Work, Save, Travel, Repeat...

Sunday  A full day in Funchal today and Colin has really got to grips with the local buses.  3 journeys today and they have honestly been as good as a taxi ride. Our initial bus took us to the City centre and we headed for the Santa Catarina Park. The gardens were stunning and there were lots of shady areas to sit and watch the world go by. Great coffee and cake too. Next was a quick visit to the statue of Christiano Ronaldo Madeira's biggest export.  We headed to the Zona Velhala, the old town and reached the Cathedral just as the Sunday service was finishing,  the church was full.  As the congregation left we were able to admire the stunning carved ceiling.  The oldest street in Funchal used to be a run down area but the city had an initiative for local street artists to paint the doors,  since then it has become a thriving tourist destination.  We stopped for lunch at The Galleria restaurant and were treated to top notch food, tuna steak and me...

Saturday.  Time for our final Levada walk and move to our hotel in Funchal  Quinta de la Vista .  The walk along the Levada Norte was functional rather than beautiful but we didn't need walking poles today. The weather was rather cool inland but as we headed South and towards the coast it became much warmer. Our walk culminated at the Caba Girao a glass viewing platform 589m above the sea cliffs,  somewhat unnerving.  It is billed as a great place for base jumping ! A transfer to our hotel,  a quick shower and a beer before we headed out to catch the bus to Funchal.  Madeira Flower Festival is taking place in May,  there were some beautiful costumes and pavement flower carpets.  The island is subtropical and in Funchal is around 18°C even in winter so the gardens are amazing.  Everyone seems to grow their own vegetables and bananas. So glad we opted for the bus tonight the roads are so steep. 

 Friday. Today was a "free day" which meant we actually had a choice of walks. We opted for an iconic walk on the most easterly peninsula on Madeira, Ponto de Sao Lorenco's Nature Reserve. This is a 3.5 km long thin peninsula that separates the wild rugged North part of the island from the more sheltered South side. The terrain beautifully illustrated the volcanic nature of Madeira,  there were rivers of solidified lava, and basalt rock,  many magma chambers venting to the surface.  The weather was dry but extremely windy,  hard to stand up at times and the path undulating but well worth the hike. A shorter 7 mile walk today.

 Thursday.  Goodbye Quinta Do Furao,  we have thoroughly enjoyed our stay.  Today's walk is another levada wall starting in Ribero Frio (cold river). Our 30 minute taxi ride went up up up the mountain roads. Our  path starts off wide and shady but that is a false sense of security,  we often walk along the narrow levada wall with incredible sheer drops just protected by a wire fence.  Walking behind a waterfall is one of my life's ambitious and I managed that today although it was only a little dribble. The walk was circa 10 miles and much easier on the knees than yesterday,  it was cooler too which made the walking more comfortable.  Santo Da Serra is a sleepy little town. Our hotel ( Porta Bay Serra Golf ) has formerly been a Tea House and a Golf Club House. After dinner we went for a stroll around the local park which has a crazy golf course and a Bambi Park!

Wednesday  Our walk today, Caldeirao Verde Levada. We had a pick up arranged from the hotel into the mountains to the start at Parque das Queimas. The path was wide and shady to start and followed the levada the whole time which meant the terrain was generally flat but certainly not level,  there were rocks and tree roots ready to trip you up. Further along the path became much narrower and we were walking on the actual levada wall with in places just a wire fence protecting us from a 500m drop! The levada is 6.5km long to the waterfall at the Caldeirao Verde ( green cauldron) it is a volcano after all. The engineering and manpower that built it is amazing. There are 3 tunnels hewn out of the mountain.  It is a popular trail so the only real place to picnic was at waterfall, we retraced our steps for a couple of km  before branching off on the path to Ilha,  800m of decent in 3km, somewhat heavy going on the knees.  Ilha was a very sleepy village and faced ...

Tuesday  Our first walking day of the holiday and arguably one of the most challenging walks in terms of terrain.  Our walk started from our hotel along the cliff path, we saw gardens festooned with Amaryllis and other plants that we have to grow indoors  and  a local harvesting his new potatoes.  The well made path zigzagged down the mountain to the rocky beach at a desolate village of Celhau, once home to a sugar cane factory.  Our suggested walk was to climb up the other side of the valley to the town of Sao  Jorge but as the return journey would mean retracing our steps we headed back to our hotel for lunch - a local cheeseboard and a beer.  I spent the afternoon exploring the hotel grounds before a wine tasting session in the wine cellar.  Madeira wine is fortified to around 19% alcohol and there are 4 varieties:  dry and medium dry are aperitif wines and can be made into a cocktail with ice and sprite (very nice we tried those late...