Spring in Madeira 2014 - On we go!

Oh, how am I supposed to start this post? There is a LITTLE something to explain. My friends on Facebook already know for the most part what happened. But there are not just a few who are not on Facebook and I owe them, I think so, a brief explanation. As many people have noticed, no new video has been uploaded for over 1 1/2 years. Many people feared that I would be sick, or that I would no longer dwell among the living. Well, I live and my health is currently also quite good.

What happened?
Life has happened. I do not want to publicly spread the details here for a variety of reasons and also to protect the privacy of a particular person. What happened to me is certainly not something that anyone, somewhere in the world would be proud to tell. It is also not that something like that just happens to me, but it happens to people around the world at any time. Only, the way HOW it happened to me was so hard for me to take, that it killed my complete creative energy. You could say, it killed my life power. From autumn 2015 to the end of 2016, I was in a state of unbelievable emptiness and futility. Nothing was important or interesting for me. My soul was dead. Reads bad? It was bad!

How are things now?
Much better. It was quite difficult, but I would say that I am at least 50% restored. And it goes on. At present, I think that the best I can do is simply continue to work on my dreams - harder than I have ever done - to achieve my goals. There is a lot of stuff that stacked up on my todo list. Much has been badly damaged eg. ceased to exist during the short period of my "absence". So there is a lot to do. And I notice with every step back to normality, I am getting better.

New video?
Well, you have not subscribed to the channel? Otherwise you must have already received a notification 2 days ago in the evening. The video was uploaded already 2 days ago. However, Youtube again changed something nice at the process of publishing videos and until yesterday evening, I was busy to grasp the whole thing and to put it to use. With the video below, we are continuing the ETERNAL "Madeira 2014" series. This time we are hiking again through the outskirts of Funchal, from Curral dos Romeiros to Terreiro da Luta. There is, of course, a lot of nature to see, a breathtaking panorama view of Funchal and a sacral monumental work, the "Nossa Senhora do Paz". Here is the video:

Soundtrack:
The soundtrack this time is again from a alionsonny classic album. It is the album "Reggae?" from 2009. If you like it, you can buy it on all online music sites like iTunes (CLICK!) or GooglePlay (CLICK!). Of cause it is also available on all streaming services, such as Spotify (CLICK!). Here's the track list:

00:00 - Life goes ON!
05:19 - Springtime 2009
11:06 - Aquatic Dub
16:45 - Summertime 2008

What's next?
We actually still have a full part of this eternal series. Then comes the traditional aftermath in the form of another part. Then this series is FINALLY finished. After that? Oh, don't ask. There is still so much to show. What did I say about "a lot to do"? ;) So: First after finishing the Madeira 2014 series comes the, long promised, bike trip to the North Sea. Then we were already back to Madeira in 2015 and then we recently visited Cyprus for 2 weeks. We have so much video material that it is enough for at least one year, even if I would solely produce videos ... but I can't do this.

Ok, I apologize again for the long time of nothingness. Was not my choice. I will do my best to keep you provided with new videos in the future.

New Video: Bike Ride Hamburg - Schaalsee 2015 - Last part!

Nice clouds

It slowly becomes a habit, that the new video is announced on the blog, days after the upload. There's lots of stuff to do. We did it again: Another bike ride series is finished. And in retrospect I think that, except for a few weak moments, the result is acceptable. And despite the disappointing east side of the lake, I am planning already to return to the area around Zarrentin, Mölln and Ratzeburg. Why? Because some locals told me, after watching the series, that I missed some important places. That's what always happens, and therefore I must visit each and every place at least twice.

Me on the town square of BÄÄÄÄLAU!

The Plot
Firstonce I would like to  apologize to those who do not appreciate the long monologues by yours truly. In plain English: I really talk a lot in this final part of the epic saga of my bike ride in the year of our Lord 2015 to the shores of Schaalsees. I don't know what happened there, but somehow I was very talkative. This together with the fact that I always do not film much on the way home, ensures that a large part of the video consists of me talking into the camera. Nevertheless, this video will be entertaining for one or two people. Let's see. The first comments are quite nice. Furthermore, I am sorry that the video is somewhat short. I thought it would be longer, but after the editing, what we have now is what remained. And that's what?

