Madeira Day 3

On our 3rd day, we got up for Breakfast and CBC went to go and pick up the hire car.  We decided to make sandwiches from the buffet to take on our walk.  We got in the car and drove to do walks PR10 and PR11.

The first walk was a mere 3km total called Vereda dis Balcoes. It was super easy and accessible on a wide path that was pretty flat. 

It led to a viewing platform with wonderful views of the mountains around. We soon noticed people feeding chaffinches from their hands. Clearly The Madeiran Chaffinches love a Picnic. 

It didn't take long for me to lure my own chaffinches with a bit of sandwich. A few of them are from my hand whilst fluttering and the more audacious and greedy ones sat on my finger hoovering up every morsel. 

Despite them being comfortable if anyone with food held out a hand, it felt very special to have a tiny bird on the hand. 

Once we'd stayed here a little while, we walked back to start of the route. There was another route in the village. Pr10 which was longer.  Around 11km. It went along the Levada Do Furado.  It is one of the oldest public levadas, acquired by the state to irrigate the agricultural fields of Porta da Cruz.

Many of the walking routes follow the Levada, historic water ways. The routes can be quite narrow in areas and you will be next to a sheer drop but they have metal railing erected. 

The walk was pleasantly shady as it was overhanging with trees, however, the walk did not feel particularly varied as the view was hard to spot, there was little variation in ups and downs. 

A highlight of the journey was reaching a waterfall with a mesmerising clear pool. A man was swimming in there and we were tempted to go in too. In retrospect, we regret not doing this. 

Levadas. The walks are very safe as they have railings. However, a lot of the walk was the same.

Possibly the most exciting part of the walk was walking through the rock face!

The final 1.5km of the walk was downhill (finally some variation!) We ate our picnic lunch in some lovely shade before the descent.  It ended at the Portela belvedere in the municipality of Machico.

The views were beautiful from there.

We found a yellow taxi waiting there at the who drove us back to the car in Ribiero Frio! We were very thankful he was there!

Once we got back to the car, we decided to drive to Santana to have a look around. It was said to have examples of a typical Madeiran traditional house.

There were a few of them.

In one of them, they had a small shop selling a few things including ice-lollies from a natural company.  CBC had a pineapple and mint one.  I had a Strawberry and chocolate lolly. It was covered in a thin layer of crispy dark chocolate and had a fruity inner of real frozen strawberry pulp.  It was really tasty. We stopped for a cool drink in a nice cafe/restaurant. I had a non-alcoholic version of Poncha (punch with passionfruit and orange) and CBC had a bear.

As we sat there, I was admiring the beautiful archictecture of the hospital

We decided to have Dinner in Santana and there was a  Pizza restaurant with a very noisy parrot near the car. CBC had a pizza and I had some sort of tasty steak with fries and a beautiful rainbow salad.

In the car on the way back, we passed through many tunnels, long ones at that! We got back around 9pm so I decided to go for a swim FINALLY in the hotel pool. It was very pleasant. I then booked for the next morning.  They told me it had to be before 9am as they had swimming lessons then which seemed a bit annoying but I was happy to book for 8.30am.

Somewhere up Pico Ruivo Mountain

I will post about my holiday in Madeira soon but am on my way to my next destination! 

Here's a little snippet from my holiday, day 4 which I wrote for weekly prompt word poem.  The word in question was 'extra'. 

Somewhere up Pico Ruivo Mountain

 

Just a few more extra steps,

Just some extra miles,

Just keep walking up this slope,

Be over in a while,

You’re almost halfway through this trek,

I know your muscles ache,

You’re closer to the end and warmth,

Each extra step you take.

Don’t like this hill, don’t like this mud,

Don’t like this constant rain.

But will the sense of pride at the end

Be worth all the pain?

That guy we met at 7K,

“10 minutes,”- what a lie!

I want this hill to bog right off,

Don’t want to slip and die!

I’ve climbed a million extra steps,

My way is truly wend,

I’m wet and weary, worn-out, wan,

THANK GOD I’VE REACHED THE END!

 

June Scavenger hunt

Hi everyone!  Hope you are well!  I'm fast finding that taking part in the Scavenger hunt is one of the blog highlights of my month! I have always adored a treasure hunt my entire life so I can't help but feel like a child as I take part!  Go and check out the other stunning photos at Kathy's Postcards from the PP.   Particular highlights so far for me include Ellen's Lego man and squirrel destruction and Alex Oddsocks' night time theatre (I'm guessing Macbeth? ) and her adorable cat!


You may be offended by my before and after shots and a little in poor taste, but it just suddenly occured to me as this one was causing me grief!  Sorry!  I don't advocate hunting deer! Taken at Knole Park, Kent.
Before:

 After:  Poor stag- he must have been a mighty specimen!

 Bunting:  Regent street I believe.

 Soho Bunting.  Not so impressive but had a more pleasing flutter.

 Crown:  They're everywhere in Westminster!
On street signs...

 On shop windows...

 I even found one made out of stones in Hylands house gardens...

Diamond:
I know this is blurry but I like the dazzling effect.  This IS indeed a diamond ring.  My friend recently got engaged when she went to New York and her fiance spent ALOT on this ring!

 Nature's diamonds.  I LOVE it when you see droplet of rain on the grass!

 Close:

Tenuous but this wysteria was really close to our heads at Hylands house, it touched them hanging froma Pagoda. Beautiful!

 Sleep:
I'll bet everyone has either used animals or children.  Here was a lovely Spaniel called Connor sleeping.  He belonged to my host in my Black mountains trip last week.

 On the edge.
The ridge walk at the top of The Cat's Back in the Black mountains.  It was SOOOOO windy that I was almost blown off the edge!

 Majesty:
A stone carving of Christ in majesty at Dore Abbey.  This dates from over 800 years ago.

 Out of reach:
One of my rural holiday pursuits is always the elusive taking of a photo of me with my arms round a sheep!  Yes, weird I know, but I've always thought they must feel fluffy.  This lot at a Manor house we had tea at last week weren't having any of it!

Night:

I drive CBC INSANE when we come home at night from trips out.  Since we can't read, I take 'light effect' shots of the car lights.  He says I shake the car.

This one is entitled & Y?  I say & Y not?

 Night 2:  This was at the After concert party at the Manor house.  I loved the sense of looking in from the cold and rain. (Ok ok, so I was bored of conversation!)

 Symmetry 1:
The beautiful grounds of the Manor house. It was total heaven in what you could see, hear and smell.  Here is a reflection in the lake.

 Symmetry 2:
And here's another angle.  I thought it was beautiful.