How difficult is the GR 221 Ruta de Pedra en Sec?

Two trails in one section. The mapped line starts at the ruined Trappist monastery of La Trapa above Sant Elm, climbs onto a dry ridge of low scrub and rock with no shade at all, and then, near the Coll de sa Gramola, drops onto the Ma-10 and walks the tarmac for roughly 2 km. What follows, up over the shoulder of Mola de s'Esclop and down to Estellencs, is the roughest and least trodden ground on the whole route: a thin path on loose limestone that tall grass hides for much of the year, fully exposed, and long. Everything after Estellencs is different walking. From there to Esporles the route runs on marjades, the terraced hillsides above Estellencs and Banyalbufar with their channels, cisterns and stone-paved lanes of Islamic origin, and villages come every 7 km or so. The last climb, out of Esporles over the ridge into Valldemossa, is steep and partly on estate roads through the houses at Son Cabaspre, which is the one place on this section where the route's own managers admit the signing stops.

Navigation: Waymarking is red and white and mostly adequate, but the signs are in Mallorquí, so names read as ses Fontanelles rather than a Castilian spelling, and junctions are often signed to a destination without saying which of two GR lines gets you there. Two places genuinely catch people. The high crossing between Ses Fontanelles and Coma d'en Vidal runs on a thin trod that vegetation swallows in late spring and summer, and it is easier to follow with a track loaded than by eye. The climb out of Esporles through the Son Cabaspre estate is described by the Consell itself as passable but not signposted, so do not expect to be led through it.

In poor weather: Shade decides this section. There is almost none between La Trapa and Ses Fontanelles, and the 2 km of Ma-10 tarmac throws heat back at you. The s'Esclop shoulder takes the full northwesterly and is a different proposition in wind. Rain does two specific things here: the dry-stone paving and stepped lanes above Estellencs and Banyalbufar go slick and polished, and the grass on the high crossing soaks you to the waist while hiding where you are putting your feet.

Escape options: The second half is easy to leave. Estellencs, Banyalbufar, Esporles and Valldemossa all sit on the Ma-10 with bus stops on the Palma lines, 202 through Estellencs and Banyalbufar, 203 through Valldemossa. The first 22 km is not: the only road contact is the Ma-10 itself around Coll de sa Gramola and Ses Fontanelles, a mountain road with traffic and no mapped stop on the route, and from there to Estellencs there is nothing.

The section opens on the wrong side of a big climb. From Valldemossa the route goes up through the holm oaks of the Son Moragues estate and out onto Es Caragolí, the bare limestone shelf of the Archduke's path, where the walking is on cracked rock and cairns rather than a made path and the whole west coast lies below. Then it loses close to 800 m to Deià, steeply and stonily, and the character changes completely. From Deià to Sóller this is the gentlest walking on the trail: cobbled donkey paths and stepped lanes falling through olive terraces almost to the water at Cala Deià, past Llucalcari and over the Muleta headland with its lighthouse above the bay. The last few kilometres cross the Sóller valley floor between orange and lemon groves, into the town and out again along walled lanes to Biniaraix, where the section ends at the foot of the gorge. Fornalutx, which gives the section its computed label, sits about a kilometre off the line; Biniaraix is the village the trail actually goes through.

Navigation: The descent off Es Caragolí is where people go wrong. It is marked by cairns on open rock rather than by a built path, and in cloud the line is hard to hold; if visibility closes in, going back down to Valldemossa is the sound choice rather than committing to a guess. Below Deià the trail is on lanes and cobbles and is well signed, with the usual caveat that a junction may name the destination without telling you which line you are joining.

In poor weather: Es Caragolí is high, treeless and takes the full weather, and cloud on the ridge is what turns a straightforward crossing into a navigation problem, with no shelter between the woods and the drop to Deià. Lower down the risk inverts: the cobbled donkey paths and stepped lanes between Deià and Sóller are polished by centuries of use and get genuinely slippery in rain, and the enclosed terraces hold heat with little breeze on a still afternoon.

