Portugal

As I mentioned at the conclusion of my last blog, The Traverse of the Picos de Europa, my plan in late September was to embark on a one-week trek in Slovenia’s Julian Alps, including summitting the high point, Mount Triglav. Following this trek and some cultural explorations in Slovenia, in early October I was to travel to São Miguel Island in the Portuguese Azores for several day hikes.

Unfortunately, everything went pear-shaped from the start.

A fall walking in the Picos necessitated a midnight trip to Santander hospital to suture up a finger. This injury made a high-altitude trek in poor weather imprudent, so I contented myself in enjoying easy walks around Lakes Bled and Bohinj. After returning to Britain and continuing to the Azores, running through Madrid airport in street shoes on a very tight connection (due to the usual delays at Heathrow and the absolutely predictable effects of Brexit), subsequently hobbled me to such an extent that for several days I could barely walk. Meanwhile, my luggage didn’t make the connection in any event and was ultimately delayed 5 days on a 7-day trip. My time in the Azores thus became far more sedentary and my itinerary resembled that of a typical tourist. Nonetheless, I did manage to capture a few good photos and hope to return to both Slovenia and the Azores when I can do them more justice.

Slovenia, a small country bordering Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia, is an ex-Yugoslav republic that always had more in common with Austria and Hungary than it did with its Balkan neighbors to the south. Not only is it far more developed, but the culture and architecture clearly owe much to the Austro-Hungarian empire. I spent three nights in the capital, Ljubljana, followed by about 10 days in Bled, on the east side of the eponymous lake.

Franciscan Church of the Annunciation, Prešeren Square, Ljubljana

View northeast from the Castle path, Ljubljana. My superb AirBnb was in a quiet wood near here.

River view in the medieval town of Škofja Loka, *enroute* to Bled

St. Martin Parish Church at night from my Bled condo

An autumnal view from the balcony of my Bled condo. I had to book very early to get this basic but amazingly situated condo.

Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, seen through the trees, and located on an island in Lake Bled.

Bohinj path. Lake Bohinj was a 45-minute bus ride from Bled, and was MUCH less developed.

Nettle-leaved Bell-flower along Lake Bohinj. There weren’t many wildflowers this late in the season.

A colorful inlet stream (Sava Bohinjka) on the Lake Bohinj circuit path

Another view along the Lake Bohinj (Bohinjsko jezero) circuit path

Bled Lake with parish church and castle. I did the easy 6-mile circumambulation of the lake several times.

Bled Lake and Church of the Assumption view from Mala Osojnica. This was the only real hike I did, gaining several hundred feet up a steep and slick trail to this iconic viewpoint.

After my eventful flights to Ponta Delgada on São Miguel Island in the Azores, I rented a car and settled in to my amazing ocean front AirBnb, Casa da Rocha, in the village of Ponta Garça on the south coast. As mentioned, I did very little actual walking, but did capture several lovely landscape photos during three day road trips that encompassed the island.

Isle Vila Franca do Campo. Photo taken from along the promenade near my favorite seafood restaurant, the Atlântico Azorean.

Vista from my balcony at the AirBnb *Casa da Rocha*, in Ponta Garça. Note the Isle Vila Franca do Campo in the background.

Looking towards the *Casa da Rocha*. This was one of the best AirBnb’s I have stayed in yet.

Late day view from *Casa da Rocha*. In my hobbled state I spent much time on my spacious balcony.

Fumaroles at Caldeira das Furnas, in the center of the island.

Northeast (Nordeste) coastal vista with Hydrangeas. After visiting the fumaroles, I continued my first road trip around the eastern portion of the island.

Ribeira dos Caldeirões Natural Park, a very popular tourist attraction, particularly among the selfie-obsessed.

View south from Miradouro do Salto do Cavalo, high on a ridge. With generally southwest breezes, mist off the Atlantic was a frequent occurrence in October.

Finally, a sunny day at Vila Franca do Campo!

North coast in the mist with ubiquitous Easter lilies

Mosteiros coast in western-most Sao Miguel

Returning back to St. George Utah via London, I spent the remainder of the autumn exploring more of the amazing red rock landscape of which I never seem to grow tired. In reviewing some of my (and others’) photos, another blog post from southern Utah seems to be in order. . .

The Vagabond Hiker

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

Walks and wanders in Slovenia and the Azores

Levadas and Peaks of Madeira

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