Radinmad

Holidaying on Madeira has not required many early starts but today is a bit different. We are going for a walk in the mountains along the Levada do Furado. This involves catching a bus at 08.10 at the far side of the city centre, having first had breakfast, made packed lunches and done the washing up. The alarm goes at 6.30 , well before sunrise in these parts. The city is starting to wake up as we walk through. Daylight is arriving and the pastellarias are full of people having breakfast. It is breezier than forecast and there is a bit of cloud about but it looks to be a reasonable day for a hike. The bus is at the terminal and the driver soon appears to let us on. There are only three or four other passengers and we are soon under way, heading north into the mountains.. Our initial destination is Ribeiro Frio where we spent last week's wet Wednesday. Being driven up the mountain is a lot more relaxing than doing the driving despite all of our driver's ...

Today is another sunny one although there is a heat haze which means the temperature is a bit lower. Still shorts and t shirt weather for Brits although the locals are going for anoraks, shawls and fleeces. Some people don't know when they are well off. After dawdling over breakfast we opt for a stroll to and through the Santa Catarina gardens. R's day gets off to a good start as we spot a sparrowhawk on the hotel's perimeter wall. It doesn't hang around to have its picture taken. The gardens are nicely laid out with some colourful planting but have one or two less congruous features. R's streak continues with a sighting of a Little Egret by the side of the small lake in the park. Today wasn't in the plan for bird watching. The Little Egret is classed as an Irregular Winter Visitor to Madeira. We feel suitably honoured. Madeira seems to have quite a few cats but this was the only one that we have seen being taken for a walk on...

Today threatens to be sunny without any danger of precipitation. Sorry to rub it in. We have a Saturday routine that dictates delivering our grungy laundry to the service wash facility, before attending the tent on the promenade for our weekly government funded Covid test. Once again we are greeted as family and the nurse wielding the nasal swab could well be the aunt who is normally hidden in the attic. Within an hour we receive texts and emails to confirm our negative tests. After a leisurely breakfast featuring freshly squeezed orange juice we catch a bus to the fishing port of Camara de Lobos. If you don't know what this means you have not been paying attention and need to go back to the start and read it all again. The bus drops us at a place that was allegedly Winston Churchill's favourite view of the town. We stroll down to the port through picturesque streets where the restaurants are starting to get ready for the day's business and groups of elderly jaikies are pla...

After four days of unmitigated excitement, visiting the four corners of the island and almost getting the car into fifth gear a couple of times, we opt for a relaxed Friday. The BBC forecast is a bit mixed with sunny intervals until late afternoon, then the possibility of showers. The Met Office suggests a cloudy, but dry morning, then relentless thunderstorms through the afternoon and evening. The view from our balcony is blue skies and fluffy white clouds. It is warmer than yesterday as well. We opt for a stroll into town to do a little research, indulge in some light retail activity and find lunch somewhere. On the way into town we pass the British Cemetery where the gate is open. R is a big fan of mooching around cemeteries so she is thrilled.  The research goes well and we even find a small square full of cafe tables that we had begun to think was a figment of our imaginations. A leisurely cup of coffee in the sun sets us up nicely. From here it is only...

R seems to have found a weather forecasting site that is even less accurate than the Beeb. The Met Office are predicting thunder and lightning all day today although when we open the curtains the sky is blue and the clouds are white and fluffy rather than yesterday's leaden grey. Today is our last with the car, although we have the option to rent again later in our stay if we wish.  After sampling the joys of east, north and south coasts today's outing is aimed at Ponta da Pargo, the extreme western tip of the island. On our previous visit to Madeira we had found a map and guide for birders visiting this part of the island. The bookshop owner regretted that she was not aware of any other ornithological publications relating to Madeira. Our route takes us west along the Via Rapida to Ribeira Brava and then by the Via Expressa that ploughs a mainly subterranean furrow parallel to the coast. Not very scenic but a speedy way to get about when the traffic is not too heav...

We are going to sue the BBC. We understand that there might be a queue that we need to join but their weather forecasting is just the pits. Today's plan is to drive up into the mountains and do some walking. The forecast looks pretty good. After 45 minutes of driving, during which we never get into fourth gear due to rush hour traffic and narrow, steep winding roads the reality looks like this.  Anybody who has spent a bank holiday weekend in Borrowdale will recognise the scene immediately. We sit in the car watching the rain for twenty minutes or so until it eases a little. We decide to be brave, donning walking shoes and waterproofs so we can walk 200 metres to the cafe in the small village of Ribeiro Frio (Cold River). On this short stroll we pass a trout farm and the reassuring presence of the Forest Police. It doesn't feel like a hotbed of crime but we all know about Midsomer Murders. As we sit in the cafe and drink our coffee the rain g...