Don't Walk This Way: Camí de Ternelles

After years of legal wrangle and several weeks spent in a courtroom in Inca, a judge has arbitrated that the property through which the Camí de Ternelles in Pollensa passes is indeed private. This old way or road has been the focus of a battle between ramblers and Pollensa town hall, on one side, and the owners, the March family of bank fame, on the other.

To summarise, the judge has said that the property passed into private hands in 1811 and that on this property a way does not exist that is in the public domain. The judge has added that the town hall must remove the walk from its brochure of local rambles but has also advised the owners to respect the currently restricted access of up twenty walkers a day. The town hall may appeal.

The judge's decision is hugely important. It has potential ramifications for other walks not just in Pollensa but in other parts of Mallorca. Indeed, it is that important that it might serve to kill stone dead many of the ambitions that exist, since the awarding of World Heritage status, for opening up the Tramuntana mountains to more tourism.

In the immediate Pollensa area, walks such as those with access to Boquer could be threatened. And the threat resides in whether land is ultimately determined as being private or in the public domain, a threat that extends along the Tramuntana range and from the legal battle that has been fought at its northerly, Pollensa end.

What was generally overlooked amidst the euphoria of the awarding of World Heritage status was the fact that most of the Tramuntana range is privately owned, or claimed to be. This does not in itself prevent walks, so long as some accommodation is arrived at with owners (and Pollensa town hall seems to think that it might yet be able to do just this with the March family). But if there are no agreements, much of the range becomes off-limits, and the prospect arises of years of legal disputes in order to try and secure rights of way.

It is such a prospect that must seriously curb whatever marketing there might be in mind for the Tramuntana. It would be a massive mistake to start promoting walks, only for other town halls to discover, as in Pollensa, that they have to then scrub them.

However, the issue with many walks is not simply one that relates to land ownership. There is also the sea.

The Ternelles walk ultimately leads to the Cala Castell, a cove to the west of Cala San Vicente. The walk also provides access to the ancient fortification of the Castell del Rei, only a short distance from the coast. The judge has made clear that, privately owned or not privately owned, because the property forms a link with the coast, free access to the sea must be supported. This stems from the principle enshrined in the Coasts Law (yep, that again) which guarantees free access to the public.

The limitation of twenty people a day was, in effect, a compromise established by the Council of Mallorca. It was predicated not so much on the question of land ownership but on access to the sea. By emphasising this aspect, however, the judge has surely opened up the possibility of a legal challenge to the Council's compromise. And invoking the Coasts Law is what makes the Ternelles saga even more interesting.

This is because of a move that has gone almost completely unnoticed (not least by myself, until a couple of days ago), namely that the regional government is set to assume responsibility for the coasts in the Balearics. This would involve a transfer of such responsibility from the Costas Authority and would involve the management of the coasts. But it could also well mean ordinance. If so, this raises all sorts of questions of the type that have been raised regarding hotel exploitation of beaches and also of public access to the sea and whether this would indeed be guaranteed - the privatisation question.

Yet the regional government, aware of the need for tourism development that embraces heritage and culture and that exploits the Tramuntana's new status, can ill afford to have obstacles in the way of accessing important historic sites such as the Castell del Rei. Consequently, Ternelles has the potential to become an issue not between Pollensa town hall and the owners but between a Partido Popular government and the most powerful banking family in Mallorca.

Of course, this may not mean a collision course; it could actually help to smooth the situation. But one thing is almost certain. The last has not been heard about the Ternelles walk. It has way, way further to go.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.