Running for victory

The Portuguese athlete Ester Alves approaches the MIUT's most iconic check point, located in Madeira's highest peak, yesterday morning. The Doctorate Student, presently the national championess, was the first female crossing the finish line in Machico and, therefore, remains the fastest female trail runner in Portugal, having finished this year's edition of the Madeira Island Ultra Trail in 18 hours and 42 minutes.

With a length of 115 kilometres and altitude variations along the track summing up nearly fourteen kilometres in total, the reign route of the competition was a strenuous one, judging by the accounts of many participants.

Reaching, with this years edition, the higher goal of inserting the MIUT into the world championship, the organization made sure that this ambitious achievement was supported by a world-class race, with a degree of difficulty that surprised many seasoned athletes. In the end of it, only the fittest would survive.

Picture taken with Nikon D610 and Nikon Nikkor DX AF-S 55-200mm f/4-5.6 G ED. Post-processing in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

Castelo do Bode dam

Although small, when looking at it by the ruler of its mere physical dimensions, Portugal is one of the world's leading nations in the field of civil engineering. From the vast projects and works-of-art that the Portuguese civil engineers have created over the course of the centuries on the four corners of the world, the most conspicuous are, certainly, the bridges and dams. In particular, and during the course of the 20th century, a long list of projects were concluded, many of them on the former Portuguese ultramarine colonies, in Africa. Amongst all of them, perhaps the jewel of the crown, undisputed, was the Cahora Bassa dam, a cyclopic project on the Zambezi river and still remaining nowadays the biggest hydroelectric power dam in Southern Africa.

However, at the time Cahora Bassa was terminated (in 1974) Portuguese engineers and civil constructors had already a vast experience in dam construction, accumulated since the beginning of the forties, and, as a consequence, the nation had, at the time, dozens of hydroelectric projects in full operationally.

The Castelo do Bode dam, built during that golden age of investment and which construction ended in 1951, is, probably the most iconic of all the Portuguese hydroelectric power plants. Reasons for that?

Well... It was the first "big one". And due to its location, in the Zêzere basin, right in the centre of the country, and easy access it quickly became a hit amongst the vast community of weekend travellers. And... ahhh... last but not least... it's quite photogenic.

Castelo do Bode, here photographed during a calm evening time, on the past February, was, at the time of its build, the biggest hydroelectric power plant in Portugal. The project, for the Era, visionary and ambitious, was created by the French civil engineer André Coyne, at the time one of the most respected dam engineers in the world and responsible for the subsequent formation of an entire generation of Portuguese civil engineers on that particular field.

Picture taken with Nikon D610 and Nikon Nikkor 28-105 AF kit lens. Sirui T005 travel tripod and head. Post processing in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.3. 

The Paul da Serra plateau

A curious flat formation, The Paul da Serra high plateau, located on the West part of Madeira, adds a twist of monotony in an island almost entirely dominated by an aggressive geological morphology.

With an area of roughly 25 square kilometres and an average high above sea level of nearly 1500 mts, the high plateau of Paul da Serra is also one of the most important drainage basins in Madeira. In fact, this plateau, dryer during the Summer months, is a place of almost eternal fogs during the Winter season. Its ability to collect water from the atmosphere is obvious during those wet months, during whose the Paul da Serra plateau usually houses several lagoons, which normally dry out as the wet season changes towards the Summer months.

In fact, this characteristic is so obvious that its name was well given: "Paul" in Portuguese means pond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the pictures:

The Paul da Serra plateau, a dry, high, plane during the Summer months, becomes, due to the maritime climate, a moisture magnet during the Winter season. Its natural shape, associated to the climatic factor, makes it one of the most important water-collecting basins in the whole island. In fact the numerous ponds appearing during the Winter months can even be, as once was demonstrated, suitable for wind-surf. The obvious windy nature of the place makes it one of the best places in Madeira for wind farms, as we can see by the numerous wind turbines that nowadays decorate this vast altitude plain.

 

All the pictures taken with Nikon F100 and Nikkor AF 28-105mm kit lens and Manfrotto tripod. Fujichrome Velvia ASA 50 scanned in Nikon Coolscan V ED and post-processed in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

November evening

Victim of a strong seasonality, almost with zero tourism occupation through the Winter months, the island of Porto Santo can be hard to a traveller not blessed with the living philosophy of Father Foucauld.

With all the hotels closed, except one unit (or two), this situation can also be a nightmare to the commercial airliners connecting the continental Europe to the island of Madeira. When forced, by meteorological reasons, to abort the call in Aeroporto da Madeira, the natural option would be the comparatively safer Porto Santo runway, twenty miles to NE.

Sadly, due to the lacking of available beds to accommodate those passengers in transit, many of these flights have to diverge to Canary islands, meaning an add of 400 kms to the initial voyage.

However, if solitude is (temporarily) your thing you'll probably have a nice time in Porto Santo during Winter. Less people means less confusion, therefore you will have certainly a better (available) service for your needs. And an amazingly beautiful 9 kms long beach only for you. 

Just enjoy the quiet peacefulness, the life moving slower, the peoples' approachability and learn about the place.

In the picture: Hotel Luamar and swimming pool at evening time, on the first week of November. Picture taken with Panasonic Lumix GH2 with SLR Magic Hyperprime 12mm T/1.6 cine lens. Conversion of the Panasonic proprietary Raw format to TIFF in Silkypix software and post-processing of the TIFF file in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, ver. 4.1.

Aida Stella

The Aida Stella, from Aida Cruises, a 2013 construction from the german shipyard Meyer Werft and the seventh vessel of the Sphinx class, rests alongside the Pontinha breakwater, one calm evening, a few days ago.

Picture taken with Nikon D300 and Nikkor 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D AF. Manfrotto tripod and Junior Geared Head. Post-processing in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Ver. 4.1

S. Jorge old pier

Once the gateway to the Northern coast of the island, the old pier of S. Jorge remains today a testimony of hardship. From a time when, in absence of good roads, connecting the main locations of the island, the transportation of passengers and goods, from South to North, was assured by open hull wooden cargo boats called "carreireiros".

From those times a few piers still survive all over the island. Mainly used by tourists, looking for a photo opportunity, and by local fishermen, looking for the next catch.

Among them, S. Jorge's, located a short stroll away from Ribeira de S. Jorge's mouth, is probably the one with the most vertiginous access. Definitely not for the faint-hearted.

 

Pictures taken with Nikon D610 and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AI lens. Post-processing in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, ver. 4.1

Ribeira de S. Jorge mouth

The Ribeira de S. Jorge mouth, with its stream flowing directly to the sea, today at evening time, on the North coast of Madeira.

Picture taken with Nikon D300 and Sigma EX 10-20mm f/4-5.6 DC HSM. Cokin Neutral Density Degradé, ref. 122, P system. Manfrotto tripod and geared head. Post-processing in Nikon View NX2 an Adobe Lightroom, ver. 4.1