Coastal walk Menorca

I've walked it... when it was cooler... and that was hot enough for me!

I have to say, the Cami de Cavalls is very well signposted and marked, and takes in some very scenic and rugged locations, along with towns and villages where you can get fed and watered. I was particularly impressed with the 'traditional' wooden gates, which have been designed so that you can't leave them open, and they're set so that they slam shut behind you.

There aren't nearly enough campsites to get all the way round the route, and wild camping is illegal. On the other hand, I've seen the odd tent out in the wilds, and I've managed to camp myself without being seen by anyone. If you choose to wild-camp, then water will be your biggest concern. On one dry and remote stretch, I went for a pre-walk and hid a 5 litre bottle of water in a bush beside a reasonably flat place where I could camp. It was then no problem to break a long walk at that point and have plenty of water at my disposal.

Alpina do an excellent 1:50,000 map which has about the same amount of detail as a British OS Landranger, and apart from spotting a couple of places where the route had been wrongly marked, it was fine for the route. The wrongly-marked bits have been reported, and will be fixed at the next reprint. For my part, I'm due to deliver a guidebook to the route before the end of this year, for publication next year.

Thats brilliant thanks Paddy I will watch out for your book. Cant help thinking someone is missing out supplying B&B on the coastal region of the island similar to the C2C walk in England, the walk could become really popular it seems to have every thing, route, views, landscape, coves to take a cooling dip but no where to stay.

I walked the route out-of-season, because summer is too hot for me in the Mediterranean. As a result, most of the resorts were closed, with barely a bar or restaurant functioning, let alone hotels. Mind you... I prefer resorts to be empty!

On the other hand, given the number of walkers I saw, I'm sure someone is missing an opportunity to 'sell' the route with a complete accommodation package. I know how these things work, from my occasional dealings with operators. If you try and book places yourself, then it costs you a few pence per call, and you might have to make up to five calls on occasion to get a bed for the night. With a package deal, someone else will do the phoning around, but rather than charge you a few pence for doing it, they basically charge you double for the accommodation, even if they've negotiated a discount with the provider, and basically that's their profit. I reckon that's fair enough, because I have come across people who are quite happy to pay over the odds to have all their arrangements made for them.

The other thing that's worth considering on Menorca is using a couple of bases on the island, then commuting to and from sections of the Cami de Cavalls using buses. You can easily find cheap digs in Mao and Ciutadella, close to the bus stations, and it would barely take an hour to reach most stretches of the Cami de Cavalls (plus maybe another hour to leave them and return to base). The only stretch where this won't work is along the rugged north coast. Buses don't serve the longest stretch, and there's no accommodation. Wild camping isn't allowed... but hey... do you think that stopped me?

Winter bus services are a bit skeletal in places, but it's easy enough to bail out by taxi. So long as you reach a road, you can call for a taxi using one number, and the taxi office will get the nearest available taxi to you in minutes. If you just use to taxi to get to the nearest operational bus service, then it won't cost more than €10. (Well, maybe €15 to bail out of a car park at the end of a dirt road on the north coast.)

Yes thats worth considering, as a taster I may just try from Mao to Ciutadella and there are a couple of camp sites that would just about fit in with the days walk. But I like your idea of bases that would work well  too, Ive found some inexpensive hostels/hotels in Ciutadella.

I did hiking in Mallorca. It has similar landscape and no camping law. My best piece of advice is bring a hamock, not a tent. You'll have much more luck finding somewhere to put a hamock. Also, loads and loads of water. A steripen or iodine tabs would also help!

I did hiking in Mallorca. It has similar landscape and same no camping law. My best piece of advice is bring a hamock, not a tent. You'll have much more luck finding somewhere to put a hamock. Also, loads and loads of water. A steripen or iodine tabs could also help!

Thanks for that, I've upgraded the walk and am planning on doing the Camino De Santiago next year when I can get a month off. Will hopefully get chance to do some moe walks in Menorca after that but this years going to be doing as much walking in Wales and Lakes to get ready for next year.