Bobby Gilbert Adventures

Ask any cyclist who has been to Majorca if they have done the Calobra? They may not have done it but they will know what you are talking about. An epic climb.

January 15: We parked the car at the junction from the main road. From there it’s a 2 mile climb to the coll and then 6 miles of descending down the Calobra. The Calobra is a dead end road. Once you get to the bottom you’ll have to get a ferry out or you climb back up the way you came. We descended all of the hair pins that we’d soon be climbing again, passing a slow tourist in a car at one point, and eventually we were down at the little port at the bottom.

From here we walked and cycled around the coast a few hundred yards until we were at the bottom of the Pareis Gorge and had a look around.

In summer this is the end of a good canyoning route which I quite like to do, however the water would be extremely cold now and hypothermia would be a very real risk. Didn’t really fancy that.

We did a little bit of bouldering, checked out some of the deep water soloing (for another day?) then back along the coast through the little tunnels to Sa Calobra Port.

None of the cafés were open, it being winter, so after a bit of a pause we start up the climb.

We went at our own pace and after a while I pulled over to take my helmet off as I was getting quite hot. It’s a long climb right to the top with the hairpin bends getting more spectacular as you got higher.

I had done this route years ago on a cycling training camp. We had a race, about 30 of us. I remember the bunch splitting apart quite quickly and eventually I was in a group of six that eventually split apart too as we went up the hairpins. I was sixth to the top.

My daughter Josephine had also done this climb, not on the same trip as me, but on a later one. I noticed her tone was 38 minutes. My time today was 61 minutes. I wonder what it was all those years ago? I suspect Jose would have given me a run for my money.

When you’re almost at the top there is an unusual bridge where the road goes under the bridge then loops around and goes over it and from there it’s about half a mile to the summit.

I waited on that bridge and I could see Sally making her way up the hairpins down below. Making very steady progress and before long she was with me at the bridge and from there we cycled to the top together. Very impressive effort cycling up her first major pass. I was impressed.

A quick descent to the car then back to our home for some good cooking.