Of all the hikes we did in Madeira, Pico Grande was possibly my favourite. It’s widely regarded as one of the island’s most challenging trails, but provided you give yourself plenty of time, bring plenty of water and snacks with you to keep you going and have good stamina for the 1356m of ascent, it’s a long but doable hike. You’ll be rewarded with gorgeous mountain views without the hordes that descend on PR1 Pico do Arieiro to Pico Ruivo.
After a breakfast of assorted fresh fruits and double-chocolate cookies – on holidays, just like on Christmas Day, my usual breakfast routine goes out of the window – we walked over to Avenida do Mar. Forty minutes or so later, we stepped off the bus at Ponta do Colmeal. We followed the road to Faja Escura, a tiny village which sits (quite literally) in the shadow of Pico Grande.
I felt like I was melting in the sun for most of this hike, and definitely didn’t appreciate the shade at the very start of this route as much as I should have. At the end of the road, a track led us up and into the forested slopes of Pico Grande.
We could see the summit of Pico Grande as we wound our way through the forest . This made a nice change from the hikes we do closer to home, where false summits often haunt our ascents.
Once out of the forest, the path offers spectacular views across the valley
Our trusty Walking on Madeira guidebook indicated that local mountain runners occasionally hack the vegetation back, and it was a little overgrown in places. But if that’s the trade-off for a more peaceful walk, I’ll take it.
A trail runner overtook us about halfway up, and at Boca do Cerro there was a fork in the path. Unless an extensive clean-up operation has taken place since we visited last July, you will, unfortunately, know you are on the right route to the summit as there is a substantial amount of toilet paper in the bushes around this area.
We continued along the path, climbing upwards in the midday sun. (That was, to quote the words of a former colleague, ‘sub-optimal’ planning on our part.) Fortunately, we were amply rewarded with excellent views, and I had a hard time narrowing down the photos for this post.
After the steep uphill, the route delivered a short, but extremely welcome, stretch of level path. It was a very bright day, so a lot of my photos from this section of the hike had streaks from the sun’s glare in them.
We encountered a few more people on our way to the summit, including one person who was hiking in their Speedos. Neither of us could quite believe what we were seeing!
There’s a bit of scrambling, with the help of ropes drilled into the rock, required to reach the summit. We were lucky enough to have 360° views – I don’t know how ‘typical’ an experience that is.
Needless to say, it was easier to climb up the rocky outcrop than it was to wriggle back down. Keep low to the ground and take it slow is the best advice I can offer for making it down safely. We had our lunch just below the summit – another bolo do caco, crisps and some fruit – and then retraced our steps until we reached a faint track heading north.
There were some interesting rock formations along this path (below), which we had entirely to ourselves. It seemed most people hiked to the summit and then returned via the same route.
Further along the path we reached a little flight of stone steps. There was another rocky outcrop here, with more views of the clouds rolling in over the mountains to the north-west.
Usually, two litres of water each is more than enough. On this particular hike, though, we did begin to question whether we ought to have brought more. The combination of it being hotter than we had bargained for, the vast majority of the route being exposed and the large amount of ascent definitely took its toll on us. We filled one of our bottles up at a stream we passed, as an insurance policy of sorts, though in the end we didn’t need it.
The stretch beneath Pico das Empenas was very overgrown, with bushy ferns and broom spilling onto the path. It was definitely a ‘Type 2 fun’ experience: not entirely enjoyable at the time, due to the intense heat and lack of shade, but something that gave us a sense of achievement later.
I remember this section as being stony and horribly steep, but it’s entirely possible that by that point in the day, we were simply lacking the energy for another ascent. Eventually, there was a fork in the path: left towards Boca da Encumeada, right to skirt around the summit of Pico do Jorge and head east towards Boca das Torrinhas. We turned right.
We hadn’t seen anyone since the summit of Pico Grande – by now, at least a couple of hours ago if not more – so it took us by surprise when a trail runner appeared out of nowhere behind us.
As the path descended, so did the clouds. We found ourselves at times in the cloud and at others above the clouds. In the photo below, the cube-shaped rocky outcrop in the background, slightly to the left of the centre, is Pico Grande.
We passed a small cave (which appeared, unfortunately, to have doubled up as a toilet for some passing through this route) and then veered slightly to the left to follow the path downhill.
After passing a rocky cleft in the path (below), we emerged onto Boca das Torrinhas. Various paths converge here; we followed PR2, signposted ‘Curral das Freiras’. If the weather is on your side, it’s a stunning viewpoint.
After hours in the sun, we were relieved when the path descended into woodland. Unfortunately, this relief was somewhat short-lived for me. A combination of tiredness, not paying full attention to the ground beneath me and misjudging one of the log steps led me to walk straight into a stick. I don’t have a good pain threshold for unexpected injuries, and between the various bits of twig that had got stuck in my leg, the skin that had been scraped off and the blood oozing out of it, it was not a pretty sight.
I could definitely have been better prepared for this – there weren’t many big plasters in my bag, nor did I have any hand sanitiser on me to clean my hands before attempting to remove the debris. Lesson learnt. (A couple of trips to pharmacies – in Madeira and back home – and a lot of gauze patches and microporous tape later, it did heal up and now all that’s left is a small, purplish scar on my shin.)
We made slow but steady progress down the hillside, reaching Fajã dos Cardos around 17.45. To our delight, there was a small bar just across from the bus stop. Laurence had the local speciality (passionfruit Brisa), while I had a Coke. It was just what we needed to restore our energy levels while waiting for the bus back to Funchal.