In tough times, we can find hope in unchanging places

In the latest of his reflections on place and pathway, Will Gore recalls two visits to a Mallorcan monastery

Towards Puig de Maria, Pollenca, north Mallorca (Getty/iStock)

There is a green and rocky hill far away, which I think of often. Perhaps I have thought of it more than usual in recent times, confined as we are to our immediate environs.

It is hardly the most remote of places: it stands just a short distance outside the town of Pollenca in northern Mallorca, rising to just over a thousand feet at its peak – though it feels higher by virtue of being detached from other hills; a perfect island, thrusting skywards, surrounded by farmland on the coastal plain.

Nor is it a lonely spot. Most tourists to that part of the island may primarily be there for swimming pools or the sea, but the Puig de Maria attracts its fair share of visitors. It would get many more if it was easily accessible by car, and if the heat wasn’t quite so sapping.