Today started much like yesterday with a basket of goodies!

We took our time getting out to the mountains based on yesterday’s success, but had not planned for road cows.. They wander right down the middle of the road as if daring you to make a move. They are all males too, so despite their super mellow demeanor you do have to wonder about how much damage the horns could do to a little rental car.

Once there we were able to find parking near the trailhead again. The area we visited, Fanal, had tons of people though. Turns out that it’s a great spot to just visit for a picnic or quick beautiful walk, and that hikers were in the minority.

We followed this hike: Fanal – PR3 Vereda Fanal – Fio Viewpoint

The first mile or so was really just flat looping around the picnic areas and cows. Growing up in Vermont that might sound normal, but it has been many years and these are big, friendly bulls in an unfamiliar, magical setting. Everything was shrouded in mist.. which are in fact just the mountain clouds.

We walked up in to the clouds and the cows thinned out and people would randomly appear and disappear in the mist. You’d catch glimpses of huge cliffs dropping off and towering rock formations. We were only at about 1,160m (3,805 ft), but the drop-offs plunged down a steep slope directly to the ocean below. We only saw the full exent of the slope a couple times, which made it even more awesome in a way.

The trail then dove through some scrub and into a wet section. Moss and greenery in every direction and the trail itself was super slick.

We re-emerged into scrub fields and walked out to the Fios viewpoint. From there we could.. imagine ourselves being able to see great things. What we really saw was a dense wall of cloud though. As we walked back from the “viewpoint”, if we separated for just a few seconds we lost sight of each other in the mist.

A short, picturesque, stepped hill connected us to our final long, straight section back to the start.

As we returned to the car the sky opened up blue!

We drove to Seixal via Porto Moniz, the northernmost town in Madeira. We navigated the same series of tight switchbacks and tunnels that we took with Riki and Liza on Sunday. We dropped down into Seixal this time and made our way through the tiny twisting one-ways to their famous black sand beach. It’s a thin, muted charcoal line between the deep turquoise waters of the ocean and the plunging green cliffs above. We went swimming and although it was a bit cold, it was nothing like the waterfall pool from yesterday!

It was hard to clean black sand off of wet skin, but thankfully there was a convenient waterfall gushing down the hillside onto the end of the beach. Cool little cave next to it too!

We looked out along the beautiful coastline and at the Véu de Noiva waterfall that cascades directly out of the mountainside into the ocean!

We had snacked on the trail, but by this time we were starving and Savitri found a highly-rated restaurant in São Vicente. On the way we pulled over and got a closer look at Véu da Noiva waterfall and back at Seixal.

The dishes were modern versions of classic Madeira dishes and very good.

We headed back under the island (tunnels man, tunnels!) to the dome and watched the sunset from the jacuzzi. Good day.

On a hiking side note: I sprained my ankle a few weeks ago (the crunch/pop type!) and have been trying to baby it. It has only swelled a tiny bit and doesn’t hurt to walk on unless I stretch it the wrong way. As a result I’ve been hiking with a soft compression ankle brace. I’m happy to say that it is working great! I haven’t felt any pain, and haven’t had any additional swelling.