Ponta de Sao Lourenco: the end of the world in Madeira

 I wanna feel the sun on my face and the wind in my hair.

Messy. Sometimes life is like that. Like my hair today walking along this wonderful ridge in between the ocean and the sky. The salty ocean wind that slaps my face and fill my lungs, the effort of climbing up and down, the light of the blinding sun, the dark clouds coming. Life can be messy. Things don´t always go as planned. The wind constantly changes direction every single day, just like our lives. In the blink of an eye, in the time of an exhalation, the course of our lives can get different. Things supposed to last forever but they didn´t. England voting for Brexit, Trump elected as new US president. Who was expecting that? Noone! We live in the chaos and we must embrace it.

8th May. Today the sky is blue and the air is windy. We leave Funchal direction east. We go to the edge of Madeiran world! Ponta de Sao Lorenco: we are coming! The bus runs cove after cove, curve after curve, until we reach Machico, the old Madeiran capital. Then Canical bay comes from where whale hunters were once leaving searching for their Moby Dick until finally we can see this narrow, irregular and curved peninsula, shaped from the marine erosion. Sao Lorenco! What jumps to our eyes is the scarce vegetation and the brownish-red colour instead of the brilliant green that you can see all over the island. Here you get the volcanic origin of the island.

For the first time during our visit we can see as far as the Ilhas Desertas (Deserted Islands), a small archipelago 25km to the southeast of Madeira. My desire of freedom after so many days in the city found an outlet in this narrow crazy stretch of land that goes for 8 kilometers up and down in a vertical drop reaching 350 meters on the ocean. From these huge cliffs, that locals call sea mounts for their huge size, you feel like flying in this privileged location between the sea and the sky. You walk through beautiful scenery that rises quickly and then goes down and never get bored because the scenery is so majestic, large and full of beautiful surprises.

 Walking east along the footpath we soon discover how spectacular and dramatic the landscape of this narrow strip of ocean-battered land actually is.  Atlantic panoramas in all directions, huge waves crashing on hundred meters high cliffs, sea stacks carved from colourful volcanic rocks. The views so different from anything we’ve seen on Madeira so far, but equally beautiful and enchanting.

Freedom. This is the first word i can think of when i remember visiting Ponta de São Lourenço. The thing is, the blending of elements such as water and air in form of sea and wind there, combined with the solitude of the place, far from so many useless alienating human inventions, brings an easy regenerating feeling of freedom to the soul.

For one moment i didn’t think about anything, I just enjoyed being alive. And it was truly awesome!

Certainly it wouldn´t be so for those who suffer vertigo in some parts of the trail, especially today that we must struggle and put a lot of effort to stand against the wind that is getting stonger and stronger every step we get closer to the end of the peninsula. We look behind us and we see the rest of the island just stretching from here towards west. Breathtaking!

wow! Many clouds appear suddenly on the horizon. They are coming here! Even the dark clouds don’t bother us this time. Rather they contribute to the rugged beauty and mysterious atmosphere of Sao Lorenco!

Ohhh but now it starts raining and the wind gets stronger and stronger! We repair ourselves in Casa do Sardinha, this small house that looks really like a small oasis in this wild wild place!

It stops raining. We want to go to see the ocean and the islands and the peninsula from the very top of the ridge . The last effort resisting the strong wind that hits us and here we are! We made it! When you arrive at the end of the peninsula, after a tiring climb, you rejoice. You feel away from all, surrounded by green lawns, the blue sea and the brown tones of the rock. Nature surrounds you completely.

Weather is changing again. It is getting sunny again. So coming back to civilization we can appreciate once again the wonderful colors of Sao Lorenco!

Also a little gecho comes out to enjoy this warm amazing sun.

We live in the chaos and we must embrace it. There are moments you need to look at life from a different angle to find yourself again and to realize what was wrong. Go through the ebbs and flows of life with a calm mind and heart. At the end of the day everything will be ok.

With Love,

Marco