Minorca; the rugged, the untamed, the beautiful, the wild, inviting either calm or challenging activity. All of these facets of Minorca are to be found in the Camí de Cavalls, the 185 kilometre path that circumnavigates the Island. Classified as “Great route, GR 223”, the Camí de Cavalls offers the opportunity to walk around the Island, contemplating its diverse geography and enjoying attractive landscapes framed by the sea.
The Camí de Cavalls is hiking, ciclotourism and horse riding, but it also has a history and a more recent story of reclamation. Some researchers date its creation to the fourteenth century, in the time of King Jaime II, when the noble families maintained horses to keep a watch on the coast in the defence of Minorca and its inhabitants.
During the first British rule, in 1736, the governor Richard Kane considered the Camí de Cavalls as a “royal path”, which he ordered to be kept clean and usable, an obligation that the French governor, Conde of Lannion , perpetuated several years later, in 1758.
In 1780, Louis Stoki d’Arc de la Rochette elaborated the first map of the Island known, where its layout appears, and two years later, the Spanish governor, Conde of Cifuentes, ordered: “the paths named of horses are open and free and able to be travelled freely…” This original spirit was lost over time and a lot of people made great efforts to revive it between 1996 and 2010.
Due to this common effort, it’s now possible to walk Minorca and enjoy its coves, forests and cliffs in a safe way. The route is marked as GR in accordance with European signalling standards, although you must take the correct clothes, water and food and also check the weather reports before starting to walk. If you want to capture the essence of the Island, the Camí de Cavalls is a good starting point.
(More information: “Camí de Cavalls. 20 routes to discover Minorca. Fundació Destí Menorca)
