The departure from Senegal was one of the swiftest we have made
from anywhere. We had plenty of fuel on board for the long flight to Madeira so we
didn't have to refuel. And the departure formalities had already been done at the police
station on arrival. Flemming just had to file the flight plan and pay the landing fee
while I packed up the plane.
He overheard the tower controller filing the Zulu (VFR/IFR) flight
plan on the phone with Dakar. The complete ICAO flight plan joining IFR over Dakhla was
basically abbreviated to 'a Mooney HB-DVN departing VFR from Saint Louis at 0800 to
the north over Mauritania'. Last time Flemming flew with John back from Brazil in 97
he had to refile everything in the air with Canaries control as they had not received
anything from Dakar. So after insisting, the tower controller filed the complete flight
plan with Dakar, which he claimed was very expensive. He also claimed that the
airport was normally closed on Saturday and had to be opened specially for us - not true.
Anyhow, for all these favours, a lot of extra baksheesh (5'000 CFA = 7 US$) was added to
the otherwise reasonable landing and parking fee of 10'000 CFA or 14 US$
We took off on schedule at 8 a.m. local time, flying for the first
3 and a half hours over the Sahara near the Atlantic coast. Then we left the
coast of the Spanish Sahara and struck out over the ocean again - but this time it was
just a four-hour hop to Madeira, passing overhead Gran Canaria about half way
across.
Landing at Madeira was the most tricky part of the trip. Due
to nearby mountains and crosswinds there is quite a lot of turbulence near to the runway.
When the wind is too strong they sometimes have to close the airport and incoming planes
have to land at nearby Porto Santo Island instead. It wasn't the most elegant
landing Flemming has made, but it was pretty good under the circumstances. After having
touched down, a gust shot us up in the air again so we had to land a second time.
We were elated to be back in Europe! OK, we weren't back in Europe
geographically speaking, but culturally we were and after this, there were only 2 more
hops to Geneva. We had allowed for a relatively long stay of five nights in Madeira,
partly because we might have had to delay the big Atlantic crossing if conditions weren't
right. And partly because we wanted to enjoy some leisure days with the big crossing
safely behind us. We had already visited Madeira 11 years before on our way back
from a holiday in Cape Verde and had always meant to return some day.
The island is not blessed with sandy beaches, but it's great for
walks thanks to a whole network of 'levadas'. These are water canals built into the
mountains to carry the plentiful rainwater from the wet side of the island to the dry
side. There are now 2200 km of levadas including 50 km of tunnels through the
mountains, Construction began centuries ago and a major upgrade of a combined
irrigation/hydroelectric scheme started in the 1940s and the network was mostly
implemented by 1970. These levadas and tunnels are also great walking paths clinging to
the montain sides. On the north side where the water is collected, they pass through
remote wet areas, and on the sunny south side where the water is distributed, they pass
through charming villages and fields.
We rented a car and headed for the hills. And we stayed all 5
nights at the Pousada dos Vinháticos at an elevation of about 650 metres - cool compared
to the temperatures we were used to. Our sole pullovers came in very handy!
The location is very quiet and peaceful and the views of the surrounding mountains
and terraces are superb. The pousada is situated in the middle of Madeira and
therefore it doesn't take too long to drive to the start of most of the walks.
This break was just what we needed before heading back to the
'real' world of Geneva. |