Coanegra Valley

Coanegra is a valley in the municipality of Santa Maria del Camí. The valley begins in the ravine formed by the Torrente des Freu (torrent) and stretches between the Sa Comuna elevations, with a maximum height above sea level of 819 m., in the Bunyola district, and those of Sa Talaia de Cals Reis, with a maximum hight of 769 m., in the Alaró district. The valley runs from north west to south east and at its base is the Torrente de Coanegra (torrent), also known as the Torrente des Freu. The valley is covered mainly with pine woods, with holm oak woods here and there. On the valley floor there are strips of cultivated land, including crops that grow without irrigation and small gardens watered by the Coanegra irrigation channel. In the valley there are three large natural caves: es Bufador de Son Berenguer, s’Avenc de Son Millo and s’Avenc de Son Pou. There are also some very fine ‘possessions’ (large country estates) including Son Torrella, Son Oliver, Son Roig and Son Pou.

The trail

The trail leads from Santa Maria to the “Salt des Freu” waterfall (just 2 km from the hamlet of Orient). The path is fairly clear and is waymarked. It’s a medium-difficulty excursion that takes three and a half to four hours, depending on how quickly one walks.
We begin the excursion at Santa Maria train station and head for Coanegra Street, which starts just in front of the Macià Batle winery. We carry on straight down Coanegra Street, following the markers. We’ll pass lovely properties with a lot of history, such as the Houses of Son Torrella, in addition to small aquaducts and arcades. Presently we’ll come to the houses of Son Oliver (4.5 km from the beginning of the path). We can get this far by car. From here onwards we have to walk. We’ll follow the footpath, which by now is fully in the Coanegra Valley. We’ll pass the houses of Son Roig and finally we’ll come to Son Pou (2.5 km after Son Oliver), which we have to skirt by a path at the side of the houses. We follow the footpath, which will begin to rise quite steeply, through very stony land. Soon we come to a detour in the path leading to Avenc de Son Pou, indescribably beautiful and not to be missed. An “avenc” is a natural feature like a cave. This one is 150 metres long by 70 wide. The Mallorcan poet Costa y Llobera devoted one of his poems to it.
After visiting the Avenc de Son Pou we can get back on the footpath that leads upwards towards Orient. There’s only one point where the path forks, and we have to take the left fork. We continue upwards until we come to a ‘forn de calç’ (lime kiln), where we have to take a path to the left that will lead us to the Salt des Freu waterfall, the destination of our excursion.