Table of contents
- Motorbike Tour – Madeira (Portugal) Winter escape
- 140 kilometers of new expressways
- Hard grass, ferns, sheep and rolling hills
- Many sections cordoned off or buried
- Street is looking for its way
- A “ping” tears us out of the dream
- More information about Madeira
Deleker
14th pictures
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1/14
The old north coast road is a spectacle for all the senses, you’ll never forget that.
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2/14
Sunset on the Pico do Arieiro, the roof of Madeira. Engine off and be amazed.
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3/14
Madeira is characterized by the velvety soft climate, grandiose landscapes and demanding roads.
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4/14
Motorcyclist’s paradise – the straight takes place only in exceptional cases on the mountain roads.
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5/14
In colorful, small wooden boats out to fish on the Atlantic, then, now there is the supermarket.
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6/14
The wild, green world deep in the gorges of the north can only be experienced on foot.
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7/14
The sunny south of the island is the purest banana republic, there is enough water.
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8/14
Tingling when you’ve forgotten to close the collar tightly before going under the waterfall.
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9/14
Harsh climate: Passat clouds often move over the Paúl da Serra plateau, bring plenty of moisture with them and thus the traffic signs rust quickly.
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10/14
Ghosts in the mist: some of the mighty laurel trees were already as high as a house when Columbus looked for India and couldn’t find it.
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11/14
In Santana on the north coast there are still some of the traditional Madeira houses.
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Monster from the deep sea? Not at all, the Madeiran loves his black Espada.
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13/14
Favored by the climate: Funchal’s old market has passion fruit, pimpinelas and pomegranates, fruits of the island.
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14/14
Thrill: the glass viewing platform hangs 580 meters above sea level on Cabo Girão.
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Motorbike Tour – Madeira (Portugal)
Motorbike Tour – Madeira (Portugal)
Winter escape
Are you stuck in the dark swamp of the winter blues? Then we would have a great antidote: Madeira, the Portuguese Atlantic island with its velvety soft climate, grandiose landscapes and demanding roads. Book a flight, rent a BMW and head into the summer.
Joachim Deleker
04/18/2018
There are winters in this country that are bearable. This is not one of them. Three months of wet gray, no chance of sun, motorcycling seems light years away. Until suddenly a “ping, just one ping” has a decisive influence on the events. Captain Ramius alias Sean Connery already knew that in the classic film “Hunt for Red October”. What does that have to do with this story? Well, this ping in my PC announces a new e-mail, no advertising, no bill, no annoying blah blah, no, an invitation from our friend Ekki, a giant from Kiel who emigrated to Madeira and rents motorbikes and cars there. Immediately we are electrified, that is our lifeline, check existing vacation days, account balance, flight prices and the weather report. A few emails whiz back and forth between the Eifel and Madeira, and a few days later a Boeing 737 beams us into the summer!
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Winter escape
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140 kilometers of new expressways
20 degrees and sun, how did we miss that! Ekki has already prepared two BMWs, a brand new F 700 GS and a barely older G 650, both of which are perfect for the rollercoaster mountain roads of Madeira. We haven’t been here for 20 years, we are curious whether the motorcycle paradise of that time is still one. A lot has changed, a lot. “Look for the little old streets,” recommends Ekki, “forget the highways, except for the ones around Funchal.” 140 kilometers of new expressways with over 100 tunnels were dug through the island’s mountains, financed on credit or by “funding structurally weak areas” of the EU, arranged by the autocratic island president Alberto João Jardim, known as “the godfather” or “uncle Alberto”. When he was voted out of office in 2015 after 36 years in power, he left behind 7.5 billion euros in debt and an absurdly bloated construction industry. Considerable for an island that has as many inhabitants as Wiesbaden.
Deleker
Sunset on the Pico do Arieiro, the roof of Madeira. Engine off and be amazed.
But let’s leave that, let’s finally drive on the highway quickly around the capital Funchal. Lukewarm air pulls through the visor, the sun tickles your nose, breathe deeply, feel good, grin constantly. At Camara de Lobos we turn, look for and find the old coastal road, wag up to Cabo Girão, a cliff 580 meters above sea level. A viewing platform with a glass floor hangs boldly above the cliff, providing a gentle thrill or gasping. Further west. The ER 222 curves and climbs through huge banana plantations, ancient terraced fields and unadorned places. On the left the calm ocean, on the right the cloudy mountains. We’ve long been back to the rhythm, it wasn’t as rusty as we feared. But the handy BMWs also make it easy for us. Coffee break in the pretty, old town of Ponta do Sol right by the sea. How quiet it has been here since the new tunnel swallowed up traffic. Good for the place, good for the old coastal road, where no one is on the road apart from a few local pick-ups. Even a small waterfall splashes cheerfully onto the street, cooling off and washing your visor for free.