We start where we left off last time: At the bridge over the dreaded Elbe-Lübeck canal in the outskirts of Mölln. From there we ride straight to the the world-famous village BÄÄÄLAU (!!!). I know that the use of the, not really funny, Bääälau idiocy is a bit exaggerated, but I could not help it. In Bälau I rest on the picturesque town square where I talk for a long time about Coke in plastic bottles, alternative feeding methods and much more. Then we continue on to Trittau, where I arrive just before closing time and thus loot a 4-pack of finest beer. Accordingly, the next talk-o-mania is not be long in coming. Shortly after Trittau I placed myself on a meadow, and talked again a lot of weird stuff. After only two video settings you see me then AGAIN, and this time in absolute fatigue Zombie mode. And what else? Well, that's it!

Nice evening mood in a forest near Grossensee.

The Soundtrack
 ... comes, once again, from the album "Continuity by alionsonny which, inter alia,  is available for purchase on iTunes (CLICK HERE!) and Google Play (CLICK HERE!), just in case you liked the music. For more links to sources, see the homepage of the album on the alionsonny homepage. The soundtrack in detail:

• 00:00 - Going Bonkers
• 05:04 - Drunken Joe in Love
• 09:40 - Talking Cat
• 14:37 - Madeira

alionsonny - Continuity - Coverart

What's next? 

Next comes the third part of the 13th day of the Madeira Series from 2014, in which we are being chased by dogs, I find Jesus and we visit old friends. And after that starts the epic 7-day bike ride to the North Sea from August 2015. I really look forward to this series, because judging from the video content I examined so far, it looks like this will become the best AlionLive series so far. Would be bad, if not. But now, as always, have fun with the video!

New Madeira 2014 Video: Hiking the Levada dos Tornos!

It is a T and not a P ;)

No, this video is not really new, at least for my friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter. It has been uploaded already almost a week ago. However, a personal problem  kept me from writing the usual blogs and promote the video properly. And then there was also Christmas, when I, like every year, tried unsuccessfully not to participate ;). Anyway: If you missed the video, this blog is certainly a welcome reminder.

Somewhere on the Levada

The Plot

This is the second part of three on the penultimate full day in 2014 on Madeira. After we hiked from Aguas Mansas south to the Levada dos Tornos in the last part, this time we hike for quite a time along it. As already in the last part I was extremly silly, which probably was due to two rather strong ponchas and also because of our generally great mood on that day. The silliness is already noticeable in the intro. I really thought for some time about whether I should leave the bad joke about the "Levada dos Pornos" in the video at all. Yes I am indeed a friend bad jokes. But contrary to an overwhelming number of other Youtubers I spare my audience usually with sexual jokes and innuendo. Just not my style ... usually. So don't panic: This will not become a habit ;). On the Levada we hiked through a countless number of smaller and larger tunnels. The highlight here is a small cave vault, whose former purpose will probably remain a secret forever. Also some "banned ceans" have been consumed again and, quite irresponsible, we also had a beer on the Levada. The shaky camera is also prominently present again. So, dear viewers with inclination to dizziness: Better not watch this, or just turn off / fast forward when the shaky cam parts start. At the end we end up in Camacha, where we didn't really wanted to go. There I placed the thematically appropriate end of this episode, because Camacha is where we left the Levada dos Tornos and started the descent to the coast.

At work in the mysterious cave vault

The Soundtrack

... comes as as in the last part from the alionsonny album "Dub Antiquities". I apologize specifically to everyone who generally does not like Reggae, or my special flavor of it. I do this, as already mentioned in the last blog, at the request of some viewers. And the desire of my audience is my command. And besides this, I at least try to present the works of my three music projects equally in the videos. But if you are one of those who like those dusty early works of yours truly, and if you do not already have "Dub Antiquities", I would be exorbitantly happy, if you would buy it on iTunes (CLICK HERE!) or Google Play (CLICK HERE!). Each and every cent will be invested in new equipment and / or tasty beer. Big promise! Oh yes, of course the album is not only available on the two platforms mentioned above, but also in any well-stocked shop for music. It is also available on streaming services. Since the revenue, for example, from Spotify, unfortunately is a bad joke, I would personally recommend to purchase a download. So, enough talk, here as always, the soundtrack in detail:

• 00:00 Mountain Biking on Mars
• 04:05 Fya Pon Everything
• 09:25 Revolution NOW!
• 14:16 Versionist Dub
• 18:25 Drunken Joe In Space

alionsonny - Dub Antiquities cover art

What's next?

