Here are my diary and my photographs from the recent club holiday tour to Mallorca.
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Sunday 6th October
Flew out from Bournemouth Airport. Highlight was Lingwood standing by the door of the toilets asking where they were, then talking to some old dear at baggage reclaim thinking she was Jean, realising his mistake, then failing to spot the real Jean two yards in front of him.
Monday 7th October
Orientation day. Walked around Palmanova and Magaluf. Back to the hotel pool side to join Pedro and Tim's first jam.
Tuesday 8th October
Taxi to Calvia:
Walk to Es Capdella:
Wednesday 9th October
A day for dodging the storms. Our first game was rained off, so we caught the bus to Palma instead.
Thursday 10th October
Bus to Andratx:
Then on to the beautiful Port d'Andratx (video footage only). A definite nip in the air on the coast. Another late night at the Africa Bar celebrating Jim's birthday.
Friday 11th October
Caught the bus to the Castell de Bellver overlooking Palma, good museum and panoramic views:
Walked in to Palma for more sightseeing: church of the Immaculate Conception, pretty avenues, a statue of a bishop making a rude gesture, and a matronly statue in a Plaça on the way back to the bus station:
Saturday 12th October
Rearranged first game of cricket against Mallorca's weaker team. It was a nice game and we won comfortably. It would have been a longer game were it not for the enthusiasm for LBWs shown by the umpires.
Sunday 13th October
Bus to Palma, sat in a café waiting for the train ticket office to open:
Tourist train to Soller, crowded tram down to Port de Soller:
Back to Soller to wander the side streets before returning home:
Monday 14th October
The fearsome Zambuca Tigers weren't from Bangladesh but from Brighton, and were only here for the beer. The Bish collected his maiden ton for Wayfarers and Downsy a rare 50 as we won easily. Good rendition of "Summertime" in the clubhouse afterwards sung by their lady fielder.
Tuesday 15th October
Much tighter bowling from the Northampton Cavaliers restricted us to 135. We were briefly in it with three early wickets, but they won easily enough against our tired side.
Wednesday 16th October
First day of our three-day car hire. We stopped briefly at Galilea on our way to the beautiful town of Deia on the north coast road:
We drove back along the Soller - Palma road over the mountain rather than through the tunnel:
Brief stop at Portals Nous to see how the other half live:
Thursday 17th October
Drove all the way across the island to the recommended caves at Arta, which were excellent:
Lunch was taken in the town of Arta:
We then made our way up the coast to Alcudia:
Then along the spectacular road to Cap de Formentor (well done Brian):
Just time for a quick look around Pollença, some gardens (see video) and the very nice square where we stopped for a final drink before returning to the hotel:
Friday 18th October
We headed firstly to Colonia de Sant Jordi, then to Cap Salines, the southernmost point of Mallorca (I don't know who she was, but she looked pensive):
Stopped for lunch in the beautiful German-occupied resort of Cala Figuera. Perhaps we should have placed our order in German, because it took 90 minutes for our food to arrive - we nearly walked out.
The day was resurrected by the most fantastic view of nearly the whole island from the Santuari de San Salvador, a former monastery now turned into a tourist spot with a bar, and 50 cents in the meter illuminates the chapel for 2 minutes:
Saturday 19th October
Most people did their mystery present shopping before our final game against Mallorca's first side. We did well to bowl them out for 232 after the openers had put on over 100. Phil Williams threatened to take their bowling apart until he was adjudged LBW sweeping. Our reply faltered, but Downsy reached 92 runs without being out over three innings to finish as our second highest run scorer. Steve was finally out to register a tour average over 100.
The whole party congregated at Bar Africa for the presentation of the mystery gifts and the collection of the fines.
Sunday 20th October
We left on a beautiful sunny warm morning, and landed heavily at Bournemouth in a chilly wind. Glad I carted my leather jacket around for two weeks so I could be warm then. Satisfied to hear that the weather had been lousy in the UK while we were abroad.
Many thanks to Steve, Norma, Richie and Shelley for organising this fine holiday.