Europe – Page 17

Levadas and Peaks of Madeira

March 21, 2019

With its rugged coastal scenery, impressive volcanic geology and lush levada trails, the Portuguese island of Madeira is a walker’s paradise. The week of hiking with our KE Adventures group was exceptional with six varied day hikes spread over most of the island. Our guide, Roberto, was passionate about his native land and a wealth of knowledge, historical, geological, and botanic. We walked and hiked through terraced farmland, explored extensive laurel forest, negotiated almost two dozen tunnels and crossed numerous jagged green ridges to some amazing viewpoints. The network of trails is truly incredible, with many following levadas, the water channels that collect water from the mountains, channeling and distributing it for hydroelectricity generation, agricultural irrigation, and drinking water. There are over 1300 miles of levadas and all the major ones have walking paths alongside, which follow the contours of the land with only a 4 degree average slope. They make for a nice change from the mountain paths, which seem to be always either steeply ascending or descending the rugged terrain.

A Google Earth map of the island of Madeira. Madeira is about 35 miles long and about 14 miles across at its widest point. We started and ended our week in Funchal, but also stayed in Paul Do Mar and Porto Moniz in the west and in Santana to the north of the main mountain range.

Much of Madeira remains covered in laurisilva forest, a botanical relic that dates back about 20 million years, and is classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The Laurisilva covers about 20% of the Island of Madeira (15,000 hectares) most of which is part of the protected Madeira Natural Park. The forest captures the moisture from the Atlantic clouds, resulting in high humidity and biodiversity, with about 150 of 760 plant species being endemic. (There are also unfortunately several species of nasty invasives, including eucalyptus and mimosa). Take a look at some of my photo highlights from the six day trip. . .

View of the central massif and the Paul da Serra plateau from above Curral das Freiras on day 1.

Trail side flowers seen leaving Curral das Freiras (Nun’s Valley)

Some of our group of 13 at a rest stop below Boca do Serra (the col partly seen on the left here)

View from Boca do Serra with Curral das Freiras far below on the left

More trail side flowers. I struggled to remember any of the names of the flowers Roberto so ably identified for us.

A stream in a rocky gorge on the Ribeiro do Poco. It was a great place to cool my feet.

Madeira’s Pride and waterfall above Paul do Mar, day 2

Looking back to Paul do Mar harbor. The path can be seen zig-zagging on the left here.

Paul do Mar. We stayed two nights at a very nice hotel in this town on the southwest coast.

A levada distribution point along the Levada Calheta Nova.

Roberto crossing a stream on the levada portion of our hike on day 2

Fields and coast along Levada Calheta Nova

Path through the native laurisilva forest on day 3. A cloud forest ecosystem is prevalent at intermediate altitudes on much of Madeira.

Levada Ribeira da Janela path and waterfall

Another view of the Levada Ribeira da Janela path. Many of the main levadas have been concretized over the past 40 years or so.

Our improbable trail head on day 4, above the wild west coast

The coast view from our trail head. It doesn’t look possible, but we hiked down to the coast from here. The cables are part of the cable car system, which one client availed himself of.

Some of our group ascending from the coast. We had two 500 meter descents and one ascent on this tough hike.

View descending towards Porto Moniz, where we stayed two nights.

Park Forestal Queimadas, our trail head on day 5

Levada Caldeirao waterfall. I stitched this together from five photos.

Lush vegetation along the unconcretized Levada Caldeirao. There are about 70 species of fern on Madeira.

Caldeirao Verde waterfall, about 80 meters high

The Vagabond Hiker with Roberto and two other clients at a levada tunnel entrance. Photo courtesy of Joe.

Some of our group descending a hollow way. Over hundreds of years stock transhumance has eroded some areas along the north coast.

Pico Ruivo (1862m) summit “view” on day 6. This is the high point on Madeira and was our toughest hike.

