It’s warmer today, if still not warm; and as predicted it’s windy enough that Rachael elects a walk for herself.  She researches Kormoot for hikes around Sineu and comes up with one that looks attractive - an out and back to a small knoll to the southeast, Puig de Sant Notre.  Other than the small hill that Sineu itself is built up, it’s pretty flat for a few miles in all directions from here.  Sant Notre though is close enough that it offers the chance to gain enough elevation for a bit of a view.

Before she leaves Rachael has breakfast in the room from fixings she brought back from the store yesterday: instant coffee, high-protein yogurt, muesli, and a few mini-muffins.  Our host offers breakfast if we order in advance, but it’s expensive enough that it sounds like more of a meal than either of us is interested in.

For myself, I decide to take a chance on that bakery we got cookies from yesterday.  And it’s a nice place - for six euros I have much more of a feast than I can make a dent in: a dense pastry stuffed with chicken and curry that I can only down about 3/4 of, a multigrain croissant that makes it back to the room untouched, cafe con leche and a bottle of water.  It’s a nice enough place and I’ll likely go back tomorrow, but certainly with eyes smaller than my stomach this time.

We’re instructed to lock the door to the house when we leave but have only a single key, so we have to coordinate our departures and arrivals if we aren’t going out together.  Our original plan was that we would leave together, with Rachael taking the key.  We’d keep in touch by phone, and she’d meet up with me later to let me in after the bike ride I’m envisioning.

Plans change though, and in the end I keep the key with myself.

Rachael has an excellent walk except for a short unavoidable stretch on a unshouldered paved road that has enough traffic to be a concern.  The destination itself is as fine as she hoped and gives her impressive views - across the flats, to the mountains, and back to town.

About the change in plans.  This is the point where I want to thank all of you that have expressed your concerns and offered encouragement about our health, and to apologize for not doing my part - for in fact although Rachael is significantly better today, I’m definitely not.  Before leaving for coffee this morning I mapped out a shorter ride for myself for today, a 25 loop that stayed closer to town in case it proved to be too much for me.  By the time I made it back from coffee though it was pretty clear that even that was too much, and in fact I didn’t have enough energy to do anything at all.  Really, I felt pretty fatigued from just the hundred yard walk to the cafe and back.  So I kept the key with me, and while Rachael took her hike I went back to bed for another hour or two.

Eventually I roused myself enough for a very short walk up into the upper town around the parish church that crowns it, and then back to the central plaza where I sat in the sun on the bench for the next hour enjoying watching children kicking balls back and forth and making the rounds on roller blades.  I’d envisioned taking shots of the town and church while I was up above, but couldn’t find the motivation.  Instead, I at least took a few shots of and around our hotel.

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Eva WaltersIt might be just as well that you are missing the market. When we were in Mallorca we visited Sineu on a market day and were shocked at how impossibly crowded it was. There were busloads of tourists and hordes of people in front of all the booths and on the restaurant terraces. It was really unpleasant. Al actually has a visual memory of your hotel terrace crammed with people. We high-tailed it out of Sineu and cycled back to Llubi for lunch. https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/mallorca/to-sineu-and-back-via-llubi-too-much-market/

We’re sorry you’re still feeling so unwell. Just in case it is Covid, a very common effect is extreme fatigue which can last for two weeks or so after testing negative. We both experienced this after pretty mild cases. So it’s good you’re taking it easy and giving yourself time to recover.
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9 months ago

Scott AndersonTo Eva WaltersThat’s really amazing to think of, looking out the window at the empty streets and plaza. It sounds like we’re getting out of town at the right time by leaving Tuesday. A day later and we might have a challenge getting our bikes out of our garage.

It really must be Covid, I think. We had mild cases of it about a year ago though and they were nothing like this. I’m just coming up on two weeks under it now so hopefully we’re seeing the trailing edge.
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9 months ago

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Eventually I hear my name called from across the square and see Rachael waving at me, just returning from her walk.  We sit on the bench together discussing our situation for awhile, and then she’s briefly off to a vegetable market and to the pharmacy for more decongestants; and then we both returned to the room and continued our discussion.

It’s a pretty discouraging situation, and it’s clear by now that something needs to give with our plans.  Even these short, easy rides I’ve been taking are apparently too much and seem to be setting me back again.  It makes me feel vulnerable, making me imagine life-changing things like chronic fatigue syndrome or long Covid.  It makes me wonder if we’ll even be aborting the tour.

It’s too soon for that though, we both agree.  It really could just be a matter of time, and a need for me to get more serious about benching myself until I’m either significantly better or until we need to consider plan B.  So for the time being, we’re slowing down even further.  The one concrete change we’re making is to cancel our three day stay in Soller, a reowned coastal beauty spot on the far side of the Tramuntana mountains.  I’m not sure if I could make it across the pass to get there, and even if I did I’m not sure I could make it back across to this side again.  Beyond that it’s also out of the way for getting to Palma, our last stop on Mallorca and the port for catching the ferry back to the mainland.

So for the time being, the plan is to stay two more nights here in Sineu (one more than we were booked for), and then move on to nearby Alaró for four nights.  After that it’s only about a fifteen mile, mostly downhill ride to Palma and the ferry.  Two short, easy rides, five more days where Rachael can take hikes and I can vegetate, and then a boat to Denia on the mainland where we have another three night stay booked.  And then we’ll see.