Walking the Levadas and wicker work at Camacha

Today we walked.. really walked.  Firstly the coach took us up high in the hills.  The temperature dropped significantly at was at 13 degrees compared to the temperatures of 17-22 down on the coast.

Lavadas are the irrigation channels of the island.. literally dug out of the hill side to allow the water from the top of the hills to water the growing areas and trees etc. of the island.  Today there is a purpose built channel to do this job.  But the lavada walk is still there.. You have channel and a path beside it... up to the left is high, down to the right .. a long long drop.

Walking through woodland and currently it's very damp.. this is from rain and high humidity levels.

First view of the day as I came down for breakfast

On our way through one of the many miles of tunnels.. the road engineering of the island is incredible.

The coach dropped us off and - we walked along the narrow pathway - which was also being used by cyclists (some quite rude) and runners

A comfort stop for coffee etc.. this was just part of the beer selection

A fence of bicycles

After our 4.5 kilometre walk we stopped at Camacha for about 1/2 an hour.  We'll be visiting again tomorrow on our way elsewhere. Camacha produces the wickerwork that is famous on the island

and then back to the hotel.. a quick bite to eat ..

lunch time view at the hotel..

Then I headed off down into the town to the fountain and back up again

An excellent day out