11日間でイビサ島を散策

My friends and I are just back from the 4 day, stage 1 Ibiza coastline walk and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was tough in parts and the walking each day was about 5-6 hours but if you're up for a challenge, sign up! The scenery is stunning - a lot along the beaches and cliffs of the South and West of the Island. Toby expertly managed our group, lunch stops with Amir's veggie tupperware surprises were always good and each night we all went together to a different local restaurant. Finishing with a beer and a badge for completing the stage was a lovely end to a fun and spirit lifting experience. Thank you Ibiza Outdoors!

Ibiza ATI had been on my list of things to do, having read and been inspired by a friends post, she had completed the trip back in 2019. It was still camping then - hats off to those that have done the walk with camping. I finally justified the trip for my 50th birthday. I have been a fitness goal chaser since 2014, when I had a medical epiphany and always have at least a couple of ½ marathons a year or a marathon booked to run. This seemed like another fitness goal to achieve. I hadn’t realised there would be a lot more to it than just managing to have the fitness to walk a ½ marathon every day for 11 days (on a couple of occasions we hit 29km). The other reason I chose this trip, was my love of all things Ibiza, often visiting the island a few times a year. The pre-organisation information from Ibiza outdoors was great, listing really useful items, that I would highly recommend, zinc oxide tape, water bladder & talc, all extremely helpful items. I would also highly recommend full strength mosquito spray and body glide if wearing shorts. On arrival there is a pre-trip evening get together the night before. I think mostly for the guides to get an idea of the group and to assess individual fitness levels. You also experience your first share – each member of the group, on this occasion, discussed why we were there - what had been our reason to book the trip. Day 1 is so super exciting. We all meet up, early, handover our bags that will meet us at the first hotel and we have all been informed that today will be difficult, with the seven sisters (hills) to climb and the 5 MF’s (more hills) to follow. Our group found this day tough, resulting in a late finish and Ibiza Outdoors making efforts to change our bus pickup to accommodate our late finish. Despite the challenges of the day, I thoroughly enjoyed day 1 and was beyond delighted that it finished at Experimental Beach to watch the sunset. Day 2 & 3 – Our first hotel is Ryans Lolas. This hotel was excellent for our trip. Perhaps helped by the fact that the party season is coming to an end and we got the breakfast buffet to ourselves in the morning. The staff were amazing and really helped us out each day, making sure we were fed and sorted so we could leave on schedule for our walks. Sticking to schedule is tough but you get in to a rhythm. We were told at our first gathering that by day 3 things could be challenging, meltdowns could be occurring. We had already seen a couple at the end of the 1st tough day. Some people couldn’t join for dinner or the share, because it had been such a difficult day for some. Combine this with the fact that the group were experiencing some problems bonding – as a result of a little tension between slower and faster walkers. Often leaving slower walkers feeling a bit isolated at the back of the pack. These tensions were discussed at day 3 dinner and we all really hoped the group could pull together. Day 4 – A special day followed, the team of 11 pulled together like a happy, sunny military operation. Everyone taking turns to join the back of the pack and to make sure everyone was supported. I might have enjoyed climbing and trotting along like a mountain goat on the uphill but I really appreciated help and support on the downhill - as I found this bit my least comfortable. Others preferred downhill and so on and so on, we all had different strengths. The highlight for day 4 was being met by a lovely couple who had come out to meet us, had made us tea and brought us snacks. They also came with hugs and when you are tired and still trying to find the rhythm of this trip, the hugs are very welcome. It’s the really small kind gestures that make this trip phenomenally special. Day 5 to 8 – Day 5 is amazing, you leave from your first hotel in the morning (no bus to take you back to a start point today). You spend the morning walking out of San Antonio, we spent a lovely hour at Rita’s Cantina having coffee. A member of our group this morning had to take the day off because of mosquito bites. It felt a bit sad being a person down. The day ends in a new hotel - further north this time. We stay here for 3 nights. It’s lovely to be heading further North. The remaining days, in this block, see us spend more