32:44.50N 16:43.17W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Mon 15 Oct 2012 22:36
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"Madeira - 12th October"
We took a shorter walk today in between some small
jobs on board, extending the car hire for a couple of days and some
shopping. The walk we chose was one way down the valley, as we had the car
we decided to park it at the end of the walk and catch a taxi or bus from the
end up to the start. Finding somewhere to park at the end of the walk was
easy enough, finding a taxi was another matter. However, just as we were
asking advice from a local man leaving his house, a bright yellow taxi hurtled
down the hill and fortunately had to slow for the junction. Both Noel
and the local shouted and the taxi completed an emergency stop almost at our
feet. We jumped in, agreed the price did a brisk "uee" back up the
street. Now, I thought it was only me who was having trouble getting out
of first and second gear up these hills but the taxi driver had the same
trouble, the only difference being that he hurtled upwards at double the
speed! He even grumbled that the car was only able to go into third for a
short while! By the time we had climbed up to our destination, we knew all
about his family and his son's late education starting at 25 years of age, his
family planning whilst he completed his degree and that now at the age of 36
having qualified three years ago, he now has two children and works
in London as a civil engineer! He was clearly one very proud
father. As we paid our fare he kindly pointed out where
the walk started and said that he hoped that we would meet again. I
must admit that I quietly hoped that it would not be as he was driving
up the same road that I might be driving
down!
The walk produced mixed emotions, the book
had described it as a very beautiful walk steeply down hill along the
levada high above a valley full of lush green willow trees used to supply
Madeira's basket making industry. The
reality, which we had no idea about until we started our descent, is that there
was a fire in the valley earlier this year. Trees were blackened or singed
brown, terraces were barren, burnt electricity poles and melted cables lay on
the ground, but even worse several cottages were completely burnt
out. One property, its blackened shell empty, its
terraces charred, had the remains of two tattered Portuguese and
Madeira flags fluttering poignantly in the light air, it was such a
sad sight. Access to this small cottage could only be on
foot the way we had come, hundreds of feet down a steep cobbled and rocky path
and at least half an hours tough climb up to the small town above. On the
brighter side as our steep descent leveled out and the levada started to wind
gently along the edge of the gorge, we became aware that this brown and
blackened valley was already beginning to regenerate. Trees still
standing with their bark blackened and dead limbs protruding had bright
green sprouts of new branches and leaves appearing on their trunks; clumps of
blackened grass roots had new shoots, cactus brown and dead looking had new
green sprouts; pine trees burnt on the lower areas still had greenery on their
tops; tiny new plants were popping out of the parched earth. The most
amazing sight we saw was a huge open area burnt dry with funny brown fibrous
cone like lumps protruding from the earth. As we puzzled over what they
might be as there were so many of them, we started to notice many
small long green leaves growing amongst them, then the penny dropped, this
was a burnt out glade of wild African Lillies which should have been in
full bloom right now. As our eyes wandered further we saw the evidence of
a clump of dried out lillies higher up the hill. Without the fire, the
spectacle of these beautiful flowers would have been glorious, but the
sight of these burnt corms regenerating and going to survive was quite an
uplifting experience and I left the valley feeling that it was a valley
full of hope and that perhaps the sadness of the two flags was really
a symbol of hope and survival. I would love to return in the future
and see how green and beautiful it will be again given time.
"13th October"
Today we were priviledge to be taken for a walk by
our sailmaker and his girlfriend. This was one of their favourite
walks in the laurasilva forest high in the central mountains away from any
civilisation. The air was cool and fresh and the vegetation lush
green, along the way we saw laurels, oak, beech and eucalyptus trees as
well as many banana passion fruit vines with their large pink fushia type
flowers hanging ddown. These vines proved to be great fun as Melim
clambered up the steep rock face above the levada precariously clutching onto
the undergrowth and with the aid of a supportive hand from Noel below, he could
almost reach the just out of reach ripe fruit. He was determined each
time and with the aid of a long branch used as a hook and much tugging he
eventually won his prizes and bowled them down to Noel's waiting
hands. This activity happened several times and we completed our walk with
our rucksack laden with banana passion fruit. At one point on our
walk a waterfall cascaded off the rock face and the only way past was
along the track behind it. We managed to pose for photographs
and pass by without getting too wet. We reached the source of
the levada at another much larger waterfall which disappeared
high into the mountain. The waterfall was not flowing
but there were a couple of pools of water in which we were surprised to see
several small trout. After our 12k walk we were taken to a restaurant for
dinner, where we enjoyed a typical Maderian tomato, onion and poached egg soup
which was delicious, followed by esplanados (beef cooked on skewers
of bay branches in an open oven). We then stopped off at
"Fatima's Bar" to sample several flavours of Poncha, a rum cocktail, made
with sugar cane and various fruits like grapefruit or passion fruit. It
had been a most enjoyable day.
"14th October"
Today we took Moira and Dick for a tour of the
island, visiting the viewpoints which we had enjoyed our first week here.
Unfortunately, the weather high in the mountains was not so good and the
views were completely shrouded in cloud and rain, although there was the odd
glimpse of rainbows cascading down into the valley as the sun tried to
break through. It was a great adventure trying to get our little car up
the mountains and it wasn't as bad as I had thought it might be. I
guess I have become used to driving in low gears now. All was well until
we met a rather large tourist coach coming down the mountain. It was very
close indeed, first I had to back down the road a way, so that he could get
around the corner and straighten up, by which time I had no room next to the
rock and was desperately trying not to put my wheels down the concrete drainage
channel. He then advanced and with only a whisker between his side and my
wing mirror he called to me to pull forward! Thinking about
insurance claims, I would rather have stayed put on the principal that if
he hit me it wouldn't have been my fault! Noel jumped out and had a look
and beckoned me forward, I then prayed that I wouldn't flunk the hill
start and edged forward. Luckily all went well and we were fortunate not
to meet any more coaches for the rest of the day. On our
way back to the marina, we stopped off for dinner, introducing our guests
to esplandos which they throughly enjoyed and we all agreed that it
had been a fun day.
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