Because of the forementioned personal problems, we will not be able to finish the series "Spring on Madeira" this year still. I'm sorry - I planned that differently. But before the third part of the day 13, it is again the Schaalsee bike ride's turn. And I shiver when I think about editing the next part of it, because this last part of the series is very text heavy. And this means, I have to write plenty of subtitles. In this final part we ride from Mölln via Trittau right back to Hamburg. Since the fore mentioned personal problem is anything but over, it may take a while before the next video is uploaded. I'll do my best! But for now have lots of fun with the current video.

"Reunion with Mölln" - New video of the Schaalsee bike ride!

Mölln in best weather

Here is the penultimate part of the Schaalsee bike ride series. Actually, the video was already finished a few days ago, but since it took a bit longer this time for the last video to reach the 50 Views threshold, I made it public just now. On this occasion I want to explain briefly why I wait with publishing a new video until the last one got at least 50 views: First gives me the time to work comfortably and thoroughly. Secondly, videos are easily overlooked when I upload them very quickly. The best example of this is my very old videos. These have, even though they are up to five years online, partly not yet reached 100 Views. This is because in the early days of AlionLive, I uploaded videos very quickly one after the other. Apparently people always watch only the latest videos on a channel. And if the valued audience has to scroll to click on a video, that appears to be too much work. The result is that the video gets very little views, is therefore classified by Youtube as "less relevant", and is less frequently delivered to users as a search result. This means then that the video gets even fewer views compared to the most recent ones. I hope I could somehow describe that in an understandable fashion. No, the 50 views border is not a "punishment for the lazy audience" ;).

View from the camp of the previous night.

The Plot
... is quite easy to describe this time: After a restful night, protected by various Horsts, I was woken by the sound of a nearby tractor. A view outside showed me that a farmer was preparing to irrigate the nearby, newly planted, fields. Since my tent stood in the entrance to such a field, I was worried it would be run over by the tractor. And so I left in quite a hurry. By now I had decided to cross the dreaded Elbe-Lübeck Canal near Mölln. Because I feared, that I would otherwise not reach home this day, I actually planned to bypass Mölln this time. However, the weather was great, the view of the city from the lake from was so picturesque, that I decided to pay Mölln another, detailed, visit. So I filmed even more parts of the historic old town. Much should be familiar to viewers of part 3 of the video series on the bike ride to Mölln and Ratzeburg in 2013. After that, I also visited the St. Nicolai Church. This is what I missed in 2013 for some unknown reason. Then I filmed myself through the old town to the, to me previously unknown, park where I rested a while. Then, early in the afternoon, I went on my way to the bridge across Elbe-Lübeck canal, where this part ends.

Lunch t the park

The Soundtrack
... is again from the 2014 released album "Continuity" by alionsonny, which I personally find pretty much accomplished. If you also think so, you maybe consider to buy the album on Google Play (CLICK HERE!), iTunes (CLICK HERE!) and many other well-stocked online stores for music. It is not really expensive :). And now, as always, the soundtrack in detail:

• 00:00 - Bulletproof
• 05:08 - BrainForest - Chapter III
• 10:04 - Nero d' Avola
• 15:02 - Flight of the Butterfly

alionsonny - continuity cover

What's next?
Next is again a part of the "Spring in Madeira" series. Also here we are slowly approaching the end. And after that, we are indeed already at the last part of the Schaalsee series. This part will, for unknown reasons,  be very text heavy. This means: I talk a lot. And I could curse me, for what I have done to myself. I only say: writing subtitles *happy..... not *. Despite of all the talk, I still arrived at home late in the evening.

But now, as always: Have fun with the video!

Spring in Madeira (2014) - Hike from Aguas Mansas to the Levada dos Tornos!

Why do I almost always have to blink when somebody takes a photo of me?

