Hiking
Summit of Black Combe (600 m.)
Hike up to the rounded summit of Black Combe (600 m.), we followed Moorgill Beck up from Kirkbank to Townend Knotts, which is the rounded end of the ridge that you see from the A595 south from Bootle in West Cumbria. Various marks in the turf suggesting this climb had been the route of a fell race recently. We paused in a scrape at about 300 m. and decided to go onwards in to the mist, despite a brisk wind and even though the cloud wasn’t lifting as forecast.
More photos: Black Combe (600 m.) - Lake District National Park
Levada Nova da Lombada (425 m.)
Probably the most satisfying hike I’ve done on Madeira: spectacular views and waterfalls though difficult as a circular hike because of the narrow path, the rocky overhangs, tunnel and the opportunities for a cold shower. Madeira Island is renowned for its extensive levadas (irrigation channels) which are great hiking routes as well as aqueducts and sources of hydoelectric power. In particular, the levadas of Ponta do Sol have a long and complicated history, including fatalities during construction, a violent riot in 1962 over the right to water when the Levada Nova was proposed and grim origins as supplying water to the sugar cane plantations founded by João Esmeraldo (died 1535) using slave labour. Christopher Columbus stayed in his palace in Funchal on his return from his third trip to the Antilles in 1498, married his daughter and himself became a sugar cane magnate at the time when the product became known as “white gold”.
More photos: Hiking the levadas of Ponta do Sol - Madeira Island
View back down to Funchal Harbour
Hike from the Pico do Arieiro (1818 m.); it’s not quite the top of Madeira Island, there’s a hike on to Pico Ruivo (1860 m.), difficult because it goes down before it goes up. Panoramic views of Madeira and the Atlantic at the top, also the mêlée of tourists and the Island Parks guy with the card machine collecting the trail hike fees.
Although the peaks were clear of clouds, the paths certainly weren’t clear of tourists, so I chose another route, parking well below the peak and hiking upwards in the clear air with heavily-eroded volcanic valleys below.
Hike at the south-eastern end of Madeira, Ponta de São Lourenço is the peninsular seen from the aircraft before the turn to land at Funchal airport. The PR8 path towards the Cais do Sardinha gives rewarding views of the massive coast erosion, the layers of volcanic rock of varied colours and the deep blue of the Atlantic Ocean. Again on Madeira, the path (and parking) was really busy. The path is surprisingly strenuous but even more so with the tedious crowding. There’s a sort of similarity with the Cornwall Coast Path, although the geologies are entirely different.
More photos: Cais do Sardinha - Ponta de São Lourenço - Madeira
Ginger plant in flower
The terminator - shadow of the sun - is creeping down the opposite side of the Salazie crater
Arduous hike out from the village of Hell-Bourg in the Cirque de Salazie (volcano crater). Hard going, both the sun and thirty degree heat but mainly the steep tracks. The “reward” is hiking through tropical farming, flowers and forest, glimpses of highly-coloured song birds and hearing them calling and singing. Though there’s drought everywhere in this crater, so a lot of dust. GR R1 means Grande Randonné 1 de la Réunion, it’s the long distance route equivalent to the UK Pennine Way.
More photos: Tropical jungle hike: Le Grand Sable, GR R1 - Parc Naturel de la Réunion
