It had been a dreary wet autumn and winter so far......solution? An Xmas getaway somewhere warm, sunny and with great outdoor activity opportunities. Madeira was always somewhere we fancied visiting, and chance would have it, there were some excellent Jet2 package holidays on offer. The decision didnt take long, it was quickly booked, and on the 20th Dec we flew out of Leeds to the garden of the Atlantic! :-)
What an awesome 7night break we had. Jet2 were excellent, and everything was so well organised, from the twilight check-in (checking our baggage in the evening before the flight, as it was an early flight) and coach transfer to the 4-star hotel which ended up being stupidly cheap and with breakfast included too. Top tip - on your last round of the breakfast buffet, pick up your bread roll, cheese and ham, and any cake/fruit on offer and lunch is sorted too :-D
We didnt plan too much before we left, apart from booking a hire car (we used 'Vanscape', who were excellent!) and booking a secret morning diving trip for Steph as a xmas present. We picked up a hiking guidebook too - one of the excellent Rother walking guides with the aim of just choosing a few of these to hike for the week.
Most of the walks we did were Levada walks - these follow the man-made irrigation channels, which were built to carry water from the wetter north of the island to the drier south. Some of these are in magnificent locations, weaving in and out of huge steep-sided valleys coated in an inpenetrable jungle. One often finds themselves walking along a narrow walkway, half-way up a huge cliff with amazing views out to the valley or down to the sea. Its incredible the effort thats gone into making them, although it didnt come without a cost and many lives were lost during their construction over the years. Nowadays, most of these popular routes have a protective fence so nothing to worry about there.
We did a number of levada walks including:
Levade Ponta del Sol - this superb levada walk started from just above the lovely village of Ponta del Sol (worth a visit in itself, and with a great swimming spot too), and has fine views with the highlight being a section where you pass behind some waterfalls which makes for a great photo opportunity.
Levada 25 Fontes ('25 springs') and Risco waterfall - this is a popular levada walk, through lovely dense woodland to one of the highest waterfalls on the island, and then on to a stunning pool with springs of water emanating from the cliff above leading to the name '25 springs'.' We stopped at a great little cafe near the start of the walk, where the very tame chaffinches would feed from your hand (or head if a certain someone called Steph popped bird food on your head!). After this walk, we drove to the Fanal forest - an area normally smothered in fog but with amazing laurel trees, which looked amazing in the mist and akin to something out of Lord of the Rings!
Levada Caldeirao Verde - this was my favourite levada walk of the week. It started through some pleasant woodland, where we saw our second Madeiran Firecrest of the week, but popping through a tunnel found us staring into a magnificent valley with huge cliffs and a river several hundred meters below. The levada culminated at a spectacular waterfall, like something you would encounter in the jungle. We carried on to the Caldeirao Inferno, another impressive waterfall, with more spectacular views along the way, tunnels, waterfalls and huge cliffs lining the valley. It was a brilliant day, and very jungle like (without the spiders, leeches and other bitey-things)!
One of the days, we stayed local to Funchal, and went for the 70min morning dive from the shore with Azul diving (highly recommended!) and saw lots of colourful fish, octopus and a cuttlefish. The water was a balmy 22deg which was pleasant to say the least!
On Xmas day we headed up high to do the walk from Pico Areeiro to Pico Ruivo. We made it to the starting point for sunrise which necessitated a rather early start,
but the colours on the mountains were stunning in the rising sun. An impressive path then weaves its way up, down, around and through this jagged mountain landscape in the most improbable of places with stunning views in all directions to our destination Pico Ruivo. As the photos show below, its a unique and stunning place to visit, and the excellent path makes what would be a very inaccessible place accessible to most.
The last walk we did before leaving for home was up Eagles Rock - a huge ~600m high mound of volcanic rock on the northern coast, but which afforded stunning views of the central massif as well as up and down the northern coast. In terms of the walking, it was probably the least interesting walk, but the views along the cost and back to the central massif were superb.
Departing for home was super easy due to Jet2, and we arrived into Leeds on the back of another named storm, which certainly brought us crashing down to home :-( but we were able to reflect on a superb trip to a fantastic island. The walking was incredible, with some hugely varied and wonderful scenery. The popular routes we tackled had excellent paths and were well sign-posted. Even though it was winter, daytime temps were always in the low 20s. The Madeirans certainly know how to celebrate Xmas, and the Xmas markets on the 23rd were great fun. The food was top notch, nothing too expensive, and despite warnings of the driving being nail-biting, it was okay and im not the most confident driver. True, there were some rather steep roads to tackle, and some best avoided, but most of the time you were on excellent roads with little to worry about, especially if keeping to the popular walks. We'll definitely be back!!! New-year is meant to be great fun with the fireworks, and spring is meant to be stunning with all the wild flowers!
