Levada walk

After a few days in the island today had a walk up in the mountains through the levadas.

Levada channel of water

Levadas are water highways

Madeira has no shortage of water there are hardly any crops that go without irrigation. The greater the altitude the more it rains.

Below the village of Porto da Cruz

And on the North Coast it rains much more than the south. From the early days of colonisation water was sourced in the mountains and taken by means of Levadas (((watercourses))) to the farmers.

Levadas follow an almost flat route with areas where the levada branch off taking the water to the land. Water distribution is overseen by levadeiros who diverte the water to reach it’s destination.

Each farmer is allocated a set time of water every so many days sometimes it can be at night sometimes even in the middle of the night to direct the water to the land..

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