Levada do Furado

Pico Alto (1130m)

I’ve been to Madeira several times now but not really written much on this blog of mine about the walks and mountains to be found on this beautiful mountainous volcanic island which does seem a bit of a shame so I am going to right that wrong and I am going to start pulling together some notes about a few of the walks that I have done during the times that I have been there. Don’t be surprised if random Madeira articles appear on this blog from time to time. I know it does seem a bit random and not the general idea of a blog but just humour me, eh?

These look promising! :-) I can feel a return visit is required..

Madeira is famous for its system of “levadas” which is basically an open canal system that developed from the early 16th century and this canal system carries water across the island from the rainfall heavy and wet regions on the north of the island to the drier sun parched regions of the south. Madeira really can have two different climates going on at the same time only a few miles apart which makes walking here all the more interesting.

The start of the walk. A wide path runs next to the levada

The Ribeiro Frio to Portela Levada walk follows the Levada do Furado. It appears to be the most popular of the levada walks in Madeira and its easy to see why, it is a short, only about 7 miles, flat (actually its slightly downhill) point to point walk along what is a wide maintained trail and it is easily accessible from Funchal. Like many other walkers we used the very good Madeiran bus service to get us from Funchal to Ribero Frio and from the finish of the walk in Portela back to Funchal. It is also possible to get off the bus one stop earlier and start the walk at Poiso. Due to the popularity of the walk it is advisable to get the early bus particularly during the height of the tourist season as it can be mega busy.

This is the description lifted from the Visit Madeira Islands website - http://www.visitmadeira.pt/en-gb/madeira

This levada, which begins in Ribeiro Frio, is one of the first acquired by the State to irrigate the farmlands of Porto da Cruz. The walk ends with a descent to the village of Portela.

This trail begins at Ribeiro Frio in the municipality of Santana and follows the pathway accompanying the levada of Serra do Faial at an elevation of 860 metres up to the station where the waters divide, descending from there to the area of Lamaceiros and terminating at the Portela belvedere in the municipality of Machico.

The Levada do Furado is one of the oldest levadas belonging to the state, having been acquired through a contract signed in 1822 between the first Count of Carvalhal and the Board of the Royal Treasury, for the purpose of irrigating the farmlands of Porto da Cruz. Due to its connection with the levadas of Juncal and of Serra do Faial, which join it soon after its beginning and continue on beyond its terminal point at Lamaceiros, it is said that this levada carries three waters: the water that is gathered in the valley of Ribeiro Frio and irrigates the terraces of Porto da Cruz; and those that come from the mountains of Santana and are stored in the reservoir at Santo da Serra for later distribution.

Along this levada you will note the manifold tones of green presented by this well-preserved zone of the island’s native forest - the Laurisilva - made up predominantly of the laurel, or bay tree (Laurus novocanariensis), the lily-of-the-valley tree (Clethra arborea), the Madeira laurel (Ocotea foetens), Madeira mahogany (Persea indica), as well as the yellow, or Madeira foxglove (Isoplexis sceptrum), the pride of Madeira (Echium candicans), Mandon's Chrysanthemum (Argyranthemum pinnatifidum), and the Madeiran orchid (Dactylorhiza foliosa).

One may see the firecrest (Regulus ignicapillus madeirensis), the smallest bird residing in Madeira, and the intrepid chaffinch (Fringila coelebs). Less likely to be seen is the Madeira long-toed pigeon (Columba trocaz trocaz), a species endemic to Madeira.

The landscape is dominated by the valley of Ribeiro Frio, with the amazing farm fields of Faial, São Roque do Faial and Porto da Cruz. The spectacular rock formation of Penha de Águia protects the bay of Faial to the east, and to the west the Ponta dos Clérigos.

It is at Lamaceiros that the waters are separated and here ends the Furado Levada and the descent to Portela begins. Crossing the forested area of Lamaceiros and passing the Forestry Station of Lamaceiros, the trail follows a dirt road until it meets the Portela Levada, which goes around the left side of Lombo das Faias, coming to an end where it meets the Regional Highway ER102.

Not much more I can add to that really.

If the public transport option was popular with walkers then the guided tour option was even more so and it would be fair to say that at times the path was quite crowded with groups being led by their guide. 

The path was very obvious and well maintained as were the concrete edges of the levada, the rock cut outs through which they passed and the handrails next to the slightly more exposed sections so you didn’t experience that moment of heart flutter as you do in some other levada walks where balancing along a broken concrete edge of a levada above a significant drop is a required skill. At times the path did narrow but all sections where exposure might have been an issue had sturdy well maintained handrails installed firmly in place. The condition of the trail is probably indicative of the popularity of the walk, after all losing a tourist or two over the edge can’t be good for the tourist industry. The only warning the guidebook gave was that it “can be wet” and as the levada runs through pretty dense forest of laurel trees in the heart of the island that is understandable however it was a warm dry sunny morning when we set off.

As the levada wound its way through the trees you got enticing glimpses of the rocky summits of Madeira’s high peaks around Pico Ruivo towering above the forest in the centre of the island or of the coast and the little town of Santana nestled in its cove next to the blue ocean. At two places you have to cross waterfalls but well used paths cater for this so that circumnavigating them is not remotely difficult.  

In some places the route for the levada has been cut through the rock creating little gorges and tunnels. There are trout in this levada, presumably these are scaly escapees from the trout farm in Ribeiro Frio, but  we didn’t spot any and there is plenty of birdlife however I have to say that the number of people doing the walk is not conducive to spotting birdlife because people apparently cant walk without gibbering loudly. Happily we seemed to put some distance between ourselves and the groups at last as they tended to move slowly.

View of the mountains in the centre of Madeira

And a view of Santana on the north west coast

The walk finally dropped down past the Lamaceriros water house to the Lamerceiros forest house where there were a couple of picnic tables in the shade of some huge fir trees overlooking the viewpoint to the reservoir. From here the trail leaves the dense forest and goes past a small holding which had a flock of, in my opinion, remarkably large sheep. This, of course, could be my imagination. This farm was in a superb location and was up for sale so of course within 2 minutes I had mentally relocated my life there and this was going to be my runners retreat for hill runners to train on the mountains of madeira and there would also be a relaxation pool, home grown organic food for runners, yoga classes…you’ve got to have dreams, huh? I was swiftly brought back out of my fantasy other life by the first spots of rain on the back of my neck. Turning back to look at the high mountains I saw that they were being quickly shrouded in dark clouds. There was just enough time to pull on a waterproof top before the heavens opened and the final half mile of the walk was completed in a downpour.

Dark clouds gathering...

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And on go the waterproofs

Drying off

On reaching Portela we had a wee wait for the bus and, to add to the fun, the online bus timetable seemed to bear no resemblance to the one on the wall of the bus shelter so it was just a case of watching to see a growing number of people gathering at the bus shelter before assuming that a bus was due. We surveyed the bus stop from the inside of a nearby bar while eating a hot cheese sandwich and drinking poncha and getting a great deal of amusement from watching some very soggy walkers who may have got a little complacent with the Madeiran mild sunny weather and not packed as much kit as they maybe would have had they been at home wandering over say, the Yorkshire dales. Cruel? Yes, probably, but you’d do the same now wouldn’t you? Don’t try to deny it.