Day 3 - You need a passport to leave Maderia

For the fast pooper, or those with limited time, here's a summary of my previous 2 blogs to bring you up to speed - I went to Maderia in May 2025 for a quick holiday with some chums, and during the first two days we got lovely thick fog (all day) at Fanal. If that sounds racy enough to risk an extra Hemorrhoid you can read about day 1 here and day 2 here.

Back to day three...

With the main focus of the holiday being misty conditions at Fanal, I felt that for day 3 we should try pushing our luck to get a cloud inversion in the mountains. Inspired in part by Nigel Danson's Youtube series from Madeira, I really wanted to see the famous lone tree at Pico De Arierio. From where we were staying this would require a 4:30am start and a reasonable schlepp to get in position for sunrise - quite the prospect after a couple of days with a high foot count and lots of travel.

Committed as we were, the early alarm called, and with only some mild cajoling on my part, we were out the door and in the car in no time. Driving up the mountain to the car park it looked like we might be out of luck as it was very clear, but as we went higher, and higher, and higher still, we were soon in thick cloud/fog. This was great for Matt's vertigo but not for the potential photography.

However it wasn't long before we were walking above the clouds and I have to say, there can't be many more beautiful hikes as this one - the scenery far surpassed my expectations. What wasn't quite so welcome was the sight of the intended tree on it's side - likely fallen down in some high winds they had experienced a few weeks earlier. Not wanting to miss out, I set myself to mountain goat mode and rock hoped the precarious slopes to get in positions for some shots.

I took a few photographs I was pleased with before the cloud receded, and although the light didn't hit exactly as I'd hoped, I don't think we could have asked for better conditions, especially as we were only there for one morning.

Given how lucky we'd been so far with conditions we thought it was worth a final go at Fanal, however on day 3 the good fortune we'd had from rubbing Cristiano's nose at the airport ran out, and I at least got to see the wood without fog. We spent a couple of hours taking photos of frogs before calling time on the photography.

And so with that there was nothing else left to do then drink some Poncha and celebrate a successful trip! At this point I made my biggest mistake of the holiday so far by not packing before the alcohol consumption began, and after which I may have inadvertently thrown my passport in the bin. My flight was before the others, and I also had to return the hire car, so it was with quite a scary morning as I made my way to the airport 'sans' passport.

After an incredibly brief discussion with airport staff, I can confirm that you cannot board an easy jet flight without a passport, even if the car hire guy says you can. In reality you have to get to Lisbon on the mainland and visit the embassy to try and get a temporary document. All very expensive. Luckily on this occasion, Matt Dixon overcame his vertigo and heroically retrieved the passport from the bin, and so in the end my misadventure only cost me a new flight and a couple of weeks in the doghouse at home.

Thoughts on Maderia...

What a stunning place - I can see why it is a popular destination for outdoorsy people - the scenery is as good as I've seen anywhere and facilities at the various destinations of a good standard. The roads are an adventure but also feats of engineering, and it's still reasonably affordable to visit, even if you have to book an extra flight home.

Fanal forest was as amazing in the fog as I'd imagined, but there are some caveats - the main section is incredibly busy during the day, and you can see the result of this over tourism via damaged trees, worn grass and car parks full to the brim. You wonder how sustainable this kind of footfall really is for the forest, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are moves to limit visitors in the future (not forgetting the irony of me being part of the problem as a visitor myself).

However, if you head away from the main section there are pockets of woods that are far less busy and crammed full of character trees and amazing forest. I just wish I'd explored these a bit more on day 2 when my motivation was a bit lower.

Pico De Arierio was incredible - but this was another spot that got very busy. We were so early we missed the hoardes, but I would imagine at more polite times of day you'd struggle to match the tranquil sunrise we enjoyed. You also need to pay for using the trail, so make sure you have some kind of payment method with you (they had a sum-up machine when I was here)

I went for 4 nights (3 days proper) and that was just about ok as we got lucky with conditions, but I would have loved longer to explore some of the less well trodden paths and complete some of the levada walks, but that will have to be for another trip.

This was my first dedicated photo trip I'd been on, and I did struggle at times with the amount of photography - my back got a bit hurty and i was very sleepy for some of it, however we got the balance right with the après photography in the end - passport miss-adventure not withstanding!

We stayed at the Casa Camara (booked via Booking.com) in Arco Da Calheta, on the south west of the island, about 1 hour or so from the airport and about 25 minutes from Fanal. It slept four comfortably and was perfect for what we needed. The town had a couple of decent eating/drinking spots and a local supermarket. As it's Madeira it was very hilly! If you wanted to explore the rest of the island a place closer to Funchal might be better, just because it's less time in the car.

For my next blog I might try and tackle how on earth I won the Intimate Landscape category of the Natural Landscape Photography Awards!

xx