Stage 14: Cala Galdana - Sant Tomàs

Morro de Levant is one of the capes flanking Galdana Cove. Stage 14 starts precisely here, on the outskirts of the cove. After crossing a gate, the route immediately enters a forest that will be the landscape that escorts the walker for almost the entire route. Mainly made up of Aleppo pines and evergreen oaks, they are accompanied by other typically Mediterranean shrubs such as labiérnago (Phillyrea latifolia), Mediterranean buckthorn (Rhamnus alaternus) or strawberry trees (Arbutus unedo), and trees such as lentisk (Pistacia lentiscus), butcher's broom (Ruscus aculeatus), common myrtle (Myrtus communis) or Labiatae plants such as rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and creepers such as European ivy (Hedera hélix), Mediterranean smilax (Smilax aspera) or evergreen honeysuckle (Lonicera implexa).

From Galdana Cove, the entire route runs within the boundaries of the Binigaus to Mitjana Cove SCI/ZEPA.

The path stretches over a plain for 500 m, passing by old infrastructures of traditional activities in the area, such as lime kilns, quarries and shepherds' shelters. The route then descends quite steeply, so please be careful, as the soil may not be too firm due to the presence of sand, pebbles and roots. This complicated path will take visitors to one of the most popular destinations in this part of the island: Mitjana Cove. You will get a first peep of this spectacular bay with its azure waters through the trees, and then be able to see it in all its glory when the forest on the way to Mitjaneta Cove, a small "little sister” cove that forms part of the same inlet.

For the next half kilometre you walk with the forest on the left and the views of Mitjana Cove on the right. The access to the beach, located in a rest area with picnic areas and information boards, it is first necessary to make a short detour to go around the Mitjana Cove ravine. Without reaching the cove, the path enters the forest again and begins a challenging ascent to go up the valley of the aforementioned ravine. This section, where the remains of a new lime kiln can be found, passes through a more agricultural environment, in which the trail runs along the dry stone walls that enclose the pastures.

Then, the trail goes down towards the Trebalúger creek ravine, with wooden fences as guardrails. The valley associated to this ravine is a fertile plain with fodder and cereal crops, crossed by a shallow watercourse that you will have to ford. On the other side of this creek, the trail enters once again a forest area and goes slightly down towards the Sa Cova creek ravine, a creek that discharges into the Trebalúger creek. As in the case of Trebalúger, the meadow of this stream is also profusely cultivated, although in this case a wooden footbridge has been installed to cross over the watercourse.

The climb up the Sa Cova ravine is much more challenging, both because of the slope and because it is more than a kilometre of constant ascent. Along the way, which crosses a mixed forest, you will cross some access tracks to private estates, so be very careful to follow the signs and close all the gates along the way.

The next ravine that the route passes through is called Sa Torre and has nothing to do with the previous ones, neither in depth nor in appearance, as it only differs from the wooded surroundings by the fact that the vegetation is denser here and by some dams that protect the traveller from the fall. Once this ravine has been crossed, the remaining part of the stage is almost always downhill, towards the Binigaus ravine, which is reached just before reaching the area where it opens out to the sea.

Although it is outside the scope of the Camí de Cavalls Nature Trail, a signposted route that starts at the Binigaus cove allows you to go upstream along the ravine to discover a series of natural caves of karstic origin used by the island's ancient inhabitants. One of them, the Cova del Coloms, stands out for its large dimensions. In fact, it is popularly known as The Cathedral due to its impressive dimensions: 24 metres, high, 110 metres long and 15 metres wide.

This cave, declared an Asset of Cultural Interest in 1966, was a post-Talaiotic burial site (550-123 BC) although, according to some of the archaeological finds, it may also be used to perform some kind of ritual or pilgrimage. In addition to these caves, other places of archaeological interest can be found on the slopes above the Binigaus ravine, such as the Talaiotic settlement of San Agustí or the Binigaus talaiot.

Continuing along stage 14 of the Nature Trail, you will reach the Binigaus beach, although you will leave it immediately along a sandy path that later becomes more compact earth. This path continues parallel to the coast and becomes into a wooden promenade as it passes from Binigaus beach to Binicodrell beach.

The route reaches the concrete promenade of the Playa de Sant Tomás housing estate, along which it runs for just a few dozen metres before the stage ends next to a lifeguard tower.