Madeira - Day 16, 17 (Ribeiro Frio)

Yesterday it drizzled off and on so I cleaned the house

and did some painting. I am quite happy sketching but seem to have a mental block (along with lack of talent) in regards to painting.

So I am going to push myself to practice on this trip

The little collection of plants that I have bought and put on the terrace where I can see them from inside, will be my subjects to start with.

Today I set the alarm and was picked up for the Ribeiro Frio walk. It was a larger group than last time and again the guide, Pedro, was speaking to us in French and English.

The bus took us up into the mountains, sometimes through rain, to a place near a restaurant where we could use the washroom before starting out.

The name Ribeiro Frio means cold stream and we would be following the levada of that name but also see many cold streams running down the mountain after the last few days of rain.

The levada goes gradually downhill so the trail beside it takes that same gradual descent.

This area is a tropical rainforest and is protected.

Moisture runs down the mountainsides

contributing to the greenery

and adding to the water already in the levada.

There are over 2,000 km of levadas, started in the 16th century and the newest are about 40 years old. In places there was a shear drop off to the side of the levada and we were walking on the stone and cement edge with a metal railing beside.

Although most of the time we were walking in the damp, cool woods, sometimes there would be a break in the trees and we could see the steep valleys and occasionally as far as the sea.

The mountains behind us were still topped with cloud.

The earliest levadas were built using slave labour and there were many deaths. They were building on steep slopes and sometimes had to carve tunnels in the rock.

As we got to lower elevations and closer to the coast, the sun started to make an appearance and it got warmer.

The going was muddy and often slippery over rocks and roots.

When we stopped for a quick granola bar in a clearing a flock of birds arrived. Pedro had said that there were not a lot of birds around now as it is too cold and there are far more in the spring. I couldn't get a good picture of these but they were a chaffinch of some kind. The males heads were a blue/purple with pinkish chests and a white wing bar.

From there it was about 45 minutes steeply down hill

on steps with the levada running rapidly beside.

Altogether 11km of, mostly flat, walking through a lovely laurel forest. It took us about 4 hours as we weren't rushing but it was cool so we weren't dawdling either.