Escape options: Good on the coastal half. Valldemossa, Deià and Llucalcari are all stops on line 203 to Palma and Port de Sóller, and Sóller and its port have more transport than anywhere else on the trail. The ridge between Valldemossa and Deià is the exception: once above the woods the only choices are forward or back.

The mountain heart of the trail, and the reason most people walk it. It opens with the Barranc de Biniaraix, a walled gorge climbed on a broad cobbled staircase of shallow steps that zigzags up between terraced olive groves, shaded and beside running water early in the day, crossing the torrent on footbridges before breaking out into pine and open ground for the pull to the Coll de l'Ofre. Above that the island changes: bare limestone uplands, sheep, the Cúber reservoir in a bowl of the highest peaks, and effectively no shade for the next 20 km. From the Ma-10 the route stays high on a stony path and a made water channel over the Coll des Coloms before dropping to the Tossals Verds refuge, then climbs back through holm oaks and past a spring to the highest pass on the trail at around 1,200 m, treeless and cold. The descent from it is the finest engineered walking here, the restored cobbled zigzags of ses Voltes falling past a scatter of stone snow pits, and it goes on a very long time. Lluc arrives as a wooded monastery valley. After it the trail settles onto the old Pollença road through holm oak forest, easy and shaded, and drops steadily into the orchards of the Vall d'en Marc for a level finish.

Navigation: The gorge and the Coll de l'Ofre are obvious. Two things catch people afterwards. Near the end of the Cúber leg the signs name the Coll des Tossals Verds as well as the refuge, which lies well below it, and taking the wrong one adds a climb; the refuge is the branch that descends. Separately, a signed variant leaves the main line between Cúber and Tossals Verds and cuts out the Coll des Coloms by way of the Pas Llis, which is steeper and rougher and includes short scrambling secured by fixed chains. Several published GPX tracks for this leg follow it, so check which one you have loaded before you set off rather than at the ledge. From Lluc onward the old Pollença road is well marked and needs no particular skill.

In poor weather: The gorge is in shade until mid-morning and an oven afterwards, which is why an early start matters more here than the distance suggests. Above the Coll de l'Ofre there is essentially no shade until Lluc, and the uplands around Cúber are reliably windy, welcome in July and miserable in a cold northerly. The pass at 1,200 m makes its own weather and can sit in cloud with the coast clear. Rain makes the cobbled zigzags of ses Voltes slick and turns an already long descent into a slow one.

Escape options: Deliberately poor. The last road is the Ma-10 at Cúber, where line 231 crosses on its way from Port de Sóller through Escorca to Lluc and Pollença; confirm it is running for your dates before counting on it. After that the only way off the hill before Lluc is the rough track down from Tossals Verds to the Son Ordines car park, roughly an hour below the refuge on foot and remote by road. Lluc is on line 231, and from Lluc onward the route is never far from the Vall d'en Marc lane and its stops.

An hour and a half of flat tarmac to reach the sea, and it is honest to say so. From the Pont Romà the route leaves the mountains behind and crosses the Pollença plain beside the main road, on cycle path and verge with orchards, villas and traffic either side and little to look at. It is a formality rather than a walk, and it exists so the trail can finish at the water. Plenty of walkers take the town as the end and ride this last bit; those who walk it get the small satisfaction of reaching the beach with Formentor across the bay.

Navigation: No difficulty. The route follows the main road corridor throughout and the only real decision is whether to walk it at all.

In poor weather: No shade and no shelter on any of it, with tarmac underfoot, so in high summer it feels hotter than 8 km should. Walking east means low morning sun in your eyes with traffic alongside; later in the day is more comfortable.

Escape options: The whole stage runs beside a bus route: line 301 links Pollença and Port de Pollença on its way to Palma, so you can stop walking at any point.