The NZ Connection - 10 January 2009

Having a need to be in the Birmingham area we set off along the M40 and before long were driving through a winter wonderland of white, not from snow but from wind frost which entirely covered the vegetation. Knowing that there was a short detour which would take us through Aston Wood, we exited at Junction 5 and followed the A40 to Junction 6 stopping for a photo-shoot along the way.



Our first destination was Earlswood where there are some lakes that were made as a water source for the nearby canal. The lakes were completely frozen over, not thick enough to walk on but enough to make them beautiful in a monochromatic winter way. After a 5-mile walk around one of the lakes and the countryside nearby we set of for Hagley Hall.

Hagley Hall (think Hagley Park, Chch) is the family home of the Viscounts Lyttleton (think Lyttleton Harbour) as it was the 4th Lord Lyttleton who was involved in the settlement of Canterbury, NZ. Somewhere along the way a marriage brought the Cobham name to the family and it was the 10th Viscount, Lord Cobham who was Governor General of NZ from 1957 to 1961 (think Cobham Drive, Wellington). Because of the NZ connection we were warmly welcomed as we were taken on our private guided tour. (Given the bitterly cold day, I don't imagine there would have been a huge visitor turn out.)

A fine and frosty start to the year - 3 January 2009

On a sunny frosty day it is a delight to go walking in the countryside. We left London for the Chilterns, and enjoyed a circular walk through three villages, each with a different and distinctive steeple/tower. The air was crisp and clear; the kestrels were soaring overhead; the puddles were frozen, as was the mud churned up by cattle some time before the cold arrived.

Half way round was a warm and cosy pub, Ye Olde Leathern Bottel, a great place for a brief stop in the warmth. This is winter at its best.

And so, it ends - 31 December 2008

Supposedly there was only a 25% chance of rain today but the usual sound of heavy rain woke us once again. Does it ever stop raining in Madeira?

Nevertheless we set of for Quinta do Palheiro Ferreiro to visit the gardens as they are highly recommended in all the guidebooks. Frankly we were disappointed. At €10 each they were overpriced for the size and what was to be seen compared to gardens in England that charge £10. Admittedly it was winter when gardens are not at their best (but this could be allowed for in a winter admission price). The Blandy family now owns and runs the estate.


Leaving the gardens we followed the Levada dos Tornos back towards Funchal, leaving it only briefly to visit the Jasmine Tea House, a little piece of England transported to Madeira. Back on the levada we continued until we were above the Jardin Botanica where we left the levada and made our way back to the centre of town down some impossibly steep streets to finally see Funchal in the sunlight.

New Year's Eve is the big night in Funchal and our hotel roof terrace was ideally placed as a base to view the fireworks without having to tangle with the crowds that throng into Funchal for the big midnight display. That said, the crowds seemed to be much better behaved than New Year's Eve crowds we have experienced elsewhere.

Our Madeiran adventure ended with a bang, but was it worth it? Not really. There are plenty of places in the world more deserving of a visit than this over-priced, over-crowded rock in the middle of the Atlantic. (Madeira has a higher population density than the UK.) Granted, we did not see it at its best, but for visitors from NZ there really is not enough that is so terribly different to make it worth the rather long detour that is required. That said, it was rather enouraging to visit a place where oxalis appears to be more of a nuisance weed than it was in our NZ gardens.

Done with a passion - 30 December 2008

The weather pundits' pessimistic prediction pertaining to today was a 95% probability of precipitation which precluded our participation in the programme previously planned for the day. So, instead of visiting some gardens further a field with the option of a levada walk, we remained closer to home and followed a tour around the city centre to look at some of the architecture and three churches. The contrast between the lavish interior of the Jesuit church and the plain interior of the circular English church could not be more marked.

Along the way we called in to see the Old Blandy Wine Lodge, a tourist trap built in one of the original wine premises in Funchal. If your pockets are deep enough you can purchase Madeiran fortified wine bottled in the late 19th century. We did not pay for the tour so did not see the vintages from those years but there were plenty of bottles on display that were as old as us; we did not bother enquiring what the price was.

