Levada do Cedro Gordo

Madrei

Header tank on the Levada das Cruzinhas N 32°45.100 W 16°53.100 ca. 340 m a.s.l.

Course

The Levada do Cedro Gordo can be divided into 2 sections:

Section 1:

From the header tank (Madre) a pipe runs steeply towards the Ribeira da Metade, and the stream is crossed on a long pipe. From there it continues piped, and passes under the gravel track to the Faja da Nogueira power station. The levada runs along the track towards the ER-103 and, before reaching it, turns the corner towards Ribeiro Frio on a wall that gains height, then an increasingly lower wall and an underpass of the ER-103.

Section 2:

The continuation can be reached with a short scramble over the boundary stones of the ER-103. It runs somewhat exposed above the Ribeira da Metade as far as a path that leaves the ER-103, then on through the fields of a small hamlet to the junction with the road that branches off the ER-103 and crosses the old bridge by the Hotel Moinho do Comandante. From the other side of the valley you have to turn off here.

The levada continues, at first pleasantly in the woods, then a passage over a new bridge, beside which the predecessor can be admired falling apart. It becomes increasingly narrower and more exposed; 2 tight passages can be bypassed on a path. In between there is again a somewhat flatter stretch with cultivated fields, then very exposed through a first short tunnel, still exposed on to the two highlights, the ultra-narrow tunnels, which have to be passed with some contortion! After that it gets gradually easier, and it ends on the Rua da Bela Vista, which the levada still follows, partly piped, in the roadside ditch as far as the ER-217.

End

Pico do Cedro Gordo ca. 300 m a.s.l.

Function and use

Water supply for the area below Faja Grande, Faja do Cedro Gordo and the area around Sao Roque do Faial

Access

Section 1:

• To the Madre via the Levada das Cruzinhas

• From the ER-103

Section 2:

• Over the boundary stones of the ER-103 (see above); stones are set into the stone wall in the traditional Madeiran way, sticking out a little and allowing an easy descent

• The first somewhat exposed part can be skipped by joining later from the ER-103

• Access via the road from the ER-103 to Faja Grande

• Pico do Cedro Gordo from the Rua da Bela Vista

Condition

The path is partly muddy, exposed and unprotected, and includes some narrow rock passages that call for a certain flexibility. Sure footing and a head for heights required!

Remarks

The appeal of this levada is the narrow tunnels near the end, shortly before Pico do Cedro Gordo, which are genuinely exciting to walk.

Also special is the Madre on the Levada das Cruzinhas and the pipe connection across the Ribeira Metade

The view across to the opposite side of the valley is splendid, with the exposed rock passage of the Levada das Cruzinhas