walking in madeira cicerone guide review

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Walking in Madeira by Paddy Dillon

As we were staying in Funchal we decided that Walk No 1 was the ideal starting point to begin our review of the walking guide.

Before we start the review however the introduction and practicalities contents at the start of the guide are very informative and provide a brief history of the island together with useful information on vegetation birds and more importantly bus information and a summary of how to use the guide.

Walk No 1 - Monte to Camacha (Lavada dos Tornos)

We caught the No 48 bus from Funchal to Monte, as we had visited the Botanical Gardens the previous day finding the start of the walk was not a problem as it retraced our route to the ticket office of the gardens.

We followed the Lavada dos Tornos taking the right turn to Curral dos Romerios, the directions given were accurate and easy to follow.  It would have been rude to not stop at the Hortensia Gardens Tea House for tea and apple pie and after a 30 minute stop we were back on route.

We reached a tunnel and decided to go over it; we followed the directions turning right down Estrada do Pinherinho however the narrow concrete access road had been removed leaving no access back to the Lavada.  After an arm waving and limited Portuguese conversation with a few locals we took an alternative route which resulted in a 45 minute detour until we eventually found the restaurant described in the directions which had also changed its name from that given in the guide.

The route into Camacha was easy to follow once we were back on the described route within the guide.  The basket warehouse was well worth a visit having the largest selection of handmade baskets and articles ever seen, even a replica Noah's Ark.

To sum up the first part of the walk was easy to follow and I wished we had gone through the tunnel instead of over it as we wouldn't have experienced the problems with the route.  When we got back on route the information provided was accurate and easy to follow and we had a really good day, we caught the bus back to Funchal

After having a drink in a bar which was a bit like the shop in 'Open all Hours' amazing!

Walk No 34 Boca da Corrida and Curral das Freiras

We caught the No 81 bus from Funchal to Curral Das Freiras (valley of the Nuns) as we decided to do as much of the walk in the opposite direction to that given in the guide.  We gave ourselves a time limit as we wanted to retrace our route back to Curral Das Freiras. 

We found the ER-107 and the path leading to Faja Escura and Eirado where the route became very steep and hard to follow, we carried on for a while but didn't really know if we were on the right track so we decided to return back to the valley.  We had a drink and homemade chestnut cake in a bar overlooking the valley and then caught the bus back to Funchal.

The valley was an amazing and peaceful place and one could imagine how difficult it would be to live in such isolation back in 1566.

Walk No 23 Pico do Arieiro to Pico Ruivo (part)

We arrived by bus at Pico do Arieiro, it was a magnificent site as the mountain peaks were bathed in sunshine and protruding through low cloud cover, it definitely had the wow factor. 

Due to the limited time of our visit we only managed to get to Pico do Cidrao and back, which left us wanting to return one day and complete the walk. The route described in the guide was faultless and the views quite exhilarating.

Conclusion 

I would recommend this guide and use it as a holiday planning tool to visit and walk in areas of the island which are accessible using public transport.  Although we had a few issues with route descriptions on the walks, we understand that it is a guide and should be used accordingly