In the Town Hall we came across a display of nativity scenes that were clearly the results of a competition to make a nativity scene from recycled or waste material; there were some most creative results.

We revisited the markets to see them as they should be and got suckered into buying an exorbitantly expensive selection of different flavoured passion fruit. There were seven in the bag, none of which looked like the passion fruit we are used to in NZ. According to the vendor the bag contained one each of lemon, peach, banana, tomato, pineapple and two we could not remember but although they looked quite different the taste was fairly uniform: at a bit over €10 we were well and truly 'had'. The 'tomato' one turned out to be a common old tamarillo that are a dime-a-dozen in NZ.

The next disappointment was the Boa Vista Orchid garden. Recommended in the guidebooks and supposedly in the middle of the flowering season, the €4.50 entry was about €3 over what it was worth for a walk around the muddy paths inside some run-down orchid houses with a few blooms on show.

Downhill adventures - 29 December 2008

According to the weather pundits, this was to be our best day so far (only 45% chance of rain!) so we hopped aboard the 81 Bus and set off for Eira do Serrado. At 1094m this is the starting point for a walk that descends 450m to Corral das Freiras (Nun's Valley). In 1566, the nuns of Santa Clara Convent came to this secluded valley to escape 1000 pirates who raided Funchal. This spectacular valley, almost entirely surrounded by steep sided mountains, was until 1959 only accessible on foot - the route we took. (TV only arrived in 1986)

The bus left Funchal in sunshine, but the sky over the hills ahead was very black. However, when we arrived at Eira do Serrado, although we were totally in a whiteout, it was only low cloud, not rain, so we set out. Only a short way down the hillside, the clouds parted briefly, to give us an encouraging glimpse of the spectacular view. As we descended, the glimpses were better, until we were totally below the cloud. It is a great walk, and on a fine day, must be absolutely stunning.

The actual town, when you eventually arrive, is quite boring. So as the bus timetable indicated a bus was due shortly, we decided to head straight back to Funchal. An enterprising taxi driver, who had obviously brought a fare up there, kept encouraging us and another gentleman at the bus stop, to accept a ride back to town. He set the fare at slightly more than a bus fare. He was happy to not go back empty; the elderly gentleman and we didn't need to wait in the cold, so all were winners.

As the afternoon was still fine, we decided to make the most of the remaining day, and make sure we didn't miss out on Funchal's unique tourist attraction, a basket ride from the hillside village of Monte, up in the cloud above Funchal. The total tourist deal would be to take a €10 cable car ride to Monte first, but as the day was dismal, and about a third of the ride would be in the cloud, we economised and took an 85c bus ride. Monte was totally surrounded by low cloud, but we weren’t aware of that as we enjoyed the basket trip down to below the cloud level, a 2k trip down steep roads, where a car had to stay behind us part of the way. Various websites suggest it is a total tourist rip-off, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Wicker baskets on wooden runners were originally used to get produce down the hill from Monte to Funchal, however the cobbled streets have been sealed, the run shortened to avoid the Funchal traffic and the produce replaced with tourists undoubtedly providing a better return than the produce ever did.

Dinner this evening was a real treat. We had seen Le Jardin restaurant, in the old town, earlier where one of the specialties is Scabbard fish cooked with banana. Various guidebooks mentioned this as a local delicacy so we thought we should try it. One tip is, 'do not visit the markets and look at the Scabbard fish first'. They are long black eel-like fish that are ugly and villainous, with jaws full of menacing teeth and huge evil eyes: enough to put one off for life. However, when put in a dish by the chefs at Le Jardin they are a gastronomic delight.

Le Jardin prides itself on the flambé dishes and the table we had was right beside the flambé chef so we had entertainment laid on for the evening. The problem was that we watched him prepare crepe suzettes and having seen the ingredients and smelt them cooking we felt compelled to try them too: oh the power of advertising!

High Tea - 28 December 2008

Today we had a glimpse into the life of William Reid; his was a 'rags to riches' story. In 1836 he worked his passage to Madeira (for the sake of his health), started out as a baker and saw the opportunity to cater to the rich visitors to the island; finally planning, but not seeing completed, the Reid’s Palace Hotel.