A dead heather along the amazing balcony route between Pico Ruivo and Pico do Arieiro (1810m), the third highest point on the island. There was a major fire in 2010 that destroyed much of the slow-growing native heather.

Some of our group hiking along the balcony route towards Pico do Arieiro

Part of the “Stairway to Heaven”. The airier portions were generally protected by cables.

View above the clouds near Pico Arieiro summit.

Lest you draw the incorrect conclusion that my time on Madeira has been all tough hiking, this last photo was taken from my penthouse apartment balcony at sunset, where I have stayed the last four days reading, walking along the promenade, swimming, stand up paddle-boarding, eating fresh seafood and just enjoying the fine weather.

I have updated my calendar through September. See the tab on the upper right. With the exception of two weeks in July, I will be spending the next six months in Europe. During those blank spaces on the calendar I will be on the south coast of England near Hastings. My next post will likely be in April from there. If not, it will be in mid-May from the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland. Until then, keep hiking!

The Vagabond Hiker

Walking Lanzarote in the Canary Islands

December 4, 2018

Certainly there are worse places to spend the month of November than Lanzarote in Spain’s Islas Canarias. Located about 80 miles off the Coast of Morocco, it is to a large extent defined by the series of volcanic eruptions in the 1730’s. Admittedly, my main purpose of renting an AirBnB apartment overlooking the Atlantic in Puerto del Carmen was to enjoy the (relatively) warm ocean. Nonetheless, I managed several interesting hikes/walks that encompassed some of the most interesting landscapes on the island. Check out the photos below. . .

An Old Town harbor garden in *Pueto del Carmen*, near the beginning of my local coast walk.

Looking towards *Puerto del Carmen* from the coast path. I did this coastal hike (from my door) 6-8 times during this past month.

View along the path around the outside of *Caldera Blanca*. Here it doesn’t look much different from southwest Utah.

View of the *Caldera Blanca* from along its rim, with the west coast of Lanzarote and the ocean in the background. Amazing views make this one of the most popular hikes on the island.

A view towards the *Montana Caldereta* from the rim of the *Caldera Blanca*. A recent lava field surrounds the caldereta. The white line in the background is a village.

Femes village, the trailhead for one of my hikes in the southeast of the island. Typical Lanzarotan architecture is seen here. Unlike other Canary Islands, Lanzarote has largely been spared unsightly development.

A ridge view near *Pico Redondo* towards *Playa Blanca* at the south end of Lanzarote. The island of Fuerteventura is on the left in the background. A 45 minute ferry runs several times a day from *Playa Blanca* to Fuerteventura and back.

A ridge view on *Lomo del Pozo* towards *Puerto del Carmen*

A coastal view back towards *El Golfo* on the west coast of the island. This land was created in the 1730’s through a series of eruptions.

Typical plants surviving in the tough west coast soil north of *El Golfo* in Timanfaya National Park

Further north on the west coast is the *Playa de Famara*. With favorable winds and good surf, this beach is popular with both surfers and wind surfers.

The southern end of *El Risco de Famara* (cliffs) just north of the *Playa de Famara*. The path ended near here.

The *Finca de Corona* at the trailhead to another Risco de Famara hike even further north. It happens to be for sale.

Finca lands growing something. Agriculture (and viniculture) is definitely a challenge in the poor volcanic soil.

View from the top of the *Risco de Famara.* The path goes down off to the left here.

One of the few plants I saw in flower on the *Risco de Famara*

View towards *Isla Graciosa* from near the bottom of the *Risco de Famara.* I didn’t make it over to this small island last month. Something for next time.

Dunes and the *Risco de Famara*. The path back to the top is near the center of the cliffs here.

View from my balcony late one day. The island of Fuerteventura is visible to the right in the distance.

Wishing my readers a wonderful holiday season, my next post will be towards the end of January from Chile following my attempted climb of Ojos del Salado, the world’s highest volcano.

