The Monte Toboggan.
Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Sun 12 Aug 2012 12:42
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Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 August 2012
The view from Monte Church down to Funchal was
impressive. My photography doesn't do it justice:-
 Apparently tobogganing as a form of transport
started around 1850 though horse and bullock drawn sleds were used
earlier. Now it is part of the 'essential tourist experience' and consists
of a wicker basket on wooden runners, with two drivers, which until
recently slid on polished cobbles down to Funchal. Apparently the
cobbles have proved too expensive to maintain so the roads have all been
replaced by tarmac and the ride is now slower than it was. It also
now only goes about halfway down stopping at the village of
Livramento.
Preparing for the next victims:-
 Some of the bends are quite tight and the drivers
put the toboggan into a 'drift' to get round. It's not at a terrifying
speed though. Sorry about the feet:-
 The last part flattens out and the drivers move
forward to pull the toboggans with a couple of 'bits of string'
:-
 When we 'disembarked' we were immediately
approached by a guy offering a booklet containing a DVD of Madeira and
a photograph of us sliding down the hill. He looked crestfallen that
we seemed able to resist his 'irresistable' offer. On the way to the
bus stop we were accosted by various people touting taxi's down to Fuchal
for 'only €10'. I suggested €3 which wasn't accepted for some reason and
we said we would walk down. 'But it's 6km!'. This is a surprise as
it's only 4km down from the top at Monte. Perhaps the taxi drivers
don't know the way. Another tout offered a taxi for 'only €15' and at this
point we smiled and marched off to a further chorus of 'it's 6km you
know'. This was the only time all week when we felt we were being hassled
or processed as a tourist.
The walk took about 20 minutes and wasn't
strenuous...... except that for the next three days our calves were very
painful from trying to keep a grip downhill! There were
many times when we felt €10 would have been a
bargain!
On Sunday we spent the day at the hotel relaxing on
sunbeds in the garden and generally laughing and wingeing to each other about
our legs. It was a lovely day though.
Tomorrow we return to the boat and do a few jobs
and wait for the right winds to take us to Isla Graciosa which lies just off
Lanzarote. It looks like it will be at least a week before conditions are
right.
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