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Product Description
The first Portuguese word which hikers learn on Madeira is bound to be 'levada'. Levada hiking is surely unique. A sophisticated network of narrow irrigation canals runs across the entire island. The maintenance paths installed next to canal trenches allow the convenient discovery of Madeira without great altitude all the way to the most remote corners. Around half of the walks introduced in this guide are Levada excursions. They lead through fertile land cultivating sugar cane, bananas, vine and exotic fruit, past artistic terraces modelled into the island's rugged topography, which awaken associations of Bali or the Philippines. Rushing cascades and impressive ravines are found equally by the wayside as are rough, declining cliffs and marshy high-moor bogs. The still natural valley to the north of the island offers a sumptuous evergreen subtropical vegetation comprising fern meadows, lauraceae forests and heather shrubs that convey the feeling of walking through an emerald green tunnel. With all the fascination for the Levada paths it should not be forgotten that the volcano island also is a fabulous territory for mountaineers. The nearly 1900m high central massive holds routes for all demands. Very alpine is the triple summit tour from the Arieiro over the Torres to the Pico Ruivo. The stretch, which has been spectacularly chiselled into the rock, can justifiably be considered the tour of kings. Next to various shepherd paths and adventurous coastal ascents there are so-called 'veredas', i.e. old paths linking villages, which used to be the sole access to remote locations until a few decades ago only, crossing valleys deep and mountains high. This is the 2012 5th edition. 176 pages, 101 photos, 50 height profiles, 50 maps in 1:25,000/1:50,000, 1 overview map in 1:250,000. Format 11.5 x 16.5 cm, paperback with a polytex-laminated cover.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
52 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's impossible to choose THE best Madeira walking guide. Ideally, buy two or three, otherwise this may be the one.
It offers an extensive range of walks, with much practical information presented attractively. There are excellent supporting pictures that do not dominate the text. Very importantly, the book is well bound and eminently pocketable. Everything I look for in a walking guide.
If you can afford one or two more, go for the Cicerone book by Paddy Dillon, and consider the Sunflower Landscapes book by John and Pat Underwood. I prefer the former, but the latter does have good pictures, a useful map, and car tours as well as walks; unfortunately it is an awkward shape and the binding is not as good - the book does not like to stay open, and looks as though it may fall apart prematurely.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
At first glance this book seems attractive and useful. But in use, the walk descriptions are sometimes unclear or even misleading. Plus, the author tries to make each walk fit the same amount of space in the book! This is odd as some routes must require more space to describe them properly. It seems design might be of higher priority than content.
I like the Discovery Walking Guides book for Madeira, clear and well written.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
We just used this book in Feb 2011 on our first trip to Madeira. The guide was pretty accurate at times but at others, particularly junctions of paths/after long sections of walk with no confirmatory phrases, it was weak and caused one or two problems. It would have been much more useful if it gave indications of times between points of note regarding the route, and I know these would have to be taken with a certain pinch of salt, but at times we were left wondering if the next marking point should be immediately sought or was it going to come into view in about half an hour. On the plus side it's a nice size and fits easily into a pocket. We also took the Cicerone guide as one of the walks we wanted to do wasn't in Rother. We found the Cicerone guide much more user friendly (but not perfect) and it did at least some of the time give rough times or distances between points of note on the route. We are both experienced walkers and it's not like we were using this style guide for the first time.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Excellent Guide on walking in Madeira
Have just come back from my first trip to Madeira. Used this guide all the time when walking, it is really very good and accurate
The grading system works very well,... Read more
The grading system works very well,... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Terence
still sending the old edition
As already mentioned, Amazon is still sending the 3rd edition in October 2009, although the 4th edition is advertised on the Amazon site. Read more
Published on 3 Nov 2009 by Martin Tichy
50 Finest Levada Walks
Good lay out with excellent walks and directions from start to finish covering both mountain and levada walks - have found a couple that aren't mentioned that are more spectacular... Read more
Published on 20 Sep 2009 by R. Potter
Check what you get - but the old edition was good
We've found Rother guides generally useful, and the Madeira 2nd edition (2003)was no exception. The 3rd (2005) edition was updated, and the 4th (November 2008) appears (from the... Read more
Published on 26 Jan 2009 by MickBee
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