Last Day in Madeira

Time has been passing and we need to think about moving on. The trouble is that we have been really enjoying our stay here in Madeira. So far the entire archipelago as proven to be a great experience and a real vindication of the decision to go cruising. A combination of great scenery, easy transport and really nice people has made our stay truly memorable. However a combination of things now mean that we need to move on.

So, we will be off tomorrow though not in a mad rush. It is about three hundred miles to Lanzarote so we should be at sea for around three days.

In the meantime, we spent today on the buses though it was nothing like the dreadful seventies sitcom which British readers will be familiar with. You can buy a one day card to give you unlimited travel on the buses of the Island. We started by heading up to a village on the north coast called Faial. The ride up the valley looked quite exciting initially but then we popped into a tunnel – a very long tunnel so didn't see any of the dramatic mountain roads. Still, we were in the village quite quickly and stepped out into a rather cloudy and chilly village. To be honest, the grey rocks and sea along with steep cliffs made it feel a bit like north Devon or Cornwall though on a much grander scale. We were able to see the island of Porto Santo again which reminded us of our stay there.

What we wanted after that was a bus to take us to Funchal which should have been over a very windy road which would pass close to the highest peaks in the island. The sketchy time tables seemed to indicate that the 138 would oblige us and one was due in about 20 minutes. It did duly arrive and started climbing up every steeper roads and round ever tighter corners. However, it then turned round and went down and even steeper road but to almost exactly where we started from. It then joined the main road back to Machico. Sure enough, we entered Machico and then proceeded to Funchal via the Via Rapida along the south coast. This left us feeling a bit short changed but the mountain part was truly spectacular and we are determined that our next visit will either include working out a detailed bus itinerary or hiring a car.

Once again we were in Funchal and after a lunch, we caught the tour bus. It is a very long time since either of us has taken a tour bus and they have not really improved unfortunately. The chief criticism I have is that their multi lingual recorded commentary is very poor and would have been much better had a human been delivering it even if he couldn't do it in ten languages! Still, it was relaxing to sit on it and be driven out to Camara de Lobos. This is a very picturesque fishing village to the west of Funchal.

The view from our lunchtime spot:

Then the view of Camara de lobos from a big yellow tour bus:

Eventually, we started taking ourselves towards the bus station but a voice from the pavement cafes outside the Theatre came from Alan and Claire from Moonstone so we stopped for a chat with them. They have been in the marina in Funchal for a week or so now and have been having a great time. We almost wish we had moved along there despite making so many friends here in Machico. Perhaps the only thing we would wish for is that people would realise that as interesting as boats are, craning round to peer below is a bit intrusive when that below is your home. We sometimes wonder how they would react if we followed them home and peered through their windows.

The final bus rude back was uneventful of course and we are gearing up for a departure now. There is a more pressing one though. A new tropical storm has just developed to the west of the Cabo Verde islands. Clearly, we will not be any where near it but the forecasts for swell show the wave patterns changing in about a week and the normal north or north-easterly swell will be replaced with a south west one for a while. We do not want to be at sea when that hits. This is the first time we have been affected by a tropical storm even if it is in such a passing and small way. From now on we will be keeping a close eye on the US Weather Office the NOAA and their National Hurricane Center will become one of our favourite websites. It can make interesting reading: NHC.

One thing is certain though, that we will be back here again some time!