The Garden Isle of Madeira – escape from winter!
Winter has finally arrived in northern Europe and the days are short and dark. It’s the ideal time to enjoy Madeira. Lush vegetation, mountains and levadas await your discovery.
Aloe aborescens
Madeira Tour & Trail Map
Discovery Walking Guides have released their 8th editions of their Tour & Trail Maps to the Garden Isle (a choice of map-paper or Super-Durable polymer). Walkers keep on buying these for their accuracy, clarity and wealth of up-to-date detail.
Ask for them in your favourite bookshop or get them online from your choice of stockists.
Here’s a link to amazon UK’s information page about the Super-Durable edition:
La Gomera – thanks to ‘Inspire Our Trip’
La Gomera – on Walk 31 (from Walk! La Gomera by Charles Davis). Image courtesy of ‘Inspire Our Trip’.
‘Inspire Our Trip’ on twitter said:-
“Brilliant hike and a great day walk. Thank you Charles Davis for Walk 31.”
Charles Davis is the author of Walk! La Gomera:- see http://www.dwgwalking.co.uk/walkla.htm
https://twitter.com/InspireOurTrip/status/455766577577988096/photo/1
Mallorca: Update on the GR221 – thanks Eryk Grant
These notes were sent by Eryk Grant re the GR221, while using Charles Davis’ book ‘The GR221 – Mallorca’s Drystone Way’
http://www.dwgwalking.co.uk/mallGR221Spec.htm , notably the stretch between Esporles and Valldemossa.
“Hi Charles
Walked this section last Sunday (6th April) without any problem.
The Mallorcan town of Valldemossa
There were five other walkers on the route and it looks like the obstructions placed by the landowner (notices and fence) are largely ignored. I saw no attempt to ‘repair’ the fence and it was easy to negotiate-there are cairns galore and helpful green/yellow spots on rocks. The track has not become overgrown suggesting it is really well used. There is also a shiny new GR route map in Esporles town centre showing the route going through and all the subsequent wayposts except one refer to it. I guess there may be some tacit acceptance that walking will continue and I would not hesitate to walk this part again.
Up by the Tossals refuge there is a fair amount of building material but not much sign that anything is happening! Last time we stayed there in 2012 we had a conversation with a Dutch couple who were using your DWG guide, and making their way based on “what does Charles say?” – your directions and supporting commentary have never let us down either and in fact have really added to the enjoyment in places.”
Thanks Erik – feedback from walkers who’ve been there is valuable both for those who come after you, as well as providing us with valuable information for new editions.
Madeira: Good news – PR1 high altitude route re-opens
The route to Pico Ruivo
Madeira’s majestic high-level mountain route, the PR1 – Vereda do Areeiro to Pico Ruivo, has re-opened to walkers.
Landslides that had damaged the route have been cleared and fencing replaced.
This is the BIG one for high altitude afficionades!
(Image, thanks to Shirley Whitehead, walking researcher and author) – see http://www.dwgwalking.co.uk/mad.htm
Spain’s Costa Del Sol: Sierra Almijara + Sierra Tejeda = La Axarquia
Dramatic coastlines on the Torre Caleta walk.
Author/researcher Charles Davis sums up this beautiful, unspoilt region thus:
Map segment for the Torre Caleta walk.
“The Axarquía is one of Spain’s great places, and among the greatest places within it are the Sierras Tejeda and Almijara, which form the backbone both of the region and the present publication. Blessed with high summits, dizzying pinnacles, dramatic crags, deep ravines, dozens of springs, delightful rivers and the best coves on the Costa del Sol, this is an area that has something for everyone. And the only prerequisites for benefitting from all this are a desire to get off the beaten track and a set of relatively, sometimes very, sturdy legs.
If you’ve not seen them already, you can get an idea of how dramatic these mountains are from one simple fact, that the high peaks, including Lucero (1775 metres), Navachica (1832 metres) and La Maroma (2070 metres), are all within ten kilometres of the coast, rising out of the sea like a succession of immense pedestals, just waiting for humankind to enthrone whoever or whatever we find most sacred or simply most lacking in our quotidian lives.”
Axarquia; Las Cuadrillas, Walk 24.
You can see a sample walk here:- http://www.dwgwalking.co.uk/axarquiasamplewalk25.pdf
There’s information about the book Walk! The Axarquia (available as a printed book or as a pdf download book in A4 format) and the maps available for the region (printed, on paper and on Super-Durable material); there are also Custom Maps for Garmins for GPS users.
The Other South of France – The Cathar Way
On the Peyrepertuse Ridge, Cathar Way
“Threading its way through dramatic gorges carved out by tumbling mountain torrents and traversing a patchwork of oak mantled hills, Alpine pastures, dense pine forests, lush meadows, rocky plateaux, and regimented vineland, the Sentier Cathare stitches together drovers’ trails, logging tracks, smugglers’ paths, and winding country lanes to link some of the principal sites associated with the dissident Christian movement from which it takes its name.
Roquefixade Castle, Cathar Way
Above all, we visit a succession of castles, each perched more improbably than the last on craggy peaks, castles whose evocative ruins have proved so compelling that they have conspired with history to stimulate our collective appetite for quests, mysteries and quixotic exploits.