Here is the latest video from the series "Spring in Madeira" from 2014. And yes, we are approaching the end of the series. Maybe we can scratch it off the list this year still ;). In the ending text of the video I unfortunately wrote accidentally, that I would have already mentioned the reason why the video footage of day 13 is divided into 3 short parts on this blog. In fact I explained it only on the AlionLive Facebook page. I beg your pardon for any confusion and will, before I tell the plot of the video as always, catch up on the explanation now. The whole unedited material of day 13 is about 1 hour 20 minutes long. Initially I wanted to divide it into two parts. However, I would have had to place a very unpleasant episode cut in the middle of a hike along the Levada dos Tornos if I did this. But I like my episode cuts neatly on thematic boundaries. And this is only possible if I divide the material into three parts, namely:

• Part 1 - From Aguas Mansas to Levada dos Tornos
• Part 2 - Along the Levada dos Tornos to Camacha
• Part 3 - From Camacha to Garajau

And before anyone assumes again, I would do this to drive my small Youtube advertising revenue to immeasurable heights: No, it would not be worth it. I just say this: My monthly advertising revenue on YouTube is not even enough to pay the beer I drink during an AlionLive episode. And dividing the video into three instead of two parts doesn't change this significantly ;).

Lunch!

The Plot
Late in the morning of the 13th and penultimate full day of our trip we took the bus in the direction of Santo da Serra and planned to hop off somewhere between Camacha and Santo da Serra and then hike down to the coast in a southwesterly direction. The hike to the Levada dos Tornos had not yet been planned at this point, but it was a quite welcome addition. We left the bus in a small village called Aguas Mansas. Next to the bus stop we found a cozy Poncha bar with a very friendly owner, who didn't speak a word of English, but basic communication was possible. So we had lunch in the form of two very strong Ponchas. Then we started our hike, on which we experienced a real Flower-O-Rama. Therefore, this video consists to a large extent from recordings of many colorful flowers. The view from the road towards the Levada dos Tornos was impressive. Despite the quite foggy weather one could see all the way to the Ponta de Sao Lourenco and have a great view on the airport and the ocean. Due to the "Poncha mood" we were also not just a bit up for a lot of nonsense and discussed interesting topics such as "Beak Sauce" and insidious frogs, which lure unsuspecting goats into the Levadas, by imitating their bleating. A vocally gifted sheep and another one, which mastered "the art of not to be seen" as described by Monty Python perfectly, made everything just perfect.

A great view on the Ponta de Sao Lourenco, the airport and the ocean.

The Soundtrack
Because one or the other viewer asked me to once again use my special flavor of Reggae as the soundtrack, I did exactly this. And because I am a bit grumpy about  the contempt for the Willma Poppen Project works, I used the most ancient and dusty chestnuts from the album "Dub Antiquities". That's what comes of it! If there's anyone who should like what he / she hears, I deliver the usual buying links on GooglePlay (CLICK HERE!) And iTunes (CLICK HERE!). The rest of the links can be found on the official website of the album. The soundtrack in detail:

• 00:00 - Individuality
• 06:09 - Terra
• 11:47 - Malina Dub
• 18:14 - mountain biking on Mars

What's next?
First with the penultimate episode of "Bike ride on the Schaalsee" series. I owe this to the lovers of the bike ride videos. After that comes the nice long walk along the Levada dos Tornos.

But now I wish you, as always exorbitantly good entertainment with the current video!

Totally relaxed, along the lake! - A new video of the Schaalsee series!

The great view on the Schaalsee from the beer garden of the "Gasthof am See" in Seedorf.

We go on, and, as the title says: Totally relaxed. The west side of the lake was considerably shorter than the east side, as is already was apparent on the maps. And so I was able to ride along the whole west side on the fourth day of my ride.

Me during a traditional session of talking nonsense at the Priestersee.

