More from Madeira
Ed:Rosemary said in the last email that she wanted to try walking along one of the many levadas on Madeira, (these are water channels used for irrigation). Well, she tried it and survived.
We got a bus to one end of the levada, and then walked along, quite jolly at first, amazing mountain scenery, then it all went pear shaped for me when the side of the water channel became very thin and there was a sheer drop down the mountainside. Vertigo had me by the throat! Jim leapt like a gazelle and my palms broke out in sweat at regular intervals! Anyway we walked about 10km and had a well earned drink at the local bar at the other end. We watched a bunch of locals come in and have a rum, honey and lemon concoction made up by the bottleful which they took away. We asked for one and it was lovely, stilled the trembling legs! Caught another bus back to town. It was worth doing but I wouldn't repeat it. Then we took a ride up by cablecar to Monte and walked down a track which turned out to go along another levada with the same sort of precipices. However we got to the Botanic Gardens as planned which were good.
Another day we took the bus up to Monte again, but this time came down in one of the toboggans - a wicker type chair taking 2 people on wooden runners and guided by 2 men at speed, down the streets for about 4km. Good fun, I think Jim even enjoyed it. We also did a minibus tour of the plateau, saw Cabo Girao (second highest cliffs in world) and Santo Moniz with seapools surrounded by lava rocks (helped a little by man) where you could swim (no real beaches on the island) but unfortunately we did not have our cossies. We had a lovely lunch and so on and saw some lovely scenery, so it was well worth doing.
On to Tenerife>
Where Avalon was moored in a pleasant bay in Santa Cruz on the north coast of Tenerife. The crossing took them 2 days and was a bit lively - enough to ensure a good speed without any problems. Rosemary continues :-
We arrived in Tenerife on the 18th February, and the temperature has soared. The scenery that we have seen so far is very dramatic being volcanic. A major advance on Madeira is that we are surrounded by other yachties who want to talk. Had two to dinner last night and they have invited us back tonight. It's carnival and the place seems rather chaotic, we have to walk right round a funfair to get to the town. The fresh produce market is great, but otherwise the town so far does not live up to Funchal. We have some work to do on the boat, charts to borrow, stocking up etc. We want to get up Teide, the volcano, the highest mountain in Spain.
Ed: Apparently they were delayed again by the weather (wind in the wrong direction) so took the opportunity to do more exploration.
We hired a car yesterday to get up Teide. As luck would have it wind stopped play - cablecar was not in operation. There was no way we could get up the mountain on foot in the time available, so we toured around some. The landscape was fantastic, different coloured soils, craters long dead, lava flows, including obsidian blocks - all sorts of shapes and sizes. We got out at several points to walk on sand and coke type stuff. It is all very interesting. We will have to come back again. Summer would be good (apart from heat) to see the flowers, or maybe just a little later in the spring.
Ed: Jim and Rosemary left Tenerife on Wednesday 7th March 2001, to sail across the Atlantic to St Lucia in the Caribbean. They will sail South first of all, but will loop round to the West when they get near the Cape Verde Islands. There will not be time to stop off there as they have to be in St Lucia by 8th April to meet Barnaby and Cassandra. They expect to take about 4 weeks to cross the Atlantic, so they will be out of contact for some time.
