Mark and I had a great land exploration day. Hired a Fiat Panda (received empty of fuel) put in €10 of fuel and off we went. Madeira is either travelled below ground in miles of EU funded tunnels. (known as Portugal's Greece for its fiscal policy)
Instead we did our best to stay above ground on winding tracks up impossible mountains. I doubt we got out of 1st and 2nd gear until we got back to the motorway.
We mooched in Porto Cruz sketching the cliffs and visiting the rum distillery, saw Madeiran Firecrests (Mark got a great photo. I get credit for identifying it.) Then a walk along a levada to a precipitous drop over a valley, with blackcaps and chaffinches and? Canaries.
Finally a mad drive into the cloud to 1810 metres so we had done the peak, before descending through a giant forest fire burn scar that had taken out much of the forest above Funchal and the botanical gardens.
Tomorrow we set off for 48 hours sailing south to Tenerife, aiming to drop in at the Selvagem islands on the way for lunch. Does anyone know anything about these?
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