Spoilt for choice!

An early start as the mini bus was picking us up from the hotel just before 8am and we wanted our excellent breakfast first!  No way were we going to miss that!

We were taking a tour of the east of the island, taking in the Pico do Arieiro, Madeira's third highest peak, where we were above the clouds, looking down on them and the peaks and ravines below us.

The driver/guide was a bit of a maverick who took us away from some of the places on the route which were full of coaches and buses, and through more rural areas instead. He had just been explaining to us how hard life was in the mountainous regions, ("you can't live on beautiful views") when this lady appeared, carrying vegetation she had cropped from her terraced plot, perhaps for a goat or cow, on her head. She had a handful of parsley too. She stopped and had a few words and a laugh with the driver before struggling up the hill.  The driver told us that this was a common sight when he was growing up 50 years ago, but less so now.

We had lunch down at the beach at Porto da Cruz, on the north coast, and then made our way to the Ponta de São Lourenco, the most easterly point. It is an amazing rocky peninsula, very dramatic with incredible cliffs.

It was another fascinating day, seeing so many different places and sights. So much to take in too, as our guide was full of interesting information about the island that he was so proud of belonging to. When he dropped us back at the hotel we'd been away for more than 10 hours!  We were exhausted,  but it had been another great day!