We have done this walk twice in a week, the first time missing the turn off for the highlight, which is a view of the biggest peaks on the island. The guidebook we were using was misleading so I'm going to write this up quite carefully to avoid anyone else making the same mistake. Guide books are great and we have used many, but there can be problems: If you are using an old version, which we were, the landscape may have changed due to road building or agriculture, or simply because the route is not frequently used and becomes overgrown, so make sure you check which version you are reading.
We drive up to Fontes which is high in the Campanario region, higher even than Boa Morte and Sao Paulo. We arrive and park by the Bar Fontes, which can be found on Google maps. The start of the walk ascends steeply on a narrow road to the right of the bar past domestic and farm buildings. The people who live here, deep in the valley are traditional Madeirans, living off the land and supporting each other in a small rural community. Here, at the beginning of the walk and also at the end when walking back through the village, examples of community can be seen in the form of the shared woodpiles stacked along the sides of the road, the fruit and vegetables grown deep in the ravine and the towns folk in groups passing the time of day.
Once we reach the final house the tarmac ends and we are walking uphill on a dusty earthen path past Sweet Chestnut trees. After half an hour, at a smallholding, we reach the first pass and can look back as far as Sao Paulo, before climbing again into the next valley. Here the path sits high above the Ribiera Brava basin and there are stunning views down to the town and sea as well as up to Encumeada and the Paul de Serra; it is a clear day and we can see the buildings, including the Encumaeda Hotel far below us. We continue, looping back to another pass, this one giving us views over Campanario on the right and over to Pico do Gato and the Torres on the left. There is not a lot of flora or fauna up here to comment upon, just dragonflies, millipedes and swifts flying above our heads, and the only vegetation is gorse.
We come to a fork in the road, the only one we have seen; this is the turning we missed first time around, and the route up to the plateau and the triangulation point on Chao do Terreiros. We follow the left hand track upwards, past a broken gate and then to a second gate beside a very wobbly stile. After climbing over the stile and continuing along the track for a few more moments the plateau opens out to the left and when we look carefully we can see a cairn in the mid-distance and the triangulation point at the top of the hill. The way up is not clear as the path disappears and when it does return it is very overgrown. We scramble to the top and then head right where the best views over the valley of Curral de Freiras and the Peaks of Ruivo and Areeiros can be clearly seen on a good day. We are lucky and for a few moments the mists clear to show us the peaks across the valley and the view down to Funchal and the ocean beyond.
After spending some time watching the buzzards soaring and finding the best viewpoints for taking photographs, we scramble back the way we came and make our way back down the track, over the stile and through the gate to the point at which we left the main track. We turn left to continue downhill; at first the road remains dusty and vegetation sparse, until we find ourselves descending beneath chestnuts and eucalyptus and then past the Trompica Forestry House. Here the road becomes concrete again and we walk beneath Eucalyptus forests, some smouldering from a recent forest fire, then fruit orchards before turning right at the road to return to Fontes.
This walk is not about the flora and fauna, although it is entertaining to watch the many buzzards soar above and the swifts dart back and forth in front of us, it is all about the views; the valleys, plateaus, hills and big peaks and how they change as the mists shift around them. It's a route we enjoyed, both times, and one I'm sure we will repeat again in the future.
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