The Vagabond Hiker

Back to the Balkans: Bosnia & Croatia

October 2, 2018

The second half of September found me returning to the Balkans after three weeks in the Dolomites of Italy. This time, while the priority was not so much hiking per se, Maggie and I did get to experience some very diverse landscapes in the mountains of Bosnia and along the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. We interspersed the hikes with cultural touring in Mostar and Sarajevo in Bosnia and in Dubrovnik, Croatia, enjoying seafood and local wines throughout our journeys.

In Bosnia, we stayed for three nights at an authentic old farmhouse, which was our base for hiking in Sutjeska National Park. This park, established in 1962, is Bosnia’s oldest. It includes the country’s highest peak, Maglić (2,386 meters) on the border with Montenegro. The Strict Nature Reserve “Perućica”, one of the last two remaining primeval forests in Europe*, is also part of the park. The photos below are from the two very different hikes we took, a short wander in the Perućica reserve and a grueling round trip climb to the summit of Maglić.

*- The much larger Białowieża Forest in Poland and Belarus is the other.

A stream, Perućica Nature Reserve, Sutjeska National Park. Entry to the reserve is with a guide only. The host at our farmhouse accommodation just happened to be the park ranger in the reserve and invited us to hike there as his guests.

A colorful mushroom, perhaps dyer’s polypore, one of many we saw in Perućica.

A VERY large example of *Sparassis crispa,* or cauliflower mushroom, in Perućica Reserve.

Trail heading to Lake Trnovacko from Prijevor, Sutjeska NP. The route we took to the summit of Mount Maglić was about 14 miles and had more than 3,500 ft of elevation gain.

Montenegrin border post at Lake Trnovačko. Fortunately, my driver’s license was sufficient for the guard/park ranger. Most of the hike was actually in Montenegro.

Mount Maglić (l) from Lake Trnovačko (Trnovačko Jezero).

After a stiff climb from the lake, a flattish plateau area brought us to Maglić’s summit block, which required a short scramble.

With Maggie on Mount Maglić’s summit (2386 meters)

The heart-shaped Lake Trnovačko from Maglić’s summit. Our climbing route was from the left side of the lake here.

Another view of Lake Trnovačko with clouds, on our descent

After Bosnia, we returned to the Dubrovnik area of Croatia’s Dalmatian coast. While the lovely walled city is teeming with tourists, we found two hikes to the north that were not so overrun: the walled town of Ston and the island of Lopud. Both made for interesting day trips from our apartment a few kilometers north of Dubrovnik.

Village of Ston with salt pans, seen from one of the walls. The walls of Ston are longer than Dubrovnik, and claimed to be the longest walled fortification in Europe.

The walls extend to the nearby town of Mali Ston (Mali means “little”)

Our hike was a loop that involved some bush-whacking on the return to Ston. Here is a portion of the Ston walls that we saw on our return. Only part of the fortifications are currently open to the public.

A short ferry from Dubrovnik to The island of Lopud is only a short ferry ride from Dubrovnik. Vehicle-free (except golf carts), there are many hiking trails that enabled us to more or less circumambulate the island. Here are some Bougainvillea above the town of Lopud.

Vista from Sutvrač Fort towards Sipan. Although not quite two square miles in area, Lopud is the second largest island of the Elaphiti islands (after Sipan). It is located less than 10 kilometers NW of Dubrovnik.

Vista point on the Northwest corner of Lopud. The peacefulness of the island was a dramatic change from the crowds of tourists a few miles away in Dubrovnik.

Tomorrow I leave for New Delhi to begin a three week trekking trip to the Garwhal Himalaya. Our group will be trekking in the region of Kumaon, Uttarakhand, just West of Nepal and bordering Tibet to the North. On my return to the UK later this month I will post my next blog from my first trip to India.

Until then, enjoy the outdoors,

The Vagabond Hiker

Levadas and Peaks of Madeira

Walking Lanzarote in the Canary Islands

Back to the Balkans: Bosnia & Croatia

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