This year's holidays were all about "going back" to places we love so first stop was Madeira, this time for 10 days. Oli was left in the tender care of our neighbours, Peter and Jenny, who make lots of fuss of him when we're away. Teresa also popped in to check on him occasionally which all served to give us peace of mind.

We were discussing whether we really go back to Madeira or, if Quinta da Casa Branca were in a different place, would we go there instead. Madeira is a beautiful island but the hotel, the friendly team and the yummy food are the reason we go back time after time. This year's favourite from day 1 was the crepes with strawberries, basil, honey, lime and marscapone - so delicious!

Jonathon had brought two very different cameras with him this year. He had his usual Nikon with big lens for when we went out on the boats /went nature watching and his Fuji infra-red one so he could do some "arty" photography. Needless to say that these first few photos fall into the latter category.

It hadn't been snowing it's just that everything green turns to white in infra-red and then Jonathon does some post-processing work and voila!

The first day we arrived about lunch time, unpacked and headed off for the garden pavillion for lunch (see above re pancakes). We didn't do much else other than reading and relaxing until later in the afternoon when we wandered over there again for tea and cake - hard life!!

Day 2 was time to book the hire car for the following day, go down to the harbour and book a couple of boat trips for the following week and catch up with what was new.

We had a really lovely stroll round the old town, spent far too much on a beautifully emboidered tablecloth (I'd been looking for one for a while but finally bit the bullet, paid the money and was really pleased with our purchase) and then had "steak on a stone" for lunch at Marina Terrace, overlooking the harbour.

The statue on the far left is Lord Baden Powell. The one on the immediate left had no plaque so I have no idea who he was.

The infra-red Fuji had a trip out as well! These steps / seating areas at the seafront are quite new and have really opened up that area and made it more "useable".

Delighted to say, my favourite Madeira drink was still widely available.

Walking back up the hill to our hotel, we tend to walk through the park. Taking photos on the way somehow seems to make it feel less steep!

The park is lovely so it's no hardship to walk through there and admire all the colours and the views back to the sea.

Lots of flowers were in full bloom so it was very pretty but there was plenty of green to make it feel calm and peaceful as well.

Some of the leaves work really well in infra-red - I think this one looks like folded linen - really pretty.

Back to our hotel for more reading, crosswords and so on, ready for a driving day tomorrow.

First of all, a nice easy morning, meeting the car hire man (Rene the red Renault), reading, doing puzzles and (for Jonathon) more photos of the hotel followed by another yummy lunch with a special treat as they let us have caramelised pineapple for pudding even though it's no longer on the menu!

 

Jonathon wanted to photograph clouds climbing up mountains so off we went to Pico do Arieiro, one of the highest points on the island and a good place to get above the clouds. As you can imagine, the temperature so high up was considerably lower than at the hotel / coast and with a strong, gusty wind it felt freezing! There was a cafe but they shut at 6 p.m. (to my business head, this makes no sense as a lot of people watch the clouds and then hang around for the sunset - I'm sure they'd like to buy cups of tea while they wait!)

The clouds were performing nicely but it was freezing and there's only so many pictures you can take (if you're a Shirley) before the crossword beckons. Believe it or not, the floor was the warmest place to sit after the cafe closed but it wasn't very comfy! The clouds weren't moving quite this fast - it's a time lapse film.

The photo on the left is looking over to the other side of the viewing point.

The closest to a selfie Jonathon is likely to get.

Last time we were at Pico do Arieiro, there were some birds of prey circling about. This time, the only bird life we saw was a pair of red-legged partridge.

A fellow photographer recommended to Jonathon that if he walked along this path for a while, he'd get a really good (and different) view of the clouds. Perhaps next time ...

The sun started to set, we watched it go down and then headed down the hairpin bends back to Funchal and the warmth of the hotel.

Turned out the "next time" was the following afternoon after another lazy morning. Completely different this time as there were no clouds to be seen - we could see right across the tops to the sea. We loitered around for a while to see if the clouds were going to make an appearance, decided they weren't and went back to the hotel for apple tart and a drink.

