It's all about perspective. The previous day, after walking close to 18K steps, C&J said our plans for Sunday the 15th would be: "We're gonna walk to the next town for the day."
Wait, whaaaat? Walk to the next town? Is Uber on strike?
Where I grew up, and where Cindy and I live now, "one does not simply walk to the next town." Yes, I'm paraphrasing here, but I agree with Boromir. (By the way, if you didn't get the reference, just click here, and you'll see what I'm referring to.) In my mind, "walking to the next town" sounds like something from another time and place, and not exactly the most convenient way to do things.
Câmara de Lobos
photo by Cindy Newman
As a reminder to my readers, clicking on any link in blue will open in a new window. You won't lose your place here. Clicking on any photo will open a large-format version in a new window as well.
I looked up the distance from "base camp" to Câmara de Lobos (specifically Restaurante Coral) and found it to be just over 4 miles. I'll grant that this wouldn't be the typical road march I did as a cadet, but more of a leisurely stroll along the Promenade de Câmara de Lobos with frequent stops along the way for refreshments. This route took us along the south coast of the island, and the view was fantastic the whole way. The only downside was that this route had many steep sections that made me lag behind because I was overprotective of an old knee injury. I was determined not to be the weakest link in our party and would hustle to make up for lost time if the group got ahead of me on these steep inclines. Going up an incline was no problem; it was descending an incline that I slowed down. Now, don't get me wrong. There were several stretches of the path that were level. Not all of it was up and down.
Overview of Madeira
Close-up of our route
Click on the overview to see a larger format of the picture and our route relative to the whole island. I then zoomed in on the map to highlight our route along the promenade. For those who can appreciate a terrain-based map, you'll be able to appreciate just how much the elevation varies in a small area.
Along the path...
That said, there was one section of the path that was particularly steep, with a large elevation change from low to high. I slipped into my "humping klicks" mindset, head down and movin' out. If you recall from my previous blogs, C&J had already been in Madeira for a month or more, and walked everywhere. Cindy loves to hike, so she was in her element. I was the odd man out, so I pushed myself to get a little ahead of them in case I started to tire. Push, Newman, push! I thought to myself. I picked up the pace a little, focused on the pavement three feet ahead of me and.....
....slipped into another world.
Gone was the thought of our leisurely stroll.
My mind's eye placed me on a long stretch of road somewhere in Ft Riley, Kansas, as a cadet.
Gone were the sounds of our chit-chat and the rolling surf.
The only thing I could hear now was the ghost of an old road march "Jody" filling my head with that off-kilter, rhythmic chant: "Hump, dee dump, deeeee DUMP! Everybody's got tooooo HUMP!" over and over, a vocal piston driving my feet ever onwards. I was so focused on this hypnotic internal chant that I didn't realize just how far ahead of our group I had gotten until Jeff's voice broke my reverie.
"Hey Patrick, can you slow down? You're getting pretty far ahead of us."
The rolling plains of Kansas vanished, and I was back on the Promenade. In a few yards, the incline reached its peak, and I stopped at the level area to wait for my companions. I took a moment to reflect on what just happened: Me, the "Uber guy," outpaced the walkers in our group simply from a road march Jody that lay dormant in my mind for 40-plus years until today. And I wasn't even breathing that hard.
Getting closer to Câmara de Lobos
Looking back the way we came
After that highest point, the rest of the way was a gently sloping downward walk. This gave us a tremendous view of the harbor as we approached from the high ground. Very picturesque and quaint.
Harbor area
Beautiful boat!
Even with all of our pre-planning, I had no particular list of geocaches we wanted to find. I knew there were tons of caches in Madeira, so I wasn't too worried about making a specific list and downloading them to our GPSr. With the geocaching app on our phones and an international calling plan, we didn't need to download a bunch of caches we may or may not find. It would just clutter up the map. Our plan was to use the geocaching app on our phones and search for nearby caches whenever we stopped somewhere.
Winston Churchill
As we passed this statue of Winston Churchill, I figured there would be a cache nearby, most likely a virtual one. "Hey, let's stop for a minute. I want to see if there's a cache around here." Yep, I was right! As I suspected, I was right next to this virtual geocache. Oh, heck yeah, another smiley to log!
The other part of this virtual cache
That monk seal mosaic is made from locally recycled trash. Zoom in on the photo to see the individual pieces that make up the mosaic. All of us thought that was an ingenious use for trash. I wish more art would be created this way.
During our trek, we stopped for refreshments, but now it was time for elevensies. C&J took us to one of their favorite spots in Câmara de Lobos, Restaurante Coral. This place is also referred to as "Coral Beach Club," so depending on where you look, you'll find both names.
Cool artwork!
Prego Especial
Look familiar?
We enjoyed a nice, laid-back lunch, taking our time and taking in the sights. From Restaurante Coral, we continued upwards to a small park, where I happened to find a statue of Simon Bolivar. Given his history, I was surprised to find his statue here, since I didn't remember any specific connection to Madeira or Portugal.
