Levada das Figueiras

Course

The old Madre is well hidden in the stream bed of the Ribeira de Machico, around the bridge of the Caminho da Igreja above the viaduct of the VE 1 in Ribeira Grande. The ribeira is lined with concrete here, and the levada first runs along the southern side edge of the channelled bed of the Ribeira. From the Estrada dos Maroços it is clearly visible here. Later it crosses under the Estrada dos Maroços into the road ditch on the right as seen from Maroços. Here it runs sometimes clearly beside the road, sometimes piped or open in the road ditch. After a few hundred metres it disappears into a road gully and pours back into the Ribeira de Machico.

From here the levada channel is dry. Further east, from the roadside, you can see the relatively new Madre in the Ribeira de Machico. Here too the water is led through under the road and comes out on the uphill side in the road ditch, in a levada channel that (as of May 2019) seems to have been newly built. First in the road ditch, then it climbs slightly sideways in the concrete retaining works of the road, which here has a distinctly steeper gradient (here it is clearly recognisable). After that it runs a short way through the fields above the road, then comes a very exposed section above the fields and the houses (here only just visible). The levada also seems to have been partly covered recently; at the hardest spots, though, you have to squeeze along the little levada wall under the overhang. Without the cover it was not possible to get through here before; see the impressions in the report by the Caminheiros Anonimos da Madeira.

After that it continues, still exposed, as far as the tunnel portal of the VR1 towards Caniçal, to the south. Here it disappears into a pipe and continues on the other side as an open levada.

This stretch can be bypassed by a path to the Caminho Quinta de Sant'Ana and by a descent after the tunnel portal back to the levada.

Then it crosses the Caminho Quinta de Sant'Ana and leads under the motorway bridge. From here it runs in a kind of siphon and as a pipe through the drainage ditch to the other side of the motorway slip road, and there, below the motorway bridge of the VE 1, along the Vereda da Levada das Figueiras back towards Machico. There it winds between the detached houses of the districts of Torre and Serra de Agua, where it runs close to the ER 108 from Machico towards the Portela pass and can also be spotted from that road here. Here it ends unspectacularly in a hole and cannot be followed any further.

End

Machico ca. 70 m a.s.l.

Function and use

Irrigation of the districts of Fazenda, Torre and Serra de Agua above Machico

Access

• The logical access to the levada in the upper part is the Estrada dos Maroços, which the levada follows.

• Later in Fazenda it crosses various side roads

• Also access in Torre and Serra de Agua from various side streets that cross to the ER 108

Condition

Easy, though the exposed spot is suitable only for experienced levada walkers!

Remarks

A levada that is spectacular in parts and quiet in others, with changing fine views of Machico. An interesting course in the Maroços valley