Hard grass, ferns, sheep and rolling hills
Enough dodging, the mopeds and we need a little exercise; we leave the densely populated south coast and set our sights on the mountains. Only a few streets climb up there, the topography is too steep and rugged. We find a way to which the curve is alien. Boring? Not at all, because the old roads like to take the shortest route, i.e. the straight line, even if the gradient is then easily over 30 percent. When you accelerate, the front wheel will turn the agitator very gently, just don’t stop, that’s fun. We are quickly out of the banana zone, curving on bumpy tar through wonderfully fragrant eucalyptus forest, then gnarled pines and further uphill. Until the road tips over the edge into another world, the Paúl da Serra plateau. What a surprising width. It almost looks like in the Scottish Highlands, hard grass, ferns, sheep, rolling hills up to 1,600 meters high and garnished with a white armada of windmills that transform the constant wind up here into clean energy.
From the north, trade wind clouds are approaching, chasing the plateau surprisingly quickly and obscuring the range of vision from 150 kilometers to ten meters in five seconds. Clouds from the inside look stupid. But the fog enchants the ancient laurel forest of Fanal into a scene like from Mordor’s realm, exciting, mysterious, melancholy. The thick, mossy branches of the mighty trees reach out to us like primeval giants. They were already growing when Columbus docked in Madeira on his odyssey to India. Abseil down to the north coast. We postpone the great panoramic road to Porto Moniz, which leads across Paúl do Serra, for obscure reasons, prefer to curve down to the sea and look for a B in Seixal&B. Hardly any other coastal town in Madeira is as photogenic as Seixal, and the entire north coast can be explored from here.
Many sections cordoned off or buried
The north coast, 20 years ago this was the most spectacular part of the island, which was also due to the hair-raising road between Porto Moniz and São Vicente, which in some places clung to the vertical rock face hardly car-wide and was able to trigger panic attacks in some contemporaries. That no longer happens today on the underground expressway free of experience, it is moving forward quickly and without emotion. Fortunately, there are still a few hidden but drivable sections of the old adrenaline road, but most of them are cordoned off or buried. We look for and find the entrances, feel our way up the narrow lane high above the sea, disappear into dark tunnels with integrated waterfalls and are just happy that we can still experience the old road. The government is apparently not interested in preserving the historic route, it is becoming increasingly dilapidated. It is better to invest in senseless marinas and tunnels, good for the construction companies, bad for preserving the history and identity of the island.
Deleker
Ghosts in the fog: some of the mighty laurel trees were already as high as a house when Columbus looked for India and couldn’t find it.
In São Vicente the expressway turns to the south coast, tunnels under the mountains, but at least leaves the chance to drive the old route over the Encumeada Pass. We stay on the north coast for the time being, because east of the nice town of São Vicente the road is still in its original condition, narrow, winding, almost free of traffic, full of views and adventures, exciting and very slow. It has to be like that. The tunnels for the planned expressway have already been built here, but fortunately there is no money for the road in between. The tunnels sometimes serve other purposes. The police recently discovered an extensive warehouse with stolen goods in one of the dark tubes.
Street is looking for its way
The old ER 101 is still the ideal way to explore Madeira’s most beautiful coastline. The trade winds coming from the northeast bring plenty of rain with them, which ensures the tropical green vegetation. Small places stick between mountains and sea in the midst of artistic terraced fields, deep gorges bore themselves into the steep mountains in the center of the island. A wild scene. The road looks for its way as a wonderful roller coaster, prances along the abyss, climbs up there to a crest tunnel to switch to the next valley, hides in the dense jungle or leads directly to the sea. So many pictures, so many impressions, driving once is by no means enough here.
Deleker
Monster from the deep sea? Not at all, the Madeiran loves his black Espada.
