by Irene Taylor
THE Council of Majorca has opened an old bridle path once used by the men who stored snow in the mountains, bringing it down to Palma by donkey.
The path, between Sa Mola and Son Macip in Escorca, known as Ses Voltes den Galileu, is 1'236 metres long and restoring it has cost five years of work and more than 562'764 euros. Nearly 13 per cent of the budget came from the European Union project Medstone.
The path gave access to the area with the biggest number of snow houses (holes cut in the ground, where the snow was compacted and stored) in the Serra de Tramuntana mountains, and is one of the classical routes for ramblers. One of the reasons work took so long is that the classical roadside vegetation has been restored, introducing up to 300 different species characteristic of the Majorcan mountains. Eventually the snow houses will be restored.
The first stage of the Council's Dry Stone Wall route has now been completed and it goes from Lluc to the refuge at Es Tossals Verds. The opening was attended by Miquel Angel Borras, head of the Council's environment department and Bartomeu Calafell, the director of the environment and nature.
Historical “snow house” path is restored