Remal trail head by road ER105.
| Remal from road ER105 Remal |
| Estimated net time | 10 minutes | ||
| Difficulty | Short and easy hike. | ||
| Drinking water | No stable access to running water. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (November 2014). | ||
| Parking | Room for several cars on the opposite side of the road from start of path. | ||
| Start height | 1290 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 30 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 0.6 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From Madeira's capital Funchal drive road VR1 west to junction 1 and follow signs for "Sao Vicente". Drive 4.8 km and turn left towards "Encumeada". Drive 5.7 km and turn left towards Serra da Paul in the pass at Encumeada. From here drive just over 11 km and turn sharp right onto the road signed for "Estanquinhos". From here continue another 12.2 km to where you have a small car park on the left hand side of the road, and a path starting on the right hand side. This is 370 metres after a road goes off to the left.
Start your hike by following the path on the right hand side. The path soon turns right and takes you up to the small summit plateau, where you find some masts and a small building. Turn left and head across to the concrete summit cairn.
Descend by reversing your ascent route.
Our plan this Wednesday was to drive up to Serra da Paul (the large mountain plateau west of the Madeira west/east divide), via Encumeada. But this got a major set-back when we got to a road block 300 metres above the intersection at Encumeada. It was obvious that the road was closed, so we turned around and asked at the souvenir shop if they knew anything. The (English speaking) guy at the shop told us there had been a land slide and that the road was likely to be closed for several days. He also told us that the road was closed approximately 1 km from Encumeada and that the road was open from the other side to the where the land slide had happened. We had a quick discussion about what to do, and after a few second concluded that we would drive down to Sao Vicente, west along the north coast to Porto Moniz, and then up to the plateau.
By the time we reach Remal trail head it was pouring down, and it was also quite windy, but I was still determined to make the short hike up to the summit, while Elisabeth was being more sensible and wait in the car. After having rushed back to the boot of the car and found the rain gear, and then putting it on inside the car, I was on my way. The hike itself was straight forward, and I'm sure on a nice day the summit offers excellent views across the ridge and the plateau. As it was now I only had a few tens of metres of visibility, and was happy to take one summit photo without the camera getting soaking wet.'
Back at the car I put my rain jacket to dry across the back of the driver's seat before we headed towards the next target of the day; Ruivo do Paul.