The Plot
The day began near Dargow, when  I was rudely awakened by the sounds of three chainsaws. Someone thought it would be a good idea to cut down a nearby forest area. Because a look at the ceiling of the tent showed, that this was very wet with dew, I tried my best to ignore the sound... but  without success. The loudness of the chain saws and a certain concern that the gentlemen could even come up with the idea to cut down "my" part of the forest, drove me out of the tent. But anyway, I couldn't immediately take down the still wet tent. I had slept well and so I got on my way. I did not get far, because a few kilometers further, in Seedorf, my eye caught sight of an inn with a lovely beer garden with a spectacular view on the Schaalsee. How could I resist, because an inn offered but among other things the possibility to clean my face, which was awfully crusted with road dust, with some water and soap. Said and done. I strongly recommend this inn here. As I said: A beautiful view of the lake, very friendly service and reasonable prices (in a tourist region). If you want to visit it, then click here to visit the website of the "Gasthof am See" in Seedorf. Since I did not want to burden my small travel fund with a meal at the inn, I ate a kilo tin of white beans near the Priestersee. So I rode, now strengthened, down the entire lakeshore to Zarrentin. Once there, I made up for what I had missed shamefully during my first encounter with this nice small town: I visited it a little more in detail. Pretty soon I found a place near the Zarrentin monastery, with a beautiful lake view. I did not have to think very long to come to the conclusion that I would, after procurement of drinks and food, visit it again and have an extensive rest there. Then I went, very relaxed, on the first stage of my way home. So far I had not the slightest idea what route I would choose for this. And so I rode first towards Klein Zecher, talked quite a lot of nonsense there near a replica of the historic healing spring and a protohistoric ritual sacrificicial stone. And thereafter I rode further to the northwest into the land of Horsts. Between Horst, Alt-Horst and Neu-Horst I found a quiet place for the night and spent a restful night, guarded by all the Horsts standing guard around.

Food for champions: Banned Ceans!

The Soundtrack
... is this time from the 2014 released album "Continuity" by alionsonny. I find that the bastardized Reggae sound of this album perfectly fits with the images of a beautiful sunny day at the lake. The album is, as always, available for purchase in all well sorted online stores for music and I'd be very happy if as many of you would do this. Exemplary I would like to once again to name Google Play (CLICK HERE!) and iTunes CLICK HERE!) as recommended sources.

Here's again the soundtrack in detail (if, for example, you just want to purchase one or two of the tracks):

• 00:00 - A Sunny Day
• 04:53 - Pirates of Madeira
• 09:47 - The Storm
• 14:31 - Green Hills
• 19:13 - Ganja In The Jar

Of cause there's also beautiful flowers in this video. But just a few.

What's next?
Next, of course, is  a part of the 2014 "Spring in Madeira" series. This series has to get finished urgently! After that, we continue with the Schaalsee series. The next part is already about the last day of the trip. However, I have to split the video footage again into two parts, because the sheer amount of material would cause the dreaded excess length, which in turn would lead to a unnecessary delay of the upload of the next Schaalsee video. During the next part we ride to Mölln, yes Mölln again, and linger around there a bit. On the outskirts of Mölln we will then probably end the part. But I leave the decision about the nasty cut to the Future Sonny.

And now I wish you, as always, splendid fun with the latest video!

Here is the start of a new video series! Bike ride to the Schaalsee.

As mentioned in the last blog post, I went on a little bike ride in June again. And almost one month after the bike ride, we now finally get going!

The plot and stuff
Due to technical complications ... Awww!... I just dawdled, I got on the road late in the afternoon. However, I made it to just before Güster, almost 50 kilometers from Hamburg. I have no idea why I did do this to me on the first day and, as you will see in the next part, it would have been better if I didn't do it. Then this part also would have been maybe not so short. But after all it fills, including nearly 50% of talk, almost the targeted 20 minutes. Still, I would have liked to have filmed more, but this was prevented by me "eating kilometers". Still there are very beautiful landscape views. A highlight here was the impressive Mansion of Wotersen. It was probably the most detailed filmed of all the places I filmed during the whole tour. At the end of this part it was, as the title of the video ("To Güster, and then it gets dark") says, very dark near Güster. And so this part ends with very dark impressions of my night camp, including a not really perfectly set up tent.

The impressive Mainson of Wotersen. I just thought, that this would be the perfect residence for the Chaoslord ;)

The Soundtrack
Due to lack of new sound material, I had to resort to older stuff again. However, the 4 tracks (that could be heard already in some AlionLive videos) from the alionsonny album "Reggae?" fit very good with the visual material. Here is the soundtrack in detail:

• 00:00 - Summertime 2008
• 04:26 - Hamburg
• 09:56 - Travelling Lion
• 14:26 - Springtime 2009

If you like the music, and you do not already have bought the album, I would be very happy if you would support me a bit by buying it. No, I'm still not wealthy ;). Representing all online stores where the album is available, I put links here to the album on iTunes (CLICK!) and Google Play (CLICK!), because from sales there I get a bigger part than anywhere else ;).

