank's perspective, it'll look like this:

Try to keep your camera zoomed out so you can see the lava wall forming on the horizon. Even if it's hard to see behind Sartharion, you should be able to simply look back and to your left whenever the lava emotes to see if a wall is forming there or not. If it isn't, you'll have to move!
Also, occasionally adds will spawn in the raid. These will look like fire elementals, exactly like this:

The off-tank will need to pick these up right away, followed by the DPS burning them down with AoE.

The off-tank must continue to watch for lava walls during this period. It would be nasty enough to get hit by a lava wall while tanking the fire elemental pack, but even worse, the walls will turn a normal marshmallow seal...

...a burnt marshmallow seal! Burnt marshmallows deal 400% more damage, which will probably wipe us if a whole pack gets hit by it. Therefore, the off-tank must do whatever it takes to get the elementals out of the path of the lava waves. He/she should probably keep them away from the edges of the area, to avoid surprise lava walls. Sartharion will normally summon 2-4 elementals at a time; however, when his HP gets low enough, he will start summoning more. When he does so, healers will need to give extra love to the off-tank.
...also Sartharion will occasionally lob slow-moving fireballs / meteors at a random person in the raid. You can and should dodge these. It's also a good reason to stay spread out, so he doesn't constantly drop meteors on the giant raider clump. Think Void Reaver, but a lot less frequent. I just don't know which of my stuffed animals best represents an AoE meteor.

Follow these steps, and we should be taking a success screenshot this very night!

NEXT WEEK: KEL'THUZAD, RIGHT HAND OF THE LICH KING