32:44.50N 16:43.17W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Mon 22 Oct 2012 19:17
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"Madeira - 22 October 2010"n
...did I say that we would leave on Sunday?
It is now Monday and still blowing old boots with squalls of rain passing over
periodically! The storm causing all our discomfort is just to the north of
us and we are now just on the fringe of it. We are receiving a daily
update on the wind from our UK weather reporter (thank you Mick) as well as
studying the GRIB files which we are able to download, WIFI connection
permitting! It is now looking as if Thursday will be the day for our
departure (standby with the red dot Percy). We are now quite anxious to move on, we have certainly enjoyed our
time here and there is plenty more to explore but we need to have an excuse to
return at a later date.
Our hosts on Saturday entertained us well,
providing a delicious meal cooked on the open fire in kitchen. The fire
was somewhat unusual, it was an old cement mixer barrel off a lorry (not
the very large ones but the smaller version), standing on its end on top of a
stone base and then lined with fire bricks, it even has a bread oven set into
the back of it. The effect was amazing and not a waft of smoke entered the
kitchen. The house has been built completely by our host and almost
entirely out of re-cycled materials, cupboards from his parents home, work
surfaces were teak decks from boats, wood and window frames from other
dismantled houses. The most beautiful solid cedar wood table was
constructed from a tree growing on the island long before Madeira was
discovered and the wooden benches were covered in goats skin. It was a
lovely home, not very big and squeezed onto a small plot within the
town and up a very steep drive. I was very amused to see an old bow
fender hanging from the door frame of the house, used as a buffer for the car
once it had squeezed into the small forecourt. We had a delightful evening
and were not delivered back to the marina until way past our bedtime,
having enjoyed excellent company, a wonderful meal, sampled home made Poncha,
some excellent Portuguese wine, roasted chestnuts cooked in an earthen ware pot
with holes in the base and placed in the embers, followed by some very, very old
Madeira. What an evening!
We have not put away our hiking boots yet and
have enjoyed several other levada walks with friends or on our own. I hope
that we will manage one more before Thursday but we shall see as we have walked
all those close by and accessible by bus, others are less accessible without a
car and also we must not forget the weather..... roll on Thursday!
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