Boating & Biking Adventures

Month: September 2021 Page 1 of 4

Hike – Levada do Furado (PR10)

👌 Parque de Santa Cataria

Hike – São Lourenço (PR8)

Hike – Vereda dos Balcões (PR11)

🎢 Toboggan ride …🧐

We have taken the bus up to Parque do Monte – 670m above sea level. Being a bus driver in this city needs special skills and strong nerves. The bus ride was adventure enough for us and therefore we preferred to walk back into town. By chance we ended up on the track the toboggans are heading downwards on these absolute steep gradients, which are getting a bit painful in the knees to walk after a few kilometres. It basically is the shortest straight line down from 670m towards the sea. However, we got a good impression on the outskirts of Funchal city.

🚴‍♂️…first ride in Funchal…🚴‍♂️

I know Funchal and perhaps Madeira is nothing for puppy riders like myself but I had to give it a try this morning. In need for an ewer I went to the next hardware store but nothing is flat here on this island. Keeping my heartbeat under control as long as possible, finally I had to push the bike some stretch of the track as 18% uphill gradient is simply too much for fitness score. Nevertheless the downhill was great and I will have a chance to practice my climbing skills over the weeks to come…😉

👌 Good night Funchal…

Full moon tonight over Marina Funchal…👌

👍 Funchal local pool…

Quite interesting to see how the locals take a bath while the waves are chopping in.

🙋‍♂️ Funchal getting closer…

The final mile...⛵️

In the meantime we have fixed the lines in Marina Funchal on Madeira and taken some very deep long sleep!
The marina is quite busy and I think we have been lucky to get a berth here. Some swell and squeaking mooring lines. A long lasting dream has come true! Fair winds…

Rainbow after some drizzle...
Typical clouds from the North
First impression of Madeira during our approach.
Hello Madeira, we are almost there!

Porto to Funchal – Logblog 7

We are now about 35nm North of lha de Porto Santo and in the evening the contours of the island already became visible at the horizon just before sunset. I was surprised that at this distance we already shouted “Land, ho!”. Total of 65nm remaining to Funchal/Madeira. The sea is quite choppy and cooking dinner was a challenge. Anyway, Susan managed to get the “Matrosenschmaus” prepared, one of my favourite dishes.

I have been in contact with the Harbour Master of Marina Funchal and got out reservation confirmed. Initially from Porto but today we got the final confirmation via Winlink E-Mail from Sergio. It is a small marina with some up- and downsides but we will give it a go to get our own opinion. Before departing from Porto I also got the COVID Certification for Susan and myself confirmed by the Maritime Police of Funchal, so imigration is a given as well. All good to go!

As we do not want to arrive at Funchal in the dark, we have reduced sail to go slow through the night and expect arrival tomorrow around noon time. Both of us are superexcited to complete this journey in safety, comfort and style and look forward to visit this magnificant island in the Atlantic.

Fair winds…

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