The Summit Ridge

Roam and I were up at 6.30 am to do some more early morning photography, hoping to catch the light on the summit ridge from the mountain road over from Encumeada. It didn't look promising as we ascended into thick cloud and rain. Roam held to the faith, we went around a few hairpins and the fog started to disperse. The sun came out, momentarily, along with a rainbow. We were in a gap between two layers of cloud. It did at least mean that I managed to get a view of the summit ridge I'd been hoping to run the previous day. If you go large, it's possible to see the radar dome at the top of Pico do Arieiro in the far distance, centre right. 

We took the mountain road almost to the top before turning around to explore more of the northern coast, picking up where we left off on Roam's first day. We stopped to visit Sao Vicente, Boa Ventura, Sao Jorge, Faial and Porto Da Cruz. This side of the island is not developed on anything like the same scale as the south, mainly because the steep-sided mountains don't offer much opportunity. After yesterday's efforts I was happy to let Roam enjoy driving the quiet roads and chill out with lots of short stops for photography and/or coffee, getting a feel for the places I want to revisit with the aim of exploring the landscape more deeply.  

For our final evening, we found a small Irish sports bar showing the Man Utd v Leeds game, postponed from earlier in the season. With Leeds not yet having appointed a new head coach, I'd never seen Roam with less enthusiasm for a game of football. He was dreading the place being filled with gloating Manchester fans. As it turned out, we had a room to ourselves, enjoyed some fine football and good food - and a 2-0 advantage well into the second half. It looked like the perfect end to our holiday. It wasn't quite to be. Conceding two goals at the end made it feel like a loss, but we would have taken a point before the game.