Gran Canaria by rental car
A day with the rental car on Madeira
We land in Funchal with our cruise ship. A few meters after leaving the ship, we pass through the harbor entrance and are already expected with a name sign. Our rental car was delivered directly to the port.
Not the cheapest rental car of the trip, but saved taxi costs to the rental office or airport station. And although we got off the ship too early, everything was already arranged. We were very satisfied with Autortacar and can recommend them 100% (www.autorentacar.net,booking.autorentacar@gmail.com)
Since we are in Madeira for two days or 1 ½ days, we decided to leave Funchal by car on the first (full) day and drive out into the country. We plan to explore Funchal on foot for the second (half) day.
Our first stop is the small fishing village of Camara de Lobos. Mentioned in every travel guide, you can share a bench with Winston Churchill here. He probably liked being here too and we shoot the first required photo for the virtual "Churchill and the Monk Seal". Only a few meters further on, it is the turn of the second photo with the Monk Seal. With that, the Virtual GC8906R was done.
There is also a Labcache series in the small, colorful fishing village! Discovering Camara de Lobos. Unfortunately, once again a lab series in order for no reason….. When a story is being told, the order may make sense. On our Canary Islands-Madeira tour we experience again and again that Lab series are assigned a sequence for no reason at all. Often we are at our beginning at the end of the Lab series. So we were not spared many a double path. Or we wrote down the solution and log later….
Here in this place there was also an order of the Labs, but the distances are short and twice the walk through the small village with a view and colorful fishing boats doesn't bother us much. After we have received the colorful picture of the lab series Discovering Camara de Lobos, we go back to the rental car. Our parking lot is in a great location, costs only 1.- EUR for our presence and we can easily combine the purchase of a nice magnet for this island with the way back.
Our next destination is the glass platform, 580 meters above sea level. The virtual "Are you a skywalker", GC890XW, shows us the right place of this island's crowd puller.
Before that, however, there should be a nice vantage point on our way, which we noticed among the many vantage points due to a tradition. Traditional caches don't always get us to a stop, but this one is pretty much halfway there AND has an interesting D rating for a trailside trad. A quick look and the total number of favorite points confirms that we will stop here and take a look at the cache. Good this way! "Robotics", GC5TXA9, brought us a lot more fun and admiration than we could have imagined. In this respect, our recommendation: definitely do it! Robotics stands at the top station of a cable car that connects sea level to the mountain. When we arrived, all three parking spaces were empty, we first enjoy the view from above and then dare to enter the company premises, where Robotics is already smiling at us. Okay, he looks cute, but he's not hard to find... At this point, we were still surprised about the D rating. But then the fun really begins and yes, we have a lot of that. Can't write more here without spoilers. But we also have a big FAV.
After we needed some time at Robotics, we now move on to the Skywalk, more precisely to the cache "Are You a Skywalker?", GC890XW. I'm a little queasy, I'm not a fan of heights. It's also more difficult with parking here. A real tourist point that is well frequented. We are lucky and get a parking space very close to the entrance. On the mountain, of course, which doesn't make parking any easier. And then we head towards the Skywalk. At the entrance, a special Santa Claus or Father Christmas plays unusual instruments. His cap fills up well, many of the tourists want a photo with the funny guy. In a good mood we continue and wait for a ticket office to pay the entrance fee. But far from it, this attraction is waiting for us with a larger souvenir stand, a small café and toilets. And although it goes through a turnstile, there is no entrance fee to be paid here. However, the Skywalk is in no way comparable to the Grand Canyon or anything similar. A few glass plates lead in a curve over rocks and stones - sloping down to the sea. However, you don't really have the feeling of standing over the sea. We are not disappointed, having visited the point less as a tourist attraction than for the virtual. The required photo is taken quickly, we are "strong enough" to take the picture above the abyss.
On the way back we have fun with Santa Claus, support him with a small financial donation and take a funny photo. We save ourselves the trip to the Hermitage, there are crowds of people here.
We continue to the other side of the island. For this we use the slightly larger VE4, which connects the south side of the island with the north side. Not only the smaller number of switchbacks, but also the WIG Reverse Geocache, GC62MG2, lure us to this route. Perhaps the less beautiful route in terms of landscape, but with WIG and a solved mystery, the route is attractive for geocachers.
The next stop was the - already solved - reverse TIG. We park in a nearby supermarket car park. This offers a good opportunity to buy a cool find drink afterwards. But first we go to a small sports park. To be on the safe side, we ask for the coordinates again and approach the final. It quickly becomes clear where it is to be found and after a small sporting interlude by Mr. Brummelbär we held the beautifully made, but already outdated little jar in our hands. Now our stamp also adorns this logbook.
We continue to Serra de Agua, a small town halfway between the south and north sides of the island. Don't make the mistake we did of trying to drive to the cache. It's possible, but the only way back is backwards. No turning possibility. This is a challenge for the driver with the narrow walls and rocks. In the meantime, as a co-driver, I can follow the very good tip and find the logbook - unfortunately in the vicinity of some of the many dog legacies. By the time I've logged, the car is back on the right road and we can continue our tour north.
In Sao Vicente we have reached the north side of the island. We decide to continue heading west. In the small town of Porto Moniz, we are lured by another virtual and an earth cache.
As on the way from south to north, many tunnels await us here on the coast on the VE2 road. Again and again the road leads through mountain formations. Impressive!
The town of Porto Moniz is on the north-west corner of the island and the Virtual Postal do Porto Moniz, GC892RH, is our first destination. Stick with it, because the wind was freezing cold and blowing quite strong. A special attraction is the natural pool, filled with salt water. The earth cache “Piscinas Naturais do Porto Moniz, GC5PJAV” revolves around this topic. We kill two birds, oh no, two caches with a visit to the natural spectacle of the natural pool. Since parking is limited here on site, we take our photos, look for the answers to the Earth cache and quickly jump back into the cooled car. In the meantime it has become quite warm here for December, which is not in contrast to the strong wind.
We drive the rest of the day in a north-easterly direction across the island, but without visiting any caches. We were able to enjoy many great views.
We are looking for an old plane wreck near Madeira Airport. Although Mr Brummelbär has already found a cache here before, finding the right spot turned out to be difficult. We were unsuccessful - as we later found out, the remains of the machine had been removed some time ago. - So then to the plane wreck in Iceland? The easiest and most beautiful way is of course with cacher trips: Big north tour
On arrival in Funchal we returned the car punctually at the agreed time. The next morning we wanted to walk to Funchal, which does not require a rental car.
The rental car with delivery to the port cost us EUR 65 for the day, plus EUR 18 for filling up the tank. The same price we would have paid to Schiff for two trips of 3 hours. Or the price that ONE full day trip would have cost. We have the feeling that we have seen much more of the island than in a group. Just the right excursion for us. We experienced a lot that day, it is very easy to move around the island and we can report a wonderful day.
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