Pico Alto Trail Madeira MadeiraAday Hikes October 14, 2024 Another picture from Caminho Real de Monte, also known as trail PR3.6. About two-thirds of the trail is more or less stairs made from small stones. The last section before you reach the top of Pico Alto is a more traditional trail through a rocky landscape. Once you get to the platform at the peak, the view is definitely worth it. You can see all of Funchal. Almost there...
Holy Spring The Caminho Real de Monte is part of an old royal road that encircled Madeira back in the sixteenth century. This section was also a pilgrimage route, up to a chapel built to honor the Lady of the Mountain. Just below where the church stands is this spring, where it is said the lady appear to a shepherdess.
Machico II The town of Machico was quite a surprise when I visited it last week. I could see on maps that there were a number of trails around town, but you see trails all around Madeira. However, Machico has proclaimed itself the “trail running capital” of Madeira and the trails around town are well marked and maintained.
Bananas The levada nearest to where I'm staying isn't the prettiest of them. Much of it is a bit suburban, but if you walk west, it quickly turns rural. It's still not very pretty, but there are occassionally some great views down to the ocean, and there are lots of banana plants.
Up in the Trees Having been thwarted last week in my attempts to revisit a couple of trails I found in the hills above Funchal, I finally found one that was open and provided a considerable amount of “tree time.” Like most of the trails around here, this one follows an irrigation weir, known as a levada.
Levada Arch There's a levada (small canal or weir for water) way up the hill from where I'm staying. I explored part of it earlier in the week. I wasn't too impressed but decided to take another look. As is often the case with such things, the path became much more interesting just past the point where I turned back before.