Saturday, September 11th. A Levada - Clifftop Walk inMadeira

Sulana's Voyage
Alan and Sue Brook
Sat 11 Sep 2010 07:48

32:44.5 N 16:42.7 W
 
 
Well, to tell truth, for the most part we have been just lazing away the days, soaking up the sun, whilst awaiting the arrival of Sue, her brother and Sister-in-law, Bruce and Shirley, to join us.
 
They are due in tomorrow, 14th. After a brief rest, to get them all acclimatised, we intend to hop across to Porto Santo, to witness the recently established annual Christopher Columbus Festival and do a bit more tuna fishing on the way. According to the data on the Madeiran Tourist Board website, you may find us being involved, dressing up in 15th C. Pirate costumes!
 
For her part, having tested her mettle in the Bay of Biscay, Sarah returns home to brave the Norfolk chills and then prepare for her part in the great adventure across the Atlantic, in November.
 
However, we have not been entirely lazy. The island of Madeira holds many lovely, secret paths and offers several ways to catch those who want to venture further away from Funchal and the fun of the tobogganing sleds.
 
Fiona and Alan decided enough was enough on Saturday and set out to walk one of the more strenuous ‘Levada” walks, a 20km hike, No. 14 in the booklet, from Caniçal Tunnel all the way across the island, to its North Coast port of Porto da Cruz, via the saddle-shaped pass through the mountains, called Boca do Risco. Under strict instructions ‘Not to do all the nice things without me’, we were fairly confident this hike would not fall into that category. We hope Sue will be joining us later in another, perhaps easier one!
 
The entrance to the ‘Levada’ looked pretty unprepossessing, once we had found it,
 
 
but it was pretty to begin with
 
 
 
and all seemed innocuous enough, as we walked along its concrete sides,
past people’s back gardens and vegetable allotments,
 
 
to see how they watered their terraces, with the simplest of irrigation methods
 
all the while, avoiding chained and unchained dogs, and looking at flowers and views down the valley to Machico
 
 
 
 
and other interesting things along the way, like this (Monarch??) butterfly.
 
 
 
 
 
until, after a good first 90 minutes walking, we were stopped and turned around, nearly at the very top of a long, steep path up the mountains, by ‘a lonely Goatherd’ (with his two dogs yodelling away, with their barks echoing back at us across the wooded valley. It all put me in mind of us being in full Frank Ifield mode, to those amongst you old enough to remember the words to “I Remember You”!).
 
The old farmer said, “Boca do Risco?” and when Alan nodded he pointed all the way back downhill again and just simply said, “Levada”, which we had left according to our guide book, some 30 minutes and 150 metres below us!
 
Not a great start to a 4-hour hike. We had obviously just added another hour and another 2-3 kms to it.  However, we did get to see a glimpse of his way of life and saw 4 kittens, several frogs and dozens of lizards along the way.
 
Clearly he was used to wrong-turners like us. On the way back down to retrace our footsteps and try to find the correct turning off the Levada, we were passed by a young, super-slim couple, striding upwards towards the farm. Because of their dress and evident, casual fitness for this kind of walking, we imagined they were his son and daughter, or in-laws. They, too, appeared quite used to seeing lost tourists.
 
Pity the guidebook didn’t see fit to mention the need to only turn off the Levada where there was a Signpost marked “Boca do Risco”, instead of advising to go uphill 150m after the little house with the red roof!
 
Not this one, though!
 
We passed 3 little shacks fitting this description, before we found the signpost pointing out the correct path up.
 
It did make us just wonder how anybody coped with just needing to “pop out to the shops for a pint of milk”.
 
The nearest shop would have been at least 1 hour’s walk away downhill and the Pingo Doce Supermarket chain store, in Machico,
 
 
 
was a good two hours in each direction, at best, not to mention the additional weight of shopping, if this was your view downhill.
 
 
Notwithstanding this, we believed we were made of sterner stuff and could still carry on easily enough.
 
So, with a brief rest for picnic lunch at La Boca and some gentle persuasion, Fi decided to give it a go, and see how far she could get.
 
 
Or at least until we got to the steep, precipitous cliffs of the North Coast pathway, where it was time for a rethink,
 
Here the description of the future path ahead left Fiona with some serious doubts: “at first the exposed path appears quite harmless,”
 
 
but soon the sight of the path cut into the almost vertical cliff on the coast is enough to give you butterflies. Yawning chasms open up of more than 300m.
 
Then you come to a tricky section – a cable helps you across a damaged section of the path but after rain you can get wet from a rivulet of water splashing down from above (if you feel unsure, it’s best to turn back).
Then follows a longish very exposed section which is not protected.”
 
 
NB. Note the ‘unprotected path’, just visible on the far side as a horizontal line cut through the cliff face, at the tree level.  In the picture below, the path we have followed is to be seen cutting through the trees above Fiona’s head.
 
For anyone experienced walking the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu, this Madeiran Levada walk is close to it! Halfway point is reached at last!
 
 
So, re-invigorated by that news, we continued past all the worst obstructions
 
 
and were delighted by the visual aspects of all the scenery around us, including some very pretty wild flowers,
 
 
 
and some spectacular cliff drops,
 
 
but even those had their own specific flora,
 
such as is seen all over Britain’s rockery gardens, but here seen in its native element, along with a little bit of extra, strange fauna!
 
 
Chaffinches and literally dozens of Goldcrests (Britain’s smallest bird) were to be seen and heard in the trees alongside the path. They were so tame they came to within a few feet, but were impossible to photograph.
 
 
Eventually, with several kms still to go, however, our destination, Porto da Cruz, appeared in sight.
 
Passing onto a more solid, wider, surfaced path allowed us to relax and take in the developing scenery around us,
 
take time out to smell the flowers,
 
 
and taste the grapes!
 
>From a bunch growing wild on the cliff, but well away from these!
 
 
So, now we are on the downhill slopes, but then the concrete roads down to
Larano really started to hurt the over-worked and under-practised calf muscles.
 
Note to oneself - Must do more of this, to improve the fitness levels!
 
 
Following a brief respite and the best-tasting of beer, in the little bar,
 
 
 
we head on down the final few metres, “turning right at the letterboxes and walking down through somebody’s garage parking”, exactly as it said….!
 
 
 emerging finally just above the Atlantic Ocean once again.
 
 
Eventually, after a total of around 5.5 hours walking, we were rewarded by a fantastic sense of achievement, after struggling back down to sea level at Porto da Cruz, knee joints screaming “STOP!”
 
Looking back was good!
 
 
 
We were just one week too late to attend their “Festa da Uva e d’Agricoltore”.
Their street decorations were coming down.
 
 
Fiona had fully overcome her irrational fear of heights, in great style, and Alan had given his leg and knee muscles and joints a workout they were never used to knowing whilst behind the office desk.
 
Well satisfied with ourselves, we noticed in our exhaustion the taxi ride back to our car only took 12 minutes!
 
However, this is what a true holiday should always have time for, but so often doesn’t.
 
What a way to see the island in its real beauty!