It's my birthday next week (not hooray) but we're heading off for some winter sun in Madeira. We've never been there before but following a friend's enthusiasm for the island and a forecast of warm sun in the midst of our freezing winter we booked in the New Year.
The flight was interesting as I had the middle seat between Colin in the aisle seat and an extremely nervous Madeiran man in the window seat! After he crossed himself on take off, he proceeded to check his watch continually and count £50 notes in his wallet at least 5 times during the flight. As we came into land (and Colin told me all about how dangerous it was going to be as we flew very close to the mountains), the man clung to the seat in front with his eyes closed. Once we landed he clapped and clapped which made me think that it must have been very dangerous as he had obviously done it before!!
Then onto a very long queue for the hire car - during which a man in a wheelchair was wheeled to the front of the queue and then walked away with no problem once he had his car - and the issue of a rather underpowered 1.2 litre Nissan Micra we set off. The sun was setting and it was very warm.
I have never known a place with so many tunnels but with my excellent navigation (and the SatNav) and Colin's driving we arrived safely around 8.00pm. Our apartment in Paul do Mar is stunning and is overlooking the little harbour although as it is pitch black we have no real idea of the view.
