The annual walk from the Plaça Güell in Palma to Lluc has experienced problems in recent years because of the costs of organisation. It has taken place since 1974, but this year's walk has been called off because there are no financial guarantees in place to cover the costs, which are to do with safety and security.
The Council of Majorca says that it will come up with the 25,000 euros that are needed. However, according to Isaac Hernández, the president of the Güell Group organisers, there is no official confirmation of this. He has been told that all the necessary procedures are being worked on, but with less than a month before the walk is due to take place (Saturday, 4 August), nothing officially has been forthcoming.
The Council, which is insisting that the cash and the necessary personnel will be in place, appears to be willing to fund other organisers. Hernández has responded to this possibility by arguing that the Güell Group has the legal rights to the walk. No other entity can undertake the walk with the same name, and if one does, then legal action will be considered.
The president of the Council of Majorca, Miquel Ensenyat, believes that the organisers have grown tired of having to organise the walk. The Council has in fact "invited" the group's board resign. Hernández has responded to this suggestion by questioning who the Council thinks it is to be saying what a private entity should do.
The Partido Popular, meanwhile, have proposed that the walk is declared to be in the cultural interest, a move that would place the onus on the Council of Majorca to ensure that it continues, is supported and is promoted.
The walk attracts hundreds of people. For the first one in 1974 there were thirty walkers and it was arranged at the one-time Bar Güell in response to an accident in which a girl escaped unharmed. It was decided to give thanks for this by walking to Lluc Monastery, the site of the image of Our Lady of Lluc, Majorca's patron.
The Güell walk shouldn't be confused with the annual pilgrimage to Lluc. This coincides, as closely as possible, with the feast day of Our Lady of Lluc (12 September).