We did start to walk along the path but we aren't very brave and when the gusty wind felt like it was going to blow us over, we turned tail and went back to the cafe. Perhaps it was the wind that had shooed the clouds away - guess we'll never know.

The drive down the mountain was no less scary in the light than it had been the night before in the dark.

While I ordered the food, Jonathon just couldn't help himself so off he went with his infra-red camera to take some more shots around the hotel.

Left is a reflection of a palm tree in the pool and above are the steps down into the pool.

Another day and it's my turn to wander round the garden with a camera. The photo on the right is the view from our room - could be a lot worse!

The Manor House is quite "posh" and even has four poster sun beds!

 

As you can see, it was rather a lovely place to stroll around.

Jonathon then took himself off for a wander, again with his infra-red camera - it certainly shows a different image of things but, being a colour person, I prefer the traditional photos!

My choice of where to go for our drive and I chose the very top (spine) of the island - a beautiful place at the best of times but even more so with the gorse in full bloom.

It was a beautiful, sunny day with lovely blue skies and the odd bit of cloud to make it interesting.

First stop was at a lookout (or perhaps the drive down to someone's garage but there was a viewing platform there so we took advantage).

The colours were lovely.

We watched the clouds falling down the mountains which made a change. This mini movie is real time rather than time lapse!

Next stop was to look down a valley - don't think Jonathon realised quite how close to the edge he was. For someone who is usually scared of heights he did really well!

From time to time, the windmills got lost in the clouds but the clouds were moving so quickly the windmills soon reappeared.

We had a lovely lunch at the small restaurant at Estalagem Pico da Urze (Heather Peak Inn). No heather out at this time of year (of course) but there were loads of heathers around so I imagine it would be stunning in July / August when it's all in flower.

Jonathon wanted to try and find a sunset from the western side of the island. We were going to go to Ponta Do Pargo but remembered that the world and his wife were there last time we tried so went to Cabo, a bit further north instead. As the sun set we were the only two people there so that plan worked well.

We parked near the church and wandered along the path. This time we made it to the end so enjoyed great views. Some other people who came along thought a rock was a whale and got very excited until they realised what it really was.

This is us admiring (and photographing) the view.

This tree was near a shrine, just down from the church.

 

As you can see, the sun was very bright and made the sea lovely and "sparkly" and the views were wonderful.

The sunset, when it arrived, was nothing particularly special but still pretty.

Time to drive home and this time the SatNav took us the fastest route which seemed to involve a lot of tunnels.

We handed the car back the following morning so back to foot traffic.

The highlight of Monday was meeting up with Paula for lunch. Great to catch up having been friends on Facebook for so long.

Delicious food - I really enjoyed my Espada with banana, yum!

We walked a completely different way home, thinking we'd avoid the really steep hill but, no! We worked out that we couldn't get from the road we were on to the road we needed to be on safely without going down the hill and then back up on our normal route. Best laid plans and all that ...

Finally, back at the hotel and time to cool down - just a couple of photos from me as we walked through the gardens.

To give you an idea of how different photos can look with different treatments, I've added a couple of "before and after" images from Jonathon below (as well as a couple of "normal" photos.)

We've got to Tuesday (already) and that brought us to a boat trip on one of our favourite boats in Madeira, the Bonita da Madeira.

It was lovely and sunny when we were ready to set off - this time we'd booked a five hour trip to the easternmost part of the island.

Jonathon soon made himself comfortable on the boat, settling on the bowsprit.

Although not officially a dolphin and whale watching trip, we were delighted to see some pilot whales, plus a baby or two, close to our boat.

The bottlenosed dolphin that we saw were not interested in staying with us at all and disappeared before we had a chance to photograph them.

We were also lucky enough to see (but not photograph) a flying fish - that was a surprise!

