Quinta do Lorde - Madeira

Escapade
Sat 19 Nov 2016 09:43
33:03.40N 016:18.52W


We stopped here last year rather than mooring in Funchal. It is a pretty, well protected resort Marina with a grocery, wine, clothing and chandlers, laundrette and lovely shower facilities, nothing too much trouble for the staff, they are really great.

We took our bikes on the bus into Funchal (David and his buggy kindly got us up then hill to the stop) An hour into our bus ride James was relieved to see me bringing out some foil wrapped sandwiches for brunch! Lol. So, bearing in mind that we have been on the boat for some three weeks now, what's the first thing James wants to do when we get off the bus and unfold the bikes?...'let's ride around the marina and look at the boats' he says excitedly, my face must have said it all as I wanted to soak up the atmosphere in town and amble around the shops and squares, so we ambled!

We then took our bikes on the cable car to the top, passing over the devastation caused by the massive arsonists wild fires. We thought it would be a hoot to free wheel down and meander through the little back streets. I was first confronted with a 1:5 gradient about half a mile long, James went first and bearing in mind that I am still struggling to walk down hill, I hobbled about 20 meters down with my bike trying to get away from the bemused onlookers before actually getting on, it was ridiculously steep, flanked by small houses with front yards enclosed by chicken wire, the only thing keeping the aggressive looking dogs back, even James had fear in his eyes when confronted by an tooth bearing Alsatian! Anyway, we made it, wasn't quite what I had imagined, but we did it non the less.

Following day we stayed in the marina, James did a few jobs and even hoisted me up the mast for the experience. I actually really enjoyed it, although that was whilst in the glorious sunshine, in a protected marina so hardly a breath of wind. Later James suggested we take the bikes to the end of the peninsula where people have left hundreds of varying degrees of rock balancing. Again, lovely thing to do, but 'just around the peninsula' was actually a mile of pushing my bike uphill! Another achievement though and a picture to prove it attached!

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