Pico Queimado

I was once again due for a pretty large walk today, making it three from three in Madeira. I was tired but the island was too beautiful and there were too many nice walks for me to waste any time. Today, I was teaming up with a couple of German students from the hostel to complete the 25 fountains walk. We had planned the hike on Monday night as we watched Ghana get knocked out of the AFCON in incredibly dramatic fashion. As such, we headed off at about 10am and drove toward the Western part of the island. Although the hike was quite chill, the steep and long descent at the very beginning was something we knew we were not going to enjoy on the way back. Nonetheless, we were greeted by some cows that welcomed us on our hike. This was very different from the other hikes I had done. Whereas Pico Airero was mountainous with incredible views of island, and San Lourenco was grasslands with steep cliffs and ocean views, this hike was mostly flat, in the valley, and showed off some of the most beautiful waterfalls the island has to offer. It was significantly cooler as a result and thus was a welcome change. Although it's winter, it's still comfortably into the 20 degrees, and so can get hot when walking in direct sunlight. This was shaded, and had plenty of cold water spraying to cool you down. Although the walk was beautiful, once we started to see some of the waterfalls, it got even better. Sadly, much like the other walks, this had a section that was closed off. Luckily, we could continue around it quite easily, but it was disappointing to miss one of the waterfalls. The first waterfall we saw was the main one and was quite busy. Although I have heard you can swim, the number of people getting photos, and the small amount of space available, I decided against it and we continued to the next waterfall which was going to be much quieter. Sadly, we couldn't swim here, however. Surprisingly, the second waterfall was even bigger than the main waterfall, and I actually thought it was more impressive. I suppose the fact you can swim there brings more tourists in summer. Nonetheless, we didn't stay for too long, just got some photos and began the journey back to the car. This was unfortunate as the hike ended on the hardest part of the track. Soemthing I wish was reversed, but sadly, this wasn't an option. We did eventually make it back yo the car, and we could head off. I dropped the girls back to their accommodation in Porto Moniz and headed back to the hostel to chill. When I arrived, MJ had just finished work and suggested we make a curry for dinner. As we were in quite a small town, we were restricted by the ingredients we could include but made it work. By the time we cooked, ate, and cleaned, everyone else had gone to bed. We decided to stay up a bit and watch a documentary before heading to bed.Les mer