We walked the North West of this delightful island early in 2017.
Most of the routes follow man made channels called Levadas which were created to carry water around the island. This water is used for agricultural purposes and these watercourses traverse much of the it. Because of the need to be accessible for maintenance access paths are formed alongside each one providing a labyrinth of tracks to follow far away from the civilised centres and road networks.
The Madeiran archipelago is located about 700 km from Africa (almost at the same level as Casablanca, Morocco), 450 km from the Canary Islands, 800 km from the Azores and 900 km from mainland Portugal. The island of Madeira is often referred to as the ‘floating garden in the Atlantic’ for good reason.
The island’s hilly terrain offers a wide diversity of landscapes — from high peaks (Pico Ruivo is the third highest of Portugal, with 1861 metres of altitude) and impressive cliffs, as Cabo Girão, to deep valleys and the great plateau of Paul da Serra. Laurissilva forest, endemic to Madeira, was classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999.
