A week in Madeira

After the  strong winds and fun times of the sail to Porto Santo, the gentle winds and motor sail to Madeira was a bit of a walk in the park. The only thing of note was the very rude crew of the cargo ship we encountered. When we wanted to change course and head for the marina here at Quinta do Lorde on the eastern tip of the island, I tried to call up a cargo ship which had been behind us and gaining on us for a while since we were about to change course and cut across his bow. This would have involved him in a slight course change. Clearly this was too much trouble for him and he (rightly) assumed that if he ignored us we would just have to slow right down and let him pass. In this case size clearly mattered!


So - Madeira - a truly beautiful island - hot but often humid and more rain than we have seen in a while but so verdant. I had never really thought before but I guess all our garden plants are native somewhere. Here we have hydrangeas, agapanthus, lillies of all varieties, swathes of cammomile to name but a few and it is not even flower season. Terraces are cultivated everywhere and the mountain scenery is stunning.

 We went up in a cable car from the centre of Funchal, which called upon all my courage.

At least we walked down rather than pay 30 euros (skinflints ever) for a sled and were glad when we realised the sleds only went one third of the way down anyway. Our calves paid the price and I would like to say ah huge thank you to the two young women in the car who gave us a much needed lift for most of the last two thirds of the way,

Further challenges followed - an 11km walk along the levada ( complex system of irrigation channels. around the mountains, constantly maintained). For those of us who suffer from vertigo, the narrow paths with their steep drops presented a huge challenge.

This was, however, amply rewarded by the views and the glorious scenery

Today we visited a whaling museum to learn about the island's history of hunting the sperm whales from 1941 to 1981 - a horrible industry but one which thankfully has not existed for some time and has now been replaced by education and conservation.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here and look forward to our next stop - Lanzarote - with hopes for fair (and not too strong) winds.