It’s a nice early start down the hill with the backstreets of Funchal to ourselves. We need an early start for 2 reasons. Firstly, it’s an 8am bus with a serpentine route wrapped the slow way round the airport expressway, and secondly, it’s the 113 bus which is hard to pin down.
Before the bus even turns onto the headland of Ponta de São Lourenço, there are cars crammed along both sides. Sure, the bus might take 30 minutes longer – but by car you’ve got to find a parking space and then you could well be walking for 15 minutes.
At the trailhead, the crowds are sigh-worthy. I feel like I’ve ticket 238 for a delicious deli counter but they’re now serving ticket number 7. A long line of tourists are struggling across the cloying red mud. They’re a mix of the young in their fashionable-but-useless white trainers and of elderly cruise passengers in serious walking boots. Piano, piano.
As the terrain gets rougher, the struggling crowd thins out and we find ourselves with some space. We follow a narrow basaltic ridge that has been uplifted, twisted and tortured by volcanic pressures before being annealed and honed by the ocean’s pounding. Towering shards of rock form dramatic cliffs and pinnacles that dwarf even the Atlantic breakers far below. And the rock walls bear the folded scars of ancient eruptions with their vivid strata of scoria and tuff.
The going is slow. There are many pinch points, sheer drops and the treacherous mud. Wire fencing pretty much provides Collective Protective Equipment ‘serving suggestions’ – it won’t stop you plummeting to your death, it’s just a reminder not to. To keep fuelled, we snack on the special ‘Madeira Mix’ I threw together in the morning – equal parts piri piri peanuts and dried broad beans with fresh cubes of chorizo.
Views are 360°, spectacular and constant. Its like walking in a postcard. Sure it’s busy, but it’s well worth the visit and the crowd soon dissipates.
At the end we refresh with a glass of delicious poncha from a food truck before heading back on the bus to Funchal for a delicious snacky dinner.
