Summary : 4 Successful activations and 1 double failure! 22 Points, during a lovely holiday in Majorca, with my wife Karen, based in Port de Soller. 
The Plan : When planning the holiday I was keen to identify up to five summits that I could do with my wife during the week, which were easy to get to from Port de Soller and would be achievable with our level of fitness but still worth enough SOTA points to attract the attention of the chasers.
Thank you Simon G7WKX for the really helpful feedback and brilliant photos, as well as the recommendation to get the latest Alpina hiking map from Amazon, following my request for information on the Majorcan summits I was considering. It really contributed to the success of the trip. 
This holiday was against the backdrop of two previous SOTA trips. One to Gran Canaria which was unsuccessful due to lack of planning and an obsession with 10 pointers. The seconds to Lanzarote where I found contacts hard to come by when on the 1 point summits there.
SOTLAS, The SOTA database and the PRO Version of Outdoor Active were helpful for my research and here is the list of summits I decided on. How many we did and the order would depend on the weather, how things went and how well felt each day. We were on holiday after all!
My holiday SOTA setup : My setup is based around my Radio-kits Explorer. I built the 20m SSB version and it puts out 5W. Feeder is made from a Sotabeams 10m RG174 coax lead, cut to 7m, with the last half meter wound onto a toroid to form a 1:1 balun. Dipole wires attach to balun plate using right angle banana plugs, soldered onto the Sotabeams antenna wire cut for 20m. Battery is a Li-ion 11.1V 3S 2Ahr, which comes with a really small USB balanced charger. Microphone is made from the parts list for a K6ARK mini mic for a KX2, built into a small section of plastic tube. Mast is a Decathlon 6m fiberglass travel fishing pole, with a short guying system fitted to the outer section. The whole radio setup, excluding mast weights just under 1kg.
I get a lot of satisfaction from operating with equipment that I’ve built myself, does not weigh very much, is low cost but can get SOTA points across continents.
EA6/MA-023 Sa Comuna : We did the first activation on the day before we picked up the hire car, so took the bus from Port de Soller to Valldemossa. This was a great introduction to the mountain roads in Majorca and it was impressive to see two busses get past each other on the twisting roads. Valldemossa and the surrounding area are beautiful. The start of the walk is just opposite the bus stop and right next to a great place for a drink and a snack.
The walk up to the summit of Sa Comuna follows the GR221. This is a national path that crosses the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range. It is well maintained and signposted, which the guidebooks suggest is for hikers of average fitness. I’m not sure how fit that is but my wife and I managed and enjoyed the two routes we did which were on the GR221 and its definitely a plus for any summits on it.
The walk is less than 2km and involves a steady 300m climb, along a clearly defined path, through rocky woodland. It took about an hour to reach the top and find a good spot to set up the antenna.
Once set up, I was able to get a spot away on my phone using the SOTA Goat app. 8 contacts came quickly in the next 10 minutes, from Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, England and Portugal, as well as a Summit to Summit with DL/HB9BIN/P on DM/RP-158. He told me I was his final contact on a four week SOTA expedition. I was impressed but the look on my wife’s face told me not to suggest it for our next holiday! 
We packed up, went back down the way we came and took the bus back to Port de Soller. I was happy that the kit had all worked, we had a nice walk in a beautiful location, had experienced the bus journey adventure and had 6 points in the bag.
EA6/MA-032 Santuari de Cura : The next day we picked up the hire car. The weather was poor, with thunder and lightning forecast across most of the island. We decided to try Santuari de Cura, as it was in the center of the island, is lower than the others and had a better forecast. It is a 4 point summit and it is possible to drive to the top. The road has a gentle gradient and is wide enough for cars to easily pass each other, although there are lots of cyclists to look out for.
At the summit is The Cura Monastery, a hotel, a restaurant, a large carpark and the whole area is a porcupine of masts and antennae.
After a loop of the summit I decided the best place to activate was to set up the mast / dipole on the edge of the car park, with the inverted V pointed North-East / South-West, through a gap in the trees! I spotted on SOTA goat with my phone and had 6 contacts in 6 minutes, across Austria, Slovenia, Spain and Germany. I was impressed with how well my little radio was getting out with only 5W and imagined the air to be buzzing with stray RF from all of the communications installations on the summit.
I kept the activation short, as the far away dark clouds and occasional rumble of thunder over the distant mountains, as well as the forest of radio masts all around, became a bit too intimidating once I had my 4 points! 
After packing up quickly, we drove back down the road, as a few drops of rain landed on the windscreen. We were happy to have had a productive day on a bad weather day and visited an interesting site. 10 SOTA points were now in the bag!
EA6/MA-017 Puig d’Alaro : The weather was much better the following day for our ascent of Puig d’Alaro. The early morning cloud kept our climb cool during the morning and lifted as the day went on, to reveal blue sky and bright sunshine.
We took the flat, straight drive from Port de Soller to the town of Alaro. It was my intention to take a look at the steep winding road up to the car park, which takes you within a kilometer or so of the summit. Perhaps parking nearer to the bottom of this road or seeing if it was possible to park near to the hotel part way up. When we arrived the decision had been taken for me, as the road was closed for resurfacing and dumper trucks full of tarmac were shuttling up and down to the resurfacing crew and equipment, high up on the road.
