Madeira - A mountain walk

[charlie]

Not perhaps what one associates with going to Madeira but this walk high in the mountains can be done in shorts despite the height you are walking at. Starting at Pico do Ariero at 1818M going to Pico Ruivo at 1862M There are a number of ups and downs along the way making it fairly strenuous (550 M of Ascents and descents of around 700M) made worse this year by a landslide which meant a detour adding a further 400M of ascents and descents.

We started off in the clouds but the weather steadily improved
081 by charliepridham, on Flickr

082 by charliepridham, on Flickr

It was perhaps good we couldn't see the drops here!
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One of the tunnels the route uses, it is hard to imagine but this was one of the main footways across the island for several hundred years!
094 by charliepridham, on Flickr

095 by charliepridham, on Flickr

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Its when you look back and realise where you have just walked around on barely visible paths!
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099 by charliepridham, on Flickr

This is the landslide that caused our detour, they are apparently going to fix the original path but not sure when!
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101 by charliepridham, on Flickr

Then its an easy descent to the pick up point and a welcome beer, it was more strenuous than we thought it would be and I was delighted it had been Liz's idea not mine!!

[JonK]

Wow, dramatic scenery Charlie!

[LONGK]

The HSE over here would be apoplectic!!!

[charlie]

It really doesn't feel that bad while you are doing it, there were one or two places where the safety rails weren't attached but that's just the Madeiran sense of humour!

[tony]

Absolutely spectacular Charlie !