But now we want to go all the way up, to the highest accessible point in Madeira, the Pico do Arieiro at 1818 meters. And what a brilliant road it makes its way up from Faial, here too we can hardly stop being amazed. Lush fields in deep valleys, shaded by palm trees, wild rivers, rugged serpentines and far above bizarre jagged mountain ridges. Higher, higher and higher, the BMWs drive a clean line to the summit. It’s getting colder, and beyond 1,500 meters the wind whistles over a barren plateau. A few more curves and hairpin bends on the best tar, then we are right at the top and are shocked by a huge white ball, fenced with barbed wire. Here, of all places, in the middle of the protected area, a NATO radar station was built in 2011. An eyesore in this grandiose landscape. But here, too, the military apparently enjoys the privilege of moving beyond laws and regulations. Scandal in the restricted area.
A “ping” tears us out of the dream
Nevertheless, the summit of Arieiro is one of the top viewpoints into the wild world of steep peaks and deep gorges, across to the Paúl da Serra plateau or simply out to sea. If, yes, if the weather cooperates, because fog and storm are not that rare up here in winter. We are lucky, the trade wind clouds are further down, flowing over jagged mountain ridges, dissolving and forming again. Fascinating. And then the evening sun even squinted for a few minutes through a hole in the cloud, bathing Madeira’s roof in a strong orange. Unearthly beautiful and unforgettable. Every minute the colors change from yellow to red, from purple to night blue. Even the wind has fallen asleep now, and the almost full moon actually appears from the sea. A “ping” tears us out of the dream. It’s Ekki asking about our dinner date. Oh man, forget! Message back: “Sorry, we’re at the Arieiro. We’re on our way. Only 1,800 meters in altitude and 200 curves, takes a few minutes … “
More information about Madeira
Madeira in Portugal is the work of prehistoric volcanoes and is located 950 kilometers southwest of Lisbon in the Atlantic. The island of eternal spring is a perfect destination for the little winter escape. Exciting, often challenging motorcycle roads that eat their way through spectacular mountain landscapes like a roller coaster.
About Madeira: Autonomous Region of Portugal; Area: 741 km²; Population: 268,000; Highest mountain: Pico Ruivo, 1,862 m; Capital: Funchal; Famous residents: Christopher Columbus and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Deleker
Harsh climate: Passat clouds often move over the Paúl da Serra plateau, bring plenty of moisture with them and thus the traffic signs rust quickly.
Getting there: Eurowings and TUIfly offer direct flights from various airports from around 300 euros. With TAP Air Portugal, for example, you can travel from Frankfurt to Madeira in the off-season for as little as 200 euros, but then with a stopover in Lisbon.
Travel time: The name says it all: island of eternal spring. In January it will be around 20 degrees, in August around 25 degrees. In the mountains, up to 1,862 meters high, it can also snow in winter. In any case, the winter months are much more rainy than summer. However, the winter rain usually doesn’t last long either. The water temperatures fluctuate between 17 and 23 degrees.
Stay: Almost every place has pensions and small hotels, where there are rooms from 50 euros. Thanks to the new expressways, all places can be reached from Funchal within an hour. You can book a hotel for your entire holiday in the greater Funchal area and travel without luggage on your motorcycle.
Motorbike rental: Ekkehard Kutz from Magos Bikes in Caniço de Baixo has around 30 well-maintained BMWs on offer. Price examples for one week: G 650 GS: 521 euros, F 700 GS: 620 euros, F 800 GS: 724 euros. Prices include insurance, unlimited mileage and airport transfer. Magos also mediates accommodation such as Villa Ventura (www.villa-ventura.com), Double rooms from 49 euros. Info: www.magoscar.com, Email: info@magoscar.com, Tel. 0 03 51/2 91 93 48 18
Activities: Diving: Joe Klenk, owner of Cafe Rustico in Caniço, has a boarding house and a diving school (www.madeira-caferustico.com) Hiking: In one week you can easily experience almost all of Madeira’s roads. It’s worth hanging on for a few more days to explore the other Madeira on foot. For example the barren peninsula of Ponta do São Lourenço. Or along the levadas, artificial water channels, a hike into a spectacular world, tropical green and deserted. Authors’ tip: The Levadas Caldeirão Verde and do Infierno are among the most exciting routes.
Books and Maps: The Madeira travel guide from Michael Muller-Verlag knows almost everything. 264 pages, 17.90 euros. Other good travel guides come from Iwanowski and the Verlag Reise Know-how. The Rother-Verlag offers a good hiking guide as usual for 14.90 euros. And the DuMont picture atlas for 9.95 euros is ideal for getting in the mood at home. Reise Know-how publishes a detailed map on a scale of 1: 45,000, price 9.95 euros.
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