Thu 20^th November

The new part of today’s walk is the “Old Trail to Caniçal” which apparently was the only land route linking the adjoining ports of Machico and Caniçal before the road tunnel was built. My only comment is that it would be much easier by boat.

The walk starts at a car park near the summit of Pico do Facho, which offers a fine view of planes landing and taking off from Funchal airport far below. Since impressive flowers were one of the features of this walk, note the Sword Aloes in the foreground. Another view (for the yotties) looks down into Machico harbour. The yachts on the pontoons are small local ones and are moored Mediterranean-style with pick-up lines. It looks much less comfortable than Quinta do Lorde marina but handier for the supermarket. 

Just down the beginning of the Old Trail is the first wild example that I’ve seen of a Madeiran speciality flower called “Pride of Madeira”. For the plant enthusiasts, this species is Echium nervosum. Liv and I first saw Echiums last year in the Botanical Garden at Ventnor (IoW). Although the flowers are over, the size and shape of the spike is impressive.

The trail winds its way across grassy slopes with the usual patches of cultivation, then across ridges that seem a bit serious for a local highway.

Finally a descent down a steep rocky slope led to a stone bridge and a lane opening onto the Caniçal sea front and another 4 miles of road home. While passing through Caniçal I saw my first Santa Claus of the year. That reminds me – the Christmas lights in Funchal come on this weekend – this is reputed to be spectacular and a must-see, so I’ll probably splurge on a meal in the big city and a taxi ride home one evening in December.