MADEIRA

It was actually a very enjoyable day in Madeira. 

We began the day with walk along some of the Madeiran Levadas which are irrigation canals taking water from the wet, rainy, misty areas of the north island to the drier, sunnier regions of the south. The whole network is 100km long and makes very pleasant walking. To say it was a "guided tour" was a bit of an exaggeration as the guide didn't say a word, but it was very nice and the banana cake was magnificent. 

We ended up at CAMACHA, the wickerwork centre of Madeira. It is also believed to be the first place where football was EVER played in Portugal (though not necessarily  by Ronaldo's great great grandparents) so Husb posed accordingly.

Basketware is popular in Madeira but even this skill is dying out now. I spotted a cute basket elephant!

And then it was down to the serious business of replenishing our stocks of Madeiran wine by a visit and guided tour of BLANDY'S wine lodge.

The barrels were massive.

Winston Churchill liked a tipple of Blandy's vintage wine...

and Princess Margaret received a crate.

We all sampled the Verdelho grape and the Malmsey grape..

and they were delish.

We had time for a walk around Funchal, then back to Braemar - it really is a pretty island.

We had a bit of sun on deck which was a bonus. 

Love how all the appartments on land are sun-facing - it looks like there's hardly a spare plot of land.

Tropical Evening and we were all hungry. Must have been the Blandy's making us hungry because, dare I admit it, we had been to Pizzahut for lunch haha

So 300 nautical miles... but we had a lovely day. 

(and we still haven't been on the cable car)

Next stop 247 nautical miles back to La Palma.

(Oh and by the way, we are not going to Wembley after all.... Crewe 0 - 2 Sky Blues but it wasn't enough.... we now need to concentrate on our play-off push!)