I did manage to catch a shot of pilot whales between the boat and Funchal - not the best but shows how close we / they were to shore.

Before long, it really depended which way you looked whether you got blue sky or cloud!

We moored up near Sao Lourenco lighthouse for lunch. Only one of the passengers was brave enough to go for a swim (needless to say, it wasn't either of us).

Jonathon had to be called in for lunch!

The rock formations below (all volcanic) were the back drop for lunch - very dramatic and beautiful.

This is part of a large hotel complex that we saw on the way back.

More windmills

One of the villages we travelled by.

The clouds were gathering

This house caught my eye. It looks like it's in the middle of nowhere but there's a road behind it.

The "bridge" is actually the runway extension at the airport.

This is what we came back to - thank you Quinta da Casa Branca!

We had afternoon tea (freshly made scones with apple jam and pumpkin jam) at Chalet Vicente - delicious - then back to the hotel to catch up with photos, reading and sleep ready for another boat trip the following day.

Wednesday had arrived and we set off on Bonita da Madeira for a trip to the Desertas Islands but the sun didn't want to show its face much at all. The wind got up and the crossing was "interesting" to say the least.

In "real life", the mattresses are blue!

We spotted a small group of pilot whales along the way but no other wildlife of note, hence the photos of knots and the infra-red photos of the boat.

The rock formations at Deserta Grande were amazing and a good place to enjoy lunch on the boat.

I wasn't checking the settings on the camera - I was making sure the horizon on the photo looked relatively level!

Funnily enough none of the 7 passengers on board elected to swim! 3 of them went off on the tender to have the guided tour of a small part of the island while 4 of us chose to stay on board and chat.

The weather did improve slightly after lunch albeit that the wind was still blowing us around. At least it wasn't as splashy on the way home but we were pleased to get home and desalinate!

A much quieter day today, gym (for me), leisurely breakfast then lounging about in the morning before strolling into town for lunch at Marina Terrace and a wander along the front. The photo in the centre is the Nelson Mandela monument.

We came across a police dog demonstration. The dogs were full of beans chasing after balls etc. and then obeying different commands.

The policeman on the right isn't pointing a real gun - that one was on his belt.

Jonathon had read about a street in Funchal that had painted doors (artistic painted as opposed to Dulux or Crown) so we went to find it.

Rua de Santa Maria looked quite "normal" from the end but there was a wide variety and quality of images on the various doors.

Having taken a whole load of photos we enjoyed dessert at Restaurante O Regional and Jonathon decreed that it was the best Caramel Pudding he'd ever tasted. Praise indeed!

We even managed to do some shopping before we went back to the hotel.

The first row of pictures is my choice of doors, the second is Jonathon's (as is the third).

We'd booked a boat trip for the following day so were hoping that the wind would drop. It had so we booked to go out morning and afternoon on Gaviao.

The bottlenosed dolphins were feeding, ably "assisted" by sheerwater and gulls.

The dolphins were really close. Jonathon was sitting up front and got wet when the one below decided to show how high he could jump.

We have lift off ...

A very quick turnaround as we were late getting in from the morning trip so a snack at Marina Terrace and we were off again.

We were lucky enough to see a jelly fish (is it a Portuguese man-o-war?) and a sleepy monk seal. The crew told us they only see the monk seals this close to Funchal a couple of times a year so we felt very fortunate.

The photos below show a farm at the bottom of the highest cliff in Madeira. You get to it by boat or cable car (if you look really carefully you can see a little red dot on the right hand photo!). One the left we have potatoes, carrots and beans and on the right mango, papaya and banana.

We were late getting back in the evening as well. The guys worked really hard to find some dolphins for us to see but with no success - they were simply too far away for us to reach them in the time allowed.

It did mean we got to see a lovely sunset from the boat as we motored back to harbour, even if it meant we had to call the hotel and cancel dinner!

Our last day came all too soon so packing, breakfast, paying, a last bit of sun, lunch and airport.

We'll be back, probably in 2021!

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