Last Saturday night to Sunday, some 10,000 Mallorcans participated in this year’s Pujada a Lluc a peu de la Part Forana. This annual event was celebrated for the 30th time now. This year the very long walk coincided with the Diada de Mallorca festivities.

The walk through the night originated first as a pilgrimage, the Marxa des Güell a Lluc a peu which traditionally starts from Palma and is undertaken in early August. Seven weeks ago, some 15,000 people participated in this popular event. People from the pueblos all over the island who for some reason cannot do the walk from Palma, or want to do a pilgrimage from their own hometown, or do not want to be subjected to the hot and sweaty temperatures of August, can do the walk from wherever they might live in Mallorca. In places such as Felanitx, Campos, Porreres or Santanyí, but also Son Servera, Artà or Alcúdia and elsewhere, people embarked on this demanding hike on Saturday night to arrive at the Santuari de Santa  Maria de Lluc early on Sunday morning, with temperatures during the nighttime now well down on those of this Summer.

The walk is not only undertaken by pilgrims but participants may well be inspired by another reason, be that of a sportive, a fitness, a health or a competitive motive. Most participants arrived in Lluc yesterday morning before a bus would then take them back to their respective hometowns. 52 vecinos started from Felanitx on Saturday evening, whilst a further 155 people from Felanitx took the bus to Inca to start the ascend to Lluc from Inca at 03h00 on Sunday morning.

Depending on where the walk was started from the distances would vary from between 45 and 85 km.

Well done I would say.

The photo was taken in Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: September 12th, 2009. The time was 19:55:56.