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WALK 4

Sant Lluís and Biniancolla

Start/Finish	Sant Lluís
Distance	12km (7½ miles)
Total Ascent/Descent	75m (245ft)
Time	3hrs 30min
Terrain	Easy walking along roads and tracks, mostly at gentle gradients past fields, coast and scrub-covered areas.
Refreshment	Plenty of choice in Sant Lluís. Bar/restaurants in Biniancolla and Torret.
Public transport	Regular daily buses serve Sant Lluís from Maó. Summer buses serve Cala Biniancolla.

Sant Lluís is an interesting large village, well worth exploring; its streets are laid out grid-fashion, reminding visitors that it was once a garrison town. Roads and tracks can be followed southwards to the coastal resort of Biniancolla, then northwards to return to Sant Lluís. Two old towers can be seen on the return journey: Torre de sa Vigia and a tower that gives its name to the little village of Torret.

Leave Sant Lluís by following the main road as if heading for the south coast. There are two ways to continue, which join up before long. Either walk to a roundabout and take the road left, signposted for Biniancolla, using the red cycleway and walkway alongside, or turn left before the roundabout and walk down the Camí de Consell; head gently uphill and turn left at es Consell. Continue gently downhill and turn right. The road is still named as the Camí des Consell; walk down it, then up to the main road at a crossroads. Cross over the main road, then turn left along the red cycleway and walkway, followed in the alternative route, near Torret.

Drystone walls enclose small fields all around the village of Sant Lluís

Follow the main road gently uphill and round a bend, reaching another crossroads and a cycleway mapboard. Turn right and follow the Camí Vell de Biniancolla, which runs gently downhill as a tarmac road flanked by walls, fields and a couple of farms. After passing a gate, it continues as a broad track flanked by walls and fields, heading gently downhill and uphill, now with wild olives alongside. There is a sewage works to the left, and on the crest of the track at sa Serreta, a concrete picnic table and benches are available. Views stretch from the headland of La Mola to the village of Torret and the highest point on Menorca, Monte Toro.

The track runs gently down past bushy scrub and rocky ground, passing a picnic site and a ‘vista panoràmica’ sign. There is a lighthouse on the island, Illa de l’Aire. The track becomes metalled again, dropping more steeply, with views of houses along the coast, both left and right. Pass another picnic table and continue down to a gateway and road junction, where there are signposts and a cycleway mapboard. Walk straight down the road, Carrer de sa Devallada, reaching another road junction and bus stops near Son Ganxo. The Bar Restaurante La Baia lies across the road, beside the inlet of Cala Biniancolla.

Turn right to follow the coastal road called the Passeig Marítim. One stretch of it is free of development, becoming Carrer de S’Oronella, passing the Restaurante en Caragol on the way to Biniancolla. Walk along a broad pavement, passing a little rocky inlet and a small white hut or house. When a road junction is reached, turn right, uphill and inland, as signposted for ‘Torret de Baix’. Walk through a roundabout to follow Carrer de sa Cadernera uphill. There aren’t many houses, just masses of wild olives and lentisc awaiting future construction projects.

The road bends left at the top, and by walking straight ahead, it descends and curves round a wooded slope. Reach a few houses and a signpost at a junction on the outskirts of Binibèquer Nou. Turn right up the Camí de sa Morena Perillosa, making a short, steep climb, then turn right as signposted up a track called the Camí de sa Vigia. Pass dense wild olives and lentisc and broom scrub. Follow the winding track and keep left of three features: a waterworks, the Torre de sa Vigia, and the red house of Sa Vigia.

The Camí de sa Vigia runs inland to the little village of Torret

Go through a gateway and head downhill, with bare limestone poking through the track surface. Turn left at a junction and follow a tarmac road full of pot-holes and strewn with gravel. Pass fields and houses around Torret de Baix, as well as wooded and scrubby areas, and ascend gently. There is a view of a tower, or torre, before reaching a road junction in the little village of Torret.

Turn left up the Camí de Torret, then turn right down the narrow Camí de la Coixa, past the Restaurante Pan y Vino. Walk down the grassy, walled track that winds and serves a number of properties, becoming stony and gritty as it continues down to a main road near s’Ullastrar. Turn right, and as soon as an opportunity presents itself, step down to the right into a little pine forest where there is a fitness trail. Go through a subway beneath the main road and walk up to a roundabout, then follow the main road straight into Sant Lluís.