Back to Madeira in March 2008

photographed by Adrian and Gill Smith

Assorted Photos - click on the thumbnail for the full-size image

A few additions to the previous album, particularly the mountain day on Arieiro. Several lifts (elevators for our American friends) and the Holiday Express at Stansted had very strange numbering systems. See the 2005 trip for the rest of the itinerary.

Holiday Express - Stansted. This set the trend by using American floor-numbering with European room-numbering!
Serra Golf in the evening. A new hotel for us, and a big improvement on the pink place around the corner. Shame the Madeira Open was the week after we left.
Levada dos Tornos leaving Santa Serra. This was the first time we had walked this section to Camacha, and it was all most enjoyable. A mix of quite wild country and farmland with few villas to spoil the view.
Custard Apples in progress. An interesting fruit, not one we got to like though!
Tornos seen across one of the longer valleys. This was typical of the morning section, with several miles walked to cover very little by way of Crow-fly distance.
Estalagem - Camacha. This did make sense, as the hotel spilled down the hill with the reception on the uphill side. Shame the rooms didn’t have minus numbers to match!
Tornos - into the mists. The last few valleys looked damper than they really were (fortunately).
Tornos this way (re-used signage). An old road sign, already re-used in the 60s when the levada was built. Now definitely on its last legs.
Tornos - the door through the wall has gone!. See previous visit, when this was a tatty gate in the wall!
Lichens at Poiso. One of the better examples of Madeiran cloud-forest.
Heathland on the way up to Arieiro. Out into a different world - slap on the sunblock and keep climbing!
Walking up, looking North. Just about at cloud-top level here, in much clearer mountain air.
Walking up - next viewpoint.
Start of Mr Blandy’s toy levada. This emerged from the bushes a few yards further up the road.
Moving up, looking South. Definitely into blasted heath country now.
Looking down into the Nuns’ Valley. This was the first real view back into the deep valley to the South. The rest of the path follows the arête between this valley and similar incursions from the North.
Mountain path from Arieiro. You can just see the (very well built) path as it follows the ridge through the shadow mid-picture.
On the new path. This must have been quite hairy before they re-made it with handrails and solid steps.
Looking out to the North from the ridge. About as far as we got - from now on it was down and into the shade.
Intrepid explorers heading home. Look carefully towards the top of the stairs!
Looking over the edge from the ridge. The clouds are just starting to fill the valleys and sneak through the gaps.
Lunchtime drinks for the road crew. Collecting water in the clay bank at the roadside.
Quinta de Monte. What happened to the 2nd floor?
Boca da Corrida - cloud pouring down the mountain. This felt quite spooky as it came down really fast with a sharp fall in temperature as it arrived.
Clouds filling the Nuns’ Valley. As they do most evenings, I suspect!
Cloud spilling off the plateau at sunset. Classic viewpoint if you walk up from Boca Corrida for about 35min.
Mountain shadow on the clouds filling the Nuns’ Valley.
Re-lining the Levada de Norte. The section out to Cabo Girao was all dry, while the concreting crew worked along it.
Moo said the shed. Yes, a real thatched cowshed above the Jardim de Serra. Definitely not just for the tourists, but the government is subsidising hill farmers to keep them on the land. Lots of terraces around here were coming back into cultivation.