The annual overnight 42-kilometre walk from the Plaça Güell in Palma to Lluc Monastery, which takes place over the night of the first Saturday in August, will go ahead.
Tolo Güell, who co-founded the walk along with a group of friends in 1974 as a means of giving thanks to Our Lady of Lluc, had said that this year's walk would not happen because of the mounting cost of putting it on and the attendant bureaucratic paperwork. The Grup Güell cultural association, which stages it, had hoped to attract sponsors to provide sufficient financial support but has been unable to.
The Council of Majorca had already said that it would step in and ensure that the walk continues from 2017. As for this year, the Council had believed that there would be insufficient time to enable the walk to take place. However, its president, Miquel Ensenyat, met today with Grup Güell and others to see if there would be a way to allow this year's walk to be held. Obstacles, it is understood, had included the Council being able to justify its organisation both legally and financially in a short space of time. The upshot of the meeting was, though, that the Council will now provide the 18,000 euros that are needed to cover the costs of the event.
The walk has on occasions attracted as many as 30,000 participants, and the former king, Juan Carlos, was once there at the starting line.