Simon Bolivar
Digging a little deeper (thanks, Google!), I discovered that this bust was donated by the Assoçiãcao Filhos de Câmara
de Lobos de Venezuela (Association of Sons of Câmara de Lobos of Venezuela) to celebrate the deep cultural bond between those two locations. Interestingly, the Bolivar Peninsula in Galveston County was named after the same man. Consider just how small the world is that this South American historical figure connects the Texas Gulf Coast to a small fishing village in Madeira.
From this small park, we wound our way along the "upper" part of the village to start making our way back to base camp. We would follow the same path back, again stopping about halfway for a break and refreshments. During this rest stop, Cindy decided to Uber back to base camp to allow a little extra time to rest and refresh before dinner. Great idea! We ordered an Uber while C&J continued along the path. It took a bit longer for the car to arrive, so by the time we actually got back, C&J had just arrived.
I caught up on our day in our journal while Cindy took a short nap. C&J left to enjoy a sunset drink at a local hotel rooftop. While it was tempting to join them for this sunset drink, we'd meet them for dinner shortly after. We actually met them about halfway to 3Ls Restaurant, and the rest of the walk went by quickly. This was one of the few times we actually ate inside the restaurant, rather than our usual outdoor dining. All of us were ready for a good dinner, even with all the snacks earlier in the day.
Dinner libations
Potato skins with bacon & cheese
Parma ham bruschetta
Octopus bruschetta
We enjoyed these appetizers family style, as we've done throughout this trip. With four of us, these multiple appetizers allowed us to sample more than one dish. I was finally able to try out the iconic espetada or skewered meat. I opted for the beef espetada, which came with a side salad and another traditional side: milho frito. Milho frito is fried cornmeal cut into small chunks and is similar to polenta. Along with the milho frito were the ubiquitous fries so commonly served in Madeira.
Beef espetada
Side salad
Milho frito
The foil covering the top of the espetada contained butter, allowing the skewers to self-baste during cooking. All of it was divine, and the beef chunks had a wonderful flavor. With our main dishes finished, three of the four of us chose a passion fruit cheesecake for dessert, while once again I was the odd man out and ordered the apple pie with ice cream. I had to laugh at Jeff, who was beside himself with dismay that I didn't order the cheesecake as well. "Patrick, you really need to try the passion fruit cheesecake! It's their signature dessert!" Well, hey, I wanted the apple pie. I don't get it that often, and it really is one of my favorite pastries. While I appreciated Jeff's attempt to keep me from missing out, I was still insistent on having my pie (and eating it, too).
Apple pie
After such a fine meal, I was happy for the post-prandial stroll we took back to base camp. From the spectacular greenery during the day, nightfall presented us with spectacular vistas of lights from the surrounding area.
Now, about that "perspective" that I mentioned way back at the beginning of this blog...
I would like my readers to try this little experiment. There are several ways to do this, starting with the easiest. Go to ChatGPT and, in the prompt, type something like: "Create a map with a 4-mile radius centered on ___" and add your address. Another quick way is to go here and either enter the coordinates or click the map to set the center point. For obvious reasons, I won't post a map of my circle. Many of y'all know where I live, but I'm preferring to keep it on the safe side. I will say, though, that of all things to fall very close to the same distance as base camp to Câmara de Lobos was a Buc-ee's.
I'm going to do a little "compare and contrast" of our trek from base camp to Câmara de Lobos and an imaginary trek from my house to the nearest Buc-ee's. This should be fun. If you have created your own circle, please feel free to compare it to our Madeira walk or even my imaginary walk. Who knows what will be similar?
The Walk:
Madeira: A beautiful, seaside path with views of the sparkling Atlantic Ocean on one side and soaring, volcanic cliffs on the other. Many elevation changes.
Home: Suburbia at its best. Flat sidewalks (if any) along busy streets. Hints of car exhaust and freshly-cut grass. Coastal plains with no elevation change except stepping over curbs.
The Destination:
Câmara de Lobos: A scenic fishing village with a statue of Winston Churchill and many restaurants. A Prego Especial sandwich, washed down with a Coral beer.
Winston Churchill
Buc-ee's: a statue of the Buc-ee's beaver and a huge choice of everything from chopped brisket sandwiches to hand-made fudge to their iconic Beaver Nuggets. Fountain drinks and beer. Buc-ee's definitely takes the lead in the food and drink category. Why? Two words: Beaver Nuggets. And not just one flavor, either. SEVERAL flavors of this delicious snack.
Buc-ee's beaver
photo credit: www.dinesarasota.com
I can hear it now: "Dude, did you just compare a statue of Winston Churchill to a....beaver? Seriously??"
Well, yeah, but it is the Buc-ee's mascot, so there's that.
For those who've missed out on the nirvana of Beaver Nuggets, these delicious morsels of sugar and corn are almost the perfect road trip snack. I say "almost perfect" because they still leave a bit of residue on your fingers. Finger lickin' nuggets? Yes, please!
Beaver Nuggets
And this takes us to the end of another fun day in Madeira. While I still have another 2-3 installments in this series, the next blog will cover our recent outing at the Southern Board Game Festival, or "SoBo" for short. After that, I'll pick up where I left off in Madeira.
Minimum steps: 16720
7.2 miles
The previous installments in this series can be found here:
2. Funchal: Day 1, Our First Full Day
3. Day 2: From Madeira to Brazil and back, with a stop in Margaritaville
Until next time...
carpe cerevisi
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