A bit older (2010), but still fresh: alionsonny - Reggae?

What's next
So first I can say that this series will most likely have 5 parts. This is due to the fact, that I "magically" filmed about 20 to 30 minutes on each of the 5 days. Perfect! In the next part we ride from Güster on towards Zarrentin, where we arrive quite late. Due to technical problems regarding my body, I did ride less than usually on that day. That's all I want to tell now about the next part, which is already in progress, for "tension reasons".

Somewhere right in the middle of nowhere.

And what about Madeira?
Let's put it this way: It's slowly but surely progressing. The work on the Willma Poppen album is still quite extensive and has priority. Some peculiarities and the double length of the video delay the completion also. The main obstacle is, that I talk a lot in this video, which is causing an enormous amount of my always loved writing of subtitles. Well, man is his own worst enemy by the work he creates for himself and which would actually not be really necessary ;).

At the end of this part, in Güster, it went really dark. Good night!

 

Well, now have fun with the video! I know: It's not a highlight in AlionLive history, however, and I can already tell this, from Part 3 on we really get going!

New Video: Fancy a one-hour bus ride from Faial to Monte?

Yes, it's that time again: We ride the bus! And this time it is somewhat brutal. The quality of the road unfortunately caused even more shaky camera than usual. In addition, someone grabbed the seat at the front of the bus. To get a picture filling motif, I had to zoom a bit and that increased the shaky-cam-factor even more. As bad as this may read: I think it is bearable. And it is worth watching because of the following:

The Plot
Somehow the bus was going on a special route. So we drive for the first 20 minutes crisscross through Faial and the surrounding areas, and get to see beautiful views of the Eagle Rock and the surrounding landscape. Not your everyday  bus ride. After the special route it goes directly to Monte. Here we see a nice mixture of the possible weather conditions in Madeira. We start in Faial in slightly cloudy but sunny weather. The route takes us through Cruzinhas to Ribeiro Frio. Between Ribeiro Frio and Poiso we break through the clouds and it is adorably foggy. Shortly after Poiso we end up above the clouds and the sun makes one almost blind. And so it goes on, via the Parque Ecologico do Funchal until shortly before Terreiro da Luta, where we again take a dip in the clouds, until finally, just before Monte, we get a beautiful view of Funchal. On reaching the town sign of Monte, I stopped filming, because we already filmed the bus ride from Monte to Funchal in 2011. In addition, my wrist started to hurt from holding the camera aboard the shaky bus. This was also caused by a slight overuse of the wrist on the bus ride the day before. This is also the last bus ride video of this series.

The Soundtrack
One or the other asked to hear more from the unusual alionsonny album "Electronic Spacerock". And because the music fits great for bus rides, the soundtrack consists of almost the entire album. Almost only because there was simply no time for the last track. The soundtrack in detail:

• 00:00 80s 4 Ever
• 05:08 Never Born To Follow
• 10:11 Rise & Shine
• 15:01 Aurora Borealis
• 19:45 Sunrise
• 24:51 Days of Our Years
• 29:33 Fear No Evil
• 34:42 Gettin 'Old
• 39:11 Spacejourney Chapter Two
• 43:41 Forest
• 49:11 Flowers
• 54:30 Fire Dance

Of course, the album is also available in all well sorted online stores. Get it for YOUR bus ride in Madeira! Some of the links can be found on the homepage of the album on alionsonny.com.

What's next?

Next time we hike again. And what a hike this will be! I never did a hike like this one during all the times I've been in Madeira. It starts in Faial, from we hike to the hydroelectric power station, continue up the hill to the Pico Ruivo tunnel and through the tunnel below the Pico Ruivo to the Caldeirao do Inferno. Then we hike back via the Caldeirao Verde to Queimadas. Those of you who know Madeira, wil find it hard to believe that we managed to get all this done in one day. The sheer volume of video footage and photos taken during the hike forces me to divide this day in not less than 3 parts. But that's a story for another day. Now have a nice bus ride, and, as always, I wish you loads of fun!

Spring in Madeira continues: The Balcões and a hike to Faial!

