A Walk In The Clouds - Hiking in Madeira
The trip to Madeira was a side excursion of
a rare summer trip to England to visit with Carly's friends and family.
Using England as a basecamp worked very well as there are many
extremely cheap lodging and airfare options throughout Europe and the
Med. I suggest taking a look at Easy Jet or Ryan Air flights and
http://www.teletext.co.uk/ for lodging packages... it is as awesome as it
appears... you just have to get to Europe first.
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Unfortunately, the start of this
trip was a bit sketchy. Since I was flying on air miles United routed
me from Denver to Oklahoma City?!? to Chicago then London... Carly,
amazing as she is, matched the same flight route. It turns out we saw
more of Oklahoma City than we were hoping. Due to weather we arrived in
OK and ran to the departure gate seconds after they shut the door and
were informed that they could not hold up the plane for us. So instead
of having a Harry Potter-esque dinner at an Oxford college that night we
had bbq at a diner and were informed that there were tornados nearby
and that if the siren went off we should go into the walk-in meat
freezer... Luckily we left OK the next day just before the next round of
tornados touched down nearby later that day. I'm thinking Carly may
take a more direct route next time ;-)
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Anyway, between activities in England we flew down to Madeira for a weeklong relaxing getaway.
Madeira is a Portuguese island about 500 miles East off the coast of
Morocco measuring 14 miles long by 35 miles wide and was used as a port
of call for exploration-age sailors on their way to the New World and
the East Indies. Dramatic volcanic mountains cover most of the island,
their steep slopes tower up piercing the clouds that often surround the
island resulting in fairly dry peak tops and wet, lush, foliage covered
mountain sides with many waterfalls and a great diversity in flowering
plants.
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We stayed at a beautiful little B&B (Inn & Art)
on the coast that was walking distance from the little town of Caniço de
Baixo, walking distance from a scuba diving resort, and a short bus
ride from the main city on Madeira - Funchal. They also had a little
car that could be rented on a daily basis, which we did a couple times
to explore the island. Quite a nice setup!
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We spent a lot of time reading books, having meals, and just relaxing on the hotel patio. It sits on a
precarious bluff overlooking the ocean and dramatic cliffs a perfect spot to enjoy the sun and the fresh breezes carrying the scents
of tropical flowers and sea spray.
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Through the centuries the people of
Madeira made many trails that crisscross the island. Some to get from
one part of the island to the other or to a scenic location, but most
were maintenance trails next to water channels called levadas. The
channels were used to transport the prolific rainwater from the
mountainsides to the cities for drinking and crops and since the
channels were built to last, their gradients were gentle preventing
excessive erosion thus leading, for the most part, to moderate hiking
trails. The trails are very well maintained sign posted.
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Our first hike was on the ocean
along a trail that reached out along Madeira's eastern most point. It
had rocky coves, cliffs, and narrow trails. It was a dryer part of the
island and a haven for many birds.
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We next drove up the tight winding
roads into the wet and lush mountains to hike along a levada for several
miles. The mostly level forested hike meandered past people's houses
and gardens - obviously a path used regularly to get to work by foot or
bike.
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The last hike we enjoyed was the
most extreme and dramatic on the island. It linked the two highest
peaks that stand around 6000 feet above sea level and covered ~9miles.
It was a there an back like the others, but this one included some
serious vertical loss then gain... then loss and gain again! We stood
above the clouds basking in the sun and as we hiked it seemed that they
had a slow rise and fall wave-like motion obscuring and then reveling
upcoming sections of the trail.
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The trail traced precarious routes
along exposed cliffs, up steep slopes, through tunnels, over narrow
ridges, and between tight gaps. The volcanic rock the trail was built
on was decomposing and eroding as we hiked on it, an ever-changing
landscape that was partly due to the rain and plants working their way
into the steep mountainsides and partly due to a fire that had recently
blazed through the area leaving the land somewhat more susceptible to
erosion.
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We fit in a few dives into the trip
as it was hard not to since there was a dive center was just 5 minutes
walk and an elevator ride down to sea level from the hotel! It was in a
protected marine park and the area was mostly lava rock, fingers, and
tubes - a lot like Hawaii's Kona coast. We saw some interesting
creatures including some big grouper, stingrays, and octopi. The
facility was really cool. It was built into the craggy lava rock just
above the water with many little areas for relaxing and getting in and
out of the water.
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We also poked around Funchal, the
island's main city, a couple times. It was a beautiful, interesting,
and old city set on the side of a mountain on the ocean in a natural
amphitheater setting. Along with the harbor, fort, and various other
areas we toured the Blandy's Madeira wine lodge. They are a reputable
maker of madeira - a fortified wine similar to Port that is made only on
this island. It was a pretty neat tour with tools, barrels, and other
equipment dating back to the early 1800's used in the madeira making
process and the tasting part of the tour was great too!
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If you would like to see any other pictures of specific
parts of the experience, or want
higher resolution copies of what are on the web site, just let me know. Also, don't hesitate
to ask if you have any questions.
jon.pineau@colorado.edu
Check out some pictures from other trips
here
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