We parked on the side of the main road and made our way up the road on foot, taking care to be seen by the dumper drivers and operators of the equipment. It was impressive to see what a great job they were doing on such a steep, narrow and twisty road. I had no idea how they even got the equipment up there and really would not fancy driving up there, even on their nice smooth, flat, grippy surface!
The summit is imposing from the bottom, with it’s large buttress of rock rising from the already steep mountain. It is really not a surprise that there is a castle on top. The route to the summit is on the GR221.5, so is clearly marked and well looked after. The first four km or so follows the twisting road but then turns towards the summit, zig-zagging up a step path through the pine trees. This section of the path is hard work and in many places resembles a staircase. Towards the summit you go through the castle defenses and imagine how impenetrable they would have been in their day.
The summit is beautiful. There are flat areas, stunning views, trees and great places to sit and recover from the hard climb. At the highest part of the summit is a monastery, which dates back to the 17th Century. It is an interesting place to look around and is of great historical and religious significance. It has some welcome benches and tables on a well placed viewing platform, a room for quiet contemplation and donkeys, which bring everything needed by the inhabitants up the track we walked up.
It was difficult to find an area to set up the dipole in the activation area, due to the trees and rocky outcrop on the summit. I finally set up at the very top where there was an area clear of trees and a clear take off to the North-Northeast. I managed to get a spot away using the SOAT Goat app, although I did need to walk around to find a signal if I held my phone up.
My first contact came in straight away. A summit to summit with IK6BAK/P on I/UM-071, quiet with lots of QRM both ways but a great start. I then called CQ for a another 15 minutes on 14.288 without a reply. I spotted on 14.285 and called CQ for another 10 minutes without reply. I moved the dipole to point more North and then spotted on 14.294 and half an hour after my first contact managed to get four more contacts in 10 minutes from Poland, Portugal, England and Slovenia.
The activation had been hard work, taking 50 minutes to get five contacts. I suspected that the nearby bank solar panels, the radio antenna on one of the buildings or the compromised takeoff from the dipole were not helping but I got my 6 points, although at times it had looked doubtful.
We packed up and headed back down the GR221.5 they way we had come.
The activation and walk had been hard work but we had a very special day. The walk, the mountain, the summit, the path through the trees and the views were all beautiful. We even saw a real mountain goat on the way back down!
We were happy and exhausted, with 16 points now in the bag.
EA6/MA-018 Puig de sa Bassa : The weather was great again on day 4 for our ascent of Puig de sa Bassa. Light cloud kept the morning cooler for the climb up and cleared once we reached the top to give us blue sky and sunshine.
The start of the route is shown on the hiking map as a picnic area just off the Ma-10 and is easily reached by hire car, along this major road through the mountain range. Its wide enough for buses to pass easily, although expect to share the road with a steady stream of cyclists.
From the car park, the route starts over a style onto private land and follows a track through the woods. This land is used for hunting during the season so is sometimes closed to the public. The latest version of the hiking map has a note which states : “Closed several days between August and January”. There is also a sign approximately half way up the track.
After a short disagreement about the Boolean logic of the wording of the sign and the risk of it being a regional holiday that day, I decided it was “fine” to be there even if it was a regional holiday, as it was May and the note on the map did not need a Venn diagram.
Once the track reaches the saddle of the mountain and levels off, a tee junction is reached. This junction is reached shortly after a metal cage/fence around what looks like a game bird feeder, on the left. At the junction the summit is approximately 400m away, via a one person wide pathway over uneven, rocky, wooded ground, with areas of tall grass. The start of this narrow path is about 10m to the right of the tee junction and is marked with a small cairn.
The summit emerges from the grass, rocks and trees when you are only 70m from it. There is a very distinctive manned lookout tower at the summit. The view North is out to sea, to the East the Radar station on Puig Major EA6/MA-001 can be seen and to the South you look up to the main ridge of the Tramuntana mountain range, running East-West.
After a polite and friendly conversation with the lookout tower guy, involving only a few words which we both understood, I picked a spot to set up the Dipole. The conversation went something like:
Me. “Olla… Ok Radio here?” showing the mast and miming using a microphone.
Tower guy. “No helicopter here” pointing to a small patch of uneven concrete big enough for a commercial hex drone.
Me. “OK here…tell me, I take down fast” pointing to a spot 15m away from the landing pad.
Tower guy responded with some positive body language and said something which included the word “important” in an approving tone.
Me. “Gracias” signing the emoji 
. To which he waved as he went back into his cabin, like someone who had the conversation several times in the past.
I set up and spotted using the SOTA Goat app on my phone. The contacts came in thick and fast, with 10 contacts in 15 minutes, from all over Europe and down to the Canaries. Including two summit to summits. S53XX/P on S5/BI-017 and IW3AGO/P on I/TN-150. The contacts then stopped as I guess someone with more points or a better signal spotted somewhere in Euorpe, so I quickly cleared the frequency, packed up and thanked tower guy. He appeared slightly amused rather than put out by my activation, as he waved again as he went back into his hut.