In the morning we visited the former estate of the Reid family, the once private park and gardens now the Municipal Botanical Garden. The gardens afford great views over the city, which we enjoyed between the heavy showers.

For our afternoon outing, we shouted ourselves afternoon tea at Reid's Hotel. This has been rated as one of the best hotels in the world, and it certainly has a superb position on the cliff top overlooking Funchal.

Despite checking that afternoon tea would be served on the terrace, it was unfortunately in the dining room, we just happened to choose the wrong day. But even so, we were on the upper level and had a sea view, as well as looking out over the elegant dining room. Like any 'English' afternoon tea, we enjoyed delicate sandwiches, scones and cakes; all quite delicious, and a tribute to the canny Scot.

Levada walk - 27 December 2008

One of the things one must do when visiting Madeira is a levada walk. There are over 2000km of levadas on Madeira, some dating back to when the Portuguese first colonised the island and some quite modern. Initially these were irrigation channels constructed to bring water from the mountains to the lower lying agricultural land; now some are used as feeds for hydro-electricity generation.

Regardless of their initial purpose they now generate healthy revenues for the companies that organise levada walks for tourists. Because the levadas follow the contours to bring the water down gradually the gradients are very slight making the walks quite approachable for any level of fitness.

We chose the 25 Fontes Walk as it was well recommended in the guidebooks. Our taxi driver from yesterday was full of dire warnings regarding attempting a levada walk on our own given the instability of the paths after the recent heavy rain and the only way to access many of the walks is either a guided tour or with a rental car. We were quite pleased that we had not chosen the rental car option when, after stopping for a coffee and comfort break, having climbed from sea-level to 1007m, the driver discovered that the road was closed. So it was all the way back down to the coast and up again via another route. This second route would have dissuaded any rental car driver that was not absolutely confident of reaching the final destination. We finally arrived at the Paul da Serra plateau at 1500m. This is the largest flat area on the island (3km by 4km) and we drove across it in low cloud, unable to see a thing. Finally, we arrived at our destination, Rabacar and donned our wet weather gear; however, it was not long before our boots were wet through as the rain kept pouring down.

The first levada walk took us out to a reasonably spectacular waterfall but we could not quite make it to the viewpoint as another temporary waterfall was obliterating the path. We retraced our steps partway and descended to join the second levada that would take us to the 25 Fontes or fountains. Arriving there, all we saw was another impressive waterfall. The guide explained that usually there are 25 separate outlets from the rock face with a smallish waterfall running down the centre. All of that was lost in the excesses of water that were cascading down.

After that it was time for lunch and the guide indicated that we would head down another path by a levada for our lunch break. We followed others and set off and it was not until the leaders came across a sign propped against the side of the path saying, in six different languages, that it was not safe to proceed that questions arose; like ‘Where is the lunch spot?’ ‘Where is the guide?’ ‘Where is the rest of the party?’ and so on. We decided to retrace the kilometre or so that we had walked and came across the rest of the party happily, albeit soggily, enjoying their lunch right back near the 25 Fontes. Apart from the levada beside the path and the gentle gradients, we could have been walking anywhere in NZ's Fiordland; the trees were dripping with mosses, lichens and rain; we felt very much at home.

Replenished and reunited we returned by the route we had taken until we met the stairs that had brought us down to the lower levada. Instead of climbing the stairs we carried on following the levada, most of the time walking on a buried pipe that had joined our route. A couple of kilometres further on the path, levada and pipe all entered a tunnel. The guide produced some torches and we set off through the 800m long tunnel.

Although we all had sodden shoes, socks and feet, most of us had been puddle-jumping all day avoiding the worst of the standing water on the path or the cascading water that ran across the path occasionally from the overflowing levadas. It had all been a waste of time because the floor of the tunnel was a stream which was ankle deep by the time we exited and there was nowhere else to walk but through the water.

However, the other side of the mountain was bathed in the most welcome sunlight which we all enjoyed as we made our way out to the collection spot to wait for the bus which took us back to Funchal via a welcome coffee stop at Calheta where the pipe had terminated in a hydro-electric station.