Boil and Bubble

Toil and Trouble.

Actually, a fair bit of toil but not too much trouble, other than getting a bit wet. I was shafted by the weather forecast. After suggesting a day of clear skies there was more cloud today, even on the coast, than any other day so far, not that there was any sign of it when I caught the bus to Curral das Freitas. 

By the time I arrived at this mountain village the cloud was beginning to build and it looked rather ominous. It wasn't easy to find the start of the trail but once I was on the path, the weather no longer mattered. The climb up out of the valley was very much like climbing out of a cauldron. The trail was beautiful, the views utterly spectacular. 

The aim was to climb to the summit of Pico Grande, at over 1600m and then continue on a circular route on a high altitude trail. I managed to get to the top but the weather and visibility deteriorated rapidly on the descent, so I altered the route to return via Boca da Corrida and then on minor roads to somewhere I could catch a bus, which turned out to be all the way down to Estreito de Camara de Lobos. All in all, I was out for 9 hours. 

The mountain scenery was possibly even more spectacular for being enveloped in cloud. I really want to return now to actually get a look at this mountain I climbed today!