Levada do Caniço (de Baixo)

Madrei

Ribeira do Porto Novo N 32°41.100 W 16°50.250 ca. 250 m a.s.l.

Course

Immediately after the Madre a small gorge, which can be bypassed; the waterfall passage has to be bypassed below; then a narrow, fairly dangerous passage; then through the fields and the woods above the Ribeira do Porto Novo, over a levada bridge and through a short tunnel.

At the Estrada dos Moinhos you come to a large reservoir and a ruined water mill (Moinho da Escuna).

On, first piped, with relics of the old water mills Moinho Feliciano and Moinho Sao Pedre, and then to an old water house that diverts the flow into a horizontal and a vertical terminal branch.

End

Assomada ca. 200 m a.s.l.

Function and use

Irrigation of the area around Assomada

Access

• Camacha (via Salgados)

• Start of the descent at the tunnel of the Levada dos Tornos below Camacha (see the map)

• Road from Moinhos to Salgados

• Cabeco dos Moinhos

Condition

Easy to moderate as far as the turn-off to Camacha, then some awkward, narrow and exposed passages, and a waterfall passage. The Madre area is fairly dangerous if you follow the levada strictly!

Remarks

Appearances are deceptive: even though this levada does not lie in the mountains, it still has everything that makes a levada walk so fascinating: a tunnel (admittedly only 1 tunnel, and a relatively short one), a levada bridge, waterfalls that have to be bypassed, and a gorge around the Madre that is not entirely straightforward to walk!

If you limit the walk to the stretch from Camacha to Assomada, it is relatively easy, which does not mean you should underestimate it!

A good alternative when it is raining in the mountains, or they are fog-bound!