Levada do Desembarcadouro

Madrei

Ribeira do Machico N 32°44.174 W 16°47.657 ca. 170 m a.s.l.

Course

Originally the levada ran from the Madre in the Ribeira de Machico to below the Pico do Facho, almost to the cliff above the fort. Today the course seems to be interrupted in 2 places, and new inflows keep the water moving.

Section 1: From the old Madre, well hidden in the stream bed of the Ribeira de Machico, between houses and partly piped to the Caminho da Igreja, past the church of Ribeira Grande and about another 50 metres, then the water is led into a stream that runs down to the Ribeira de Machico.

Section 2: From the first water outlet, old pieces of levada, some of them ruined, are still visible for about 100 metres; when the path climbs to the east, the traces disappear. The levada can no longer be followed here. This section can be bypassed either on a bypass path or down in the valley

Section 3: At the point N 32°44.117 W 16°47.332 water flows from the north, probably an outlet from the Levada do Canical. Here the levada runs through fields with a good path alongside, then a little raised above the valley with a fine view of the other side of the valley as far as Ribeira Seca. From here northwards, partly piped between rows of houses. The levada ends abruptly in a stream bed that empties into the Ribeira Seca. If you go back a little, you can drop on the Caminho do Amparo to the Estrada Nova da Ribeira Seca and walk about another 120 metres north; there you come to a bridge, where section 4 begins.

Section 4: Before the bridge just mentioned, the levada comes out of the stream course of the Ribeira da Noia. It is piped at first, then a little overgrown, and has its Madre a few metres further back in the stream bed. It passes under the bridge in a pipe and comes to the surface again about 30 metres to the east. From here it is first a classic open levada, then in a wall, later piped, and then in the wall of the road below the church of Ribeira Seca. From here it is open again as far as the tunnel portal of the VE 1. The water disappears into a pipe and is led back into the open levada on the other side of the motorway. First across fields, then a crossing of the ER 109, again past houses and fields to the Caminho do Lorano, here into a small lane, and then it disappears, piped, under a stream bed.

This spot can be bypassed on the road; the levada then continues to the Rua do Pescador and from here on eastwards under the Pico do Facho. The concrete path ends; the levada goes on as a meadow levada past a metal frame on which fireworks and torches are presumably fixed and set off. A little later the active levada ends.

Section 5: Here the levada is no longer in service. It goes on, first with intact concrete channels, relatively exposed around a rock nose; then only remains are visible in places, some of them surprisingly well preserved, and then again not visible for longer stretches. The fields here are hardly used any more. The traces end about 10 metres before the cliff below the Pico do Facho; here you meet the overgrown path from the Forte de Nossa Senhora do Amparo, where João Gonçalves Zarco set foot on Madeira in 1419, to the Pico do Facho.

End

Sítio do Desembarcadouro 60 m a.s.l.

Function and use

Irrigation of the fields in Ribeira Seca, Poco do Gil, Paraiso Graca and of the fields below the Pico do Facho above Machico.

Access

• Bridge of the Caminho da Igreja in Ribeira Grande

• Bridge over the Ribeira de Maroços

• Bridge over the Ribeira de Maroços

• Bridge over the Ribeira de Maroços in Fazenda

• Road from Fazenda to Ribeira Seca

• Road from Fazenda to the Igreja de Ribeira Seca

• Crossing with the ER109 in the direction of flow or crossing with the ER109 against the direction of flow

• Crossing with regional roads in Poço da Gil and Paraiso

• Crossing with the road to the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Machico

• Path from the Pico do Facho to the Forte de Nossa Senhora do Amparo

Condition

Easy; the terminal branch is somewhat poorly maintained; the rock nose is only for those with a head for heights; in places the trodden path can only be guessed at

Remarks

A finely sited, little-known levada on the left side of the Ribeira de Machico, below the well-known Levada do Canical. After that it runs through inhabited ground and, at the end, with views right to the finish above the bay of Machico. In Poco do Gil, Ribeira Seca and Paraiso, though, you are faced with a rubbish problem; it is rather irritating, the things lying about!