Levada do Curral e Castelejo

Madrei

Ribeira dos Socorridos SE Faja Escura N 32°43.600 W 16°58.050 ca. 520 m a.s.l.

Course

The Levada do Curral e Castelejo can be divided into 4 sections:

Section 1: From the Madre to the crossing with the road to Terra Cha. View of the levada from the last bend before the crossing, crossing with the road,

Section 2: From the road crossing, mostly dry, high above the Socorridos valley, a short tunnel that can be bypassed, a 2nd tunnel behind a waterfall, a levada waterfall, 1 crux with the levada broken off at an exposed spot, Faja de Dentro (ruined hamlet), a reed passage above Faja — there used to be a path to Faja as a bypass — Faja; from here a path once bypassed the Faja bowl to Casa Perreira, but the bowl is accessible today thanks to the winding tunnel

Section 3: From the winding tunnel with flowing water (now with an intake above the tunnel) in a very damp gallery past Casa Perreira to the end of the Lombo dos Teres Paus (there the end of the Levada do Lombo)

Section 4: A section covered with concrete slabs down into the valley floor of the Ribeira Arvoredo and back again, in places an open course once more, Vereda da Santa Quiteria, Travessa da Santa Quiteria, Vereda dos Alecrins, past the Madeira-Shopping-Center, Caminho do Poco Barral, splitting into 2 terminal branches:

Terminal branch 1: Levada do Pico do Funcho, junction, along the Caminho do Pico do Funcho and the end. Further information from the Caminheiros Anonimos da Madeira

Terminal branch 2: Levada do Poco Barral junction, through banana plantations to the Caminho do Esmeraldo, continues piped and crosses the VE-1, on through a banana plantation to the end on the Rua Dr. Bareto. Here the traces disappear; the water is distributed underground.

End

Side branch 1: Virtudes ca. 200 m a.s.l., side branch 2: Pico do Funcho ca. 230 m a.s.l.

Function and use

Irrigation of the western districts of Funchal; the flow is now only maintained from the tunnel at the Faja bowl onwards! The water is taken above the gallery tunnel in the gorge and led into the tunnel in pipes. The intake is reached by the steps alongside the water pipe.

Access

Section 1:

• The Madre can be reached pathless from the road from Curral das Freiras to Faja Escura

• In 2 places the levada can be reached by small paths

• At the village square in Curral das Freiras turn left towards Terra Cha; at the fourth hairpin the levada passes under the road

Section 2: Access only from Curral, or via section 3!

Section 3:

• Access via section 2

• On old maps a path is marked from Casa Perreira down to the Levada dos Piornais. The start from below can be made out; from above every possible piece of path is overgrown and, for the moment, no longer walkable

• Access via the end of the Lombos dos Tres Paus. To here either via the ER-107 (bus stop!)

• Via the Caminho de Santa Quiteria

• Continue on the ER-107 beyond the houses and turn off at the second hairpin on the left (downhill), down the small steep road over the Lombo dos Tres Paus to the end, and park (see geocaching.com)

Section 4:

• Lombo dos Tres Paus in the direction of flow

• Santa Quiteria

• Madeira Shopping

• Crossing points, see above

Condition

Section 1: Out of service, no maintenance! In places in surprisingly good condition, especially around the cultivated fields, and still used in part as a path. In places the whole slope has slipped away with the levada, and then it becomes very dangerous in places. Not a pleasure walk!

Section 2: Very dangerous, the path partly destroyed, no maintained flow of water, only water here and there by chance. Only for walkers with absolutely sure footing and a head for heights. You get the feeling that work keeps being done on the levada (railings, landslide protection)

Section 3: Demanding, and very damp in the Faja bowl. The path is relatively well protected with railings; sure footing and a head for heights required!

Section 4: Concrete slabs from Lombo dos Tres Paus, then an easy walk

Remarks

The pictures shown, from 2008, do not match the present condition. Since 2009 the flow in the levada above the Faja bowl has no longer been maintained. The Madre south of Faja Escura has disappeared in a landslide. If no local people or geocachers have been along for some time, getting through is not possible (for example 2012). In 2013 we were able to walk the levada again along its whole length; some places, though, are quite awkward and have to be approached with great care and respect. In Curral das Freiras the levada is walkable after the crossing with the road as far as the landslide shortly before the former Madre

For us, one of the finest levada adventures for adrenaline, views and variety. Alongside walking the southern branch of the Levada do Norte and the path from the Balcoes to the Madre of the Levada do Juncal, one of the great, impressive, but also very demanding levada works on Madeira!