This is a protean path, offering something for everybody, from the lover of wild
places to the aficionado of old stones, from the hearty athlete looking for a challenge to the New Age mystic seeking enlightenment, but whatever your motive for embarking on such an adventure, walking the Sentier Cathare is a hugely rewarding experience, in the course of which petty cares slip away, replaced by a headful of mountains, meetings, and vistas, and walking becomes a way of being, so that come the end there is every chance that you will want only one thing, to turn round and do it all over again.”
Rue Principale, Ginoles, Cathar Way
~ these are the inspiring words of Charles Davis, author and researcher of wonderful walking, including The Cathar Way, a 250 kilometre trail crossing the Languedoc region of southern France from the foothills of the Pyrenees to the shores of the Mediterranean.
Want to know more? Take a look here: http://www.dwgwalking.co.uk/catharway.htm
The Garden Isle of Madeira – Beautiful in Spring
Aloe aborescens
Springtime! The northern hemisphere’s Spring is well under way now. For those interested in flora, there’s nowhere quite like Madeira in the Springtime.
Echium candicans – popular with bees
Madeira is always green – now it bursts into colour and perfume. Many of the plants you’ll come across while walking its levadas and country paths are endemic and exclusive to the island.
Two of the many beauties to look out for are orchids and the rare Yellow Foxglove. If you enjoy seeing wonderful plants growing strong and free, Madeira is the place to visit.
For information about the Garden Island, including books and maps, see http://www.dwgwalking.co.uk/mad.htm
(The plant images here were taken by Shirley & Mike Whitehead, authors and researchers resident on the island of Madeira.)
Yellow foxglove (Isoplexus sceptrum)
Orchis maderensis
La Axarquia, Costa del Sol: Thanks Bill L for your report
Taken while on the Loma de Las Quadrillas
Inland of Spain’s Costa del Sol rises the magnificent Sierras de Tejeda and Almijara. Mountains, ravines, streams and rivers await the adventurer.
This area, La Axarquia, is a gem for anyone looking for an unforgettable walking experience.
We’ve just received this report from Bill L who has been using the Axarquia Tour & Trail Custom Map and Walk! The Axarquia guidebook; see http://www.dwgwalking.co.uk/axarquia.htm
On 15 March 2014 10:05, Bill L wrote:
Hi David,
Have now used your Axarquia map for several weeks and get even more impressed.
Not only can you use it for your walks but you can also combine walks and tracks from, for example, GR 249 GR 242. Did Walk 22 yesterday and GR 242 Frigliana to Maro the day before.
Going to try some combinations next week. Amazing! It makes it very easy to walk these hills using GPS.
Regards
Bill
Costa Blanca Mountains – thank you Erik, for your valuable feedback.
A tour of Raco Roig (Walk 20)
We welcome all user feedback – and in particular for our new downloadable maps for Garmin GPS.
Erik is a Costa Blanca Mountains expert and guides walks in the region. https://www.walking-holiday-in-spain.com
See the maps he’s referring to here:-http://www.dwgwalking.co.uk/CBM.htm
Here’s what he told us about his experiences using both our printed maps and our maps for Garmin GPS:-
“Over the last month my walking customers have been testing the Discovery Walking Guides sheet map (Costa Blanca Mountains Tour & Trail Map) and downloadable basemaps on the eTrek Garmin 20 GPS for the treks and walking holidays we organise in the Costa Blanca Mountains.
The sheet maps are useful, although the 1:40,000 scale in the Spanish countryside is at the limit for precise navigating, the roads on the map translate as 55 metres wide on the ground – easily enough to get misplaced for a while. Some of what appear as roads are overgrown dirt tracks that are now footpaths, you can still get through but it can be a bit confusing so if you want to go off the marked routes you will need to be patient.
The marking of existing official routes and recommended routes is very good, there are some minor omissions and in one case replicating an error found on the local 1:20,000 topo. Not perfect but a very good approximation and an improvement on the local maps. The problem here is still the abysmal way marking of routes on the ground.
The area covered is quite extensive, although some of my routes fall outside the eastern margin of the coverage.
The basemaps for the Garmin GPS are very good, despite an initial problem with the download (for some reason Windows 7 stripped off the filetype which you had to add manually) they are now installed on all my Garmins. The image is very clear, much better than my own 1:25,000 basemaps that blur on zooming in.
The maps load relatively quickly on start-up and as you are walking the change from one tile to another is very smooth, in fact it is barely perceptible.
View over the coastal plain from the Costa Blanca Mountains
All in all a great improvement for those of us who have been struggling with Spanish maps for years, My only reservation is the 1:40,000 scale, I would love it if you would considering publishing 1:20,000 or 1:25,000 maps as a future upgrade.”
Walk Spain’s Alpujarras: download the guide
One of the White VIllages
Walk! The Alpujarras is now also available in pdf format.
This beautiful region of southern Spain offers high peaks, long ridges, clear mountain streams, woodland, amazing views and picturesque white villages.
‘Walk! The Alpujarras’ takes you through 34 detailed routes with the expert guidance of author/researcher Charles Davis.
Try a free sample walk here: http://www.dwgwalking.co.uk/178walkalpujarrassample.pdf
To see details of the printed book, the Alpujarras Tour & Trail Map and the book as a pdf, look here: http://www.dwgwalking.co.uk/alp34walks.htm
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