time in forests, which are lovely and remind me of home. I love the North, you feel more isolated from the tourism on the Island and you can spend hours not seeing other people. I love passing old fincas, seeing farmers and sheep, I loved revisiting Xarraca, where I had years before spent time paddle boarding with my son. I loved the swim stops, the black and white striped light house (Punta Moscarter). Most of all you really look forward to the evening meals each night, getting to know the group more and discussing the word of the day, as part of the share. Day 9 to 11 – we spend the last 3 nights of the trip at a hotel in Es Canar. The highlight is the sunrise in the morning, from this location, it is just stunning. You actually start to feel sad that the trip is coming to an end. The last few days of walking start to feel more familiar as you start to walk back in to areas that you have frequently visited on other trips to the Island. Santa Eulalia, Cala Llonga and on the last day you head in to Talamanca. Main Highlights: The walk is challenging, terrain not easy, hill climbs fantastic, distance covered epic, reviewing your app map after each day, brilliant. This was everything I was looking for in a walk challenge. Good bits I hadn’t expected: the evening shares and time spent with the group at dinner. This was special time that I hadn’t really thought about when booking. I was so proud that I attended each and every 11 night group get together, from the first meeting before the walk started to the last celebration meal. It actually felt like part of the challenge, even when you maybe didn’t feel quite like it (as some did opt to not join every evening) – it was part of the challenge to dust yourself down from a hard day and enjoy that evening get together. Would I do it again – absolutely but always one to find the next challenge, I opted to book Formentera in April 2025 Formentera April 2025 By far this is a much easier walk than the 11 day Ibiza ati. Easier terrain, almost no hills, no hotel changes, as only a 3 night trip, with 4 days of walking. Day 1 – The ferry trip was a fantastic start to this trip. I had never visited Formentera before, so it was all very exciting. Really easy start on this trip- as there was 15 minutes on arrival to drop bags into your hotel room. I actually think I even had time to unpack a little. The first day of walking is mostly beach, which had been hard to sand walk on my Ibiza ati but I had gone with the recommendation of the Teva sandals that Ibiza Outdoors had recommended in the joining video. These were a revelation. I had watched our guide complete Ibiza ATI in walking sandals and really wasn’t convinced but they were amazing. Zero blisters in 4 days, my feet didn’t feel tired at all and for sand walking, they are amazing. We didn’t get perfect weather, however this wasn’t a problem. We had wind for the first couple of days, so this helped you remain cooler. We had an hr of rain on day 2 – again, what’s not to like about warm rain. The final day was glorious weather, with a small ½ hr spell of drizzle. The scenery is absolutely stunning, super blue waters, gorgeous sandy beaches and enough rocky terrain to make it a little challenging in places. We ate most of our meals in a local bar, close to the hotel, the staff were fantastic and it had a really lovely local charm. One of the locals celebrated his birthday at one of our breakfasts, so lovely to experience the whole room sing Feliz Cumpleanos to him. Highlights: Beautiful Island, manageable schedule of 4 days of easy walking. Day 2 word of the day was freedom and I really embraced walking the first 5km on my own, out front to the coffee stop. The Formentera Geckos are beautiful and unbelievably curious – they were quite literally sitting on us at lunch, on the last day. Downside: As I said with ATI Ibiza – on some days some members of the group opted not to join the group for meals at the end of the day. This is probably my downside. I didn’t join the end of walk 1hr event and took an earlier ferry back to Ibiza. Would I do this trip again: Absolutely – but I always look for the next challenge. So I need to find another Island to walk around. On both trips our guide was Patrick - who I would highly recommend. Legend status for walking the roman paths on Formentera in no shoes at all. Toby – owner of Ibiza Outdoors, did join us on a couple of occasions on both trips – so it was good to meet the man behind the joining videos, in person. Alex & Steph – lovely, helpful staff at Ibiza Outdoors. Really responsive if you had extra questions in the run up to the start of the trips. Also special thanks to a couple of friends – who I met on both the Ibiza ATI and Formentera trip. As one of them liked to say – it’s just a walk. It really is and made all the better for meeting new people.

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