A drink of water and a snack later we headed back down to the car, planning to get something more substantial to eat and drink in Fornalutx on the way back to Port de Soller. Another great day, with a lovely walk, in good weather, which was not too strenuous. Another 6 points put the total so far at 22 for the week.
Puig des Tossels Verds : Elated from the success of four activations on four consecutive days and enjoying the achievable yet challenging walks, as part of our holiday, we decided to extend the car hire for another day and have a go at Puig des Tossals Verds. This is a 10 point, 1118m mountain and is the most activated of the 10 point summits in Majorca. The weather forecast was good and we were up for the challenge.
I like using number of activations as a guide when selecting which summits to have a go at. It feels like a factor of how easy it is to get to, how easy it is to get up and how many SOTA points its worth. Like SOTA summit natural selection.
I did ask the lady who runs the trekking company based in Port de Soller about the route up, as I planned to follow the route which follows the GR221 and was used by the EA4HFO, posted on SOTLAS. She advised that my planned route was fine. Relatively straight forward, rocky, requiring good shoes and poles would be helpful. She also said that it could also be done in a more interesting circular route, by doing an anti-clockwise tour of the mountain. Returning by my planned route. Apparently the first part of this route involves some “difficult” sections and a 10m section where there is a chain which you can clip onto, which has been put there to “help” you.
I thanked her for her advice and hope that I only thought “No chance, not for me” and did not actually say it out loud. I would like to apologize if I did. 
So we started the day early, had a good breakfast and headed off. As we emerged from the tunnel at Soller, the Waze app started to tell us that the Ma-10 was closed. This was the same section of road that we had used the day before to get to Puig de sa Bassa. Waze was suggesting a 2 hour detour to get to the start point of or planned walk. While still processing the news, we arrived at the roundabout which we needed to take. Sure enough it was closed off, with a line of vintage racing cars being checked in by marshals with clipboards under gazebos.
We went straight on! We parked up, decided Plan A was broken and came up with a Plan B. After 20 minutes of scanning the trekking map and fumbling with several phone apps we had a Plan B. We would go to the West side of Alaro, near to where we had been for our walk up Puig d’Alaro and attempt Talaia de Cais Reis EA6/MA-021. It looked similar to the terrain for Puig d’Alaro but I had not done any research on the route, parking or landmarks. What could possibly go wrong?
When we arrived at Alaro, it was market day! The main street through the town was closed and every white van in Majorca was taking up every parking space and reducing the convoluted, narrow, one way system to a standstill. Waze insisted on trying to take us through the closed streets, until it was turned off. We eventually found a way to get to the West side of the town, near to the start of the walk, but we had used up the whole morning getting to the start of Plan B.
We found the start of the minor road up the mountain and followed it, confirming turnings, junctions and building along the way, on the map. After walking for an hour and a half we met a local farmer working on his terraced land. He was pleasant enough but made it clear that we were on his private land, it was prohibited to go any further and we would fall down soon! He also pointed out the direction of the nearby villages and it became clear we had left the Alaro by the wrong path and not the path for the Pas de s’Escaleta which I thought we had taken.
This was the point at which we gave up on Plan B too. Gave up on chasing SOTA points, chose our attitude and decided to just enjoy the nice walk back to the car and celebrate being on holiday in a beautiful place. Like points or the farmer’s yappy dog didn’t matter, with lots of smiles and rounds of “Gracias” and “Adios” together with signing the emoji.
When we got to the bottom of the track I found the path out of the town we should have taken, which was 50m away and had a nice signpost.
So from a SOTA point of view the day was a failure but it was a good recce for doing Talaia de Cais Reis EA6/MA-021 some other time. It will still be there. We had seen some interesting vintage sports cars, had explored the narrow side streets of Alaro, had a lovely walk in a beautiful place and met a genuine Tramuntana hill farmer.
We drove back to Port de Soller, showered and changed, then went out and shared a special paella and bottle of local wine, at a brilliant local restaurant we discovered in Port de Soller, to celebrate our fabulous holiday in Majorca.
Conclusion : We really enjoyed our holiday in Majorca. SOTA enhanced our holiday because we did some walks and went to some places that we would not have gone to without the research done in preparation and the purpose of visiting the summits.
Puig d’Alaro was a great day out and the highlight of the holiday. It would have been special without SOTA or the points but without SOTA we would not have gone there!
Key to the success of this holiday was the pre-planning and selecting summits that were easy to get to, were achievable with our level of fitness and earned enough points to attract chasers attention.
I need to mention my little homemade radio, antenna, feeder and mic. Only 5W, no tuner, no waterfall, 20m band only, inexpensive, robust, light and reliable. What can I say. Thank you Steve G6ALU for a great holiday radio.
Finally, thank you to my wife Karen for your patience during long activations and staying calm when things went wrong! 
If anyone has a favorite SOTA holiday involving a number of achievable summits please let me know.
73 Ian M0JIA/P