Well, that was fast this time, eh? I told you that the new strategy with the video length of 20 minutes will work. And just as I mentioned earlier, I have to "put the pedal to the metal" a bit to complete this series for "specific reasons". Also, I have just missed to meet my "promise" to upload new videos if the most recent video has reached 50 views. When uploading the video, the previous one had 54 views. But what can I do, if you are so quick? ;)

The Plot
As promised, you will see the Balcões finally in this video. We start where we left off the last time: The entrance to the Balcões. And yes, I was a little annoyed by the very loud French tourists and their crying baby ;). It was much louder than it sounds in the video. Well, anyway the panoramic view from the Balcões was filmed extensively. For some, perhaps a bit too extensively. As I mention in the video, the view was impressive but not so overwhelming as I remembered it from the photos and videos on the Internet. But, and this I mention also, maybe I simply saw another lookout point. The one on the pictures and videos had the typical wooden railing. The Balcões have, as you can see in the video, a simple green metal railing. The time on the Balcões was definitely nice and it was a unique experience. After the extensive stay we actually did not know what to do next, because it was still early in the day. So we went back to Ribeiro Frio first and refreshed ourselves with a Cortado (coffee with Madeira wine). Here we took the bold decision to hike further to Faial and go from there back to Funchal by bus. Just FYI: The distance from Ribeiro Frio to Faial is almost half the distance from the south to the north coast. After a nice hike, two additional Coral Tonica and 2 Poncha we arrived in Faial in the early evening and caught, once again, the bus back to Funchal just in time.

The Soundtrack
...is this time, with one exception, from the current alionsonny album "Continuity". The exception to this is the pre-release version of a new alionsonny track.

What's next?
I had already announced that I still have A one-hour bus ride for you, and that comes as the next part. It will show the bus ride from Faial to Monte.

And now have lots of fun with the new video!

Spring in Madeira - Day 9 Part 1 is here!

This part is already one that is a little shorter than the announced 20 minutes. This starts good. You will agree that the timing for the cut at the end of the part is an absolutely perfect choice.

The Plot
A little later than planned on the day we start a hike from Ribeiro Frio to the world famous lookout point Balcões. To my greatest surprise and joy, this time I met Ribeiro Frio in bright sunshine. I was far more used the opposite in Ribeiro Frio, for example, on day 3, day 7 and day 8 of my trip in 2012. There was an accordingly immense tourism going on, and so I sometimes had a few problems to navigate my world famous shaky camera through the masses. However, there are wonderful views of nature, a little surprise in the form of an unexpectedly strong Poncha and accordingly much nonsense. You will not see the Balcões in this part, because I viciously placed the end-of-part cut right on the entrance to the Balcões. This is certainly not a highlight of the AlionLive entertainment, but you can not always top yourself ;). Again about the cliffhanger at the end: It was just the right place for the cut. If you watch the second part (probably with extra length), you will realize that an end-of-part cut wouldn't fit anywhere else. Nasty, but necessary.

The Soundtrack
...comes this time once more from older to ancient alionsonny albums. The titles have a strange resemblance. I do not know how this could happen. Why old music again? Because the new is not finished yet. I do not want to use the pre-release versions of the albums in progress again. Therefore I use older material. But soon, for a certain, very special, *giggle* episode, I'll present the new Willma Poppen album, maybe in full length.

What's Next
Of course you'll see the Balcões in the next part and, due to the nice weather, also spectacular views of it. Then we simply hike down to Faial... because we can. The next episode is, as already indicated, probably a little longer than 20 minutes.">

But now have fun with this video:

Fancy a one-hour bus ride in Madeira? Here you go!

Well, what's left to say about the latest "Spring in Madeira" video, that was not already said? The plot is fairly simple: A one-hour bus ride from the Ponta de São Lourenço to Funchal. This time the route is a little different than on the ride in 2012, and we even drive right through the airport... NO, not through the building. That would be bad ;) The weather is also alot better this, time and so the Sun blinded plentyful sometimes. The somewhat breathtaking driving of the bus driver made me a few times almost falling off the seat. It is not very easy to sit stable, if you can't hold on to something with both hands, because you hold a camera. One time, a rude person placed himself between the window and the camera and had a long conversation with the bus driver. Therefore I had to cut a part of the ride. There are people, who have the empathy of a concrete post ;). Everything is accompanied by works of the alionsonny project from 2004 to 2014. Detailed links to free and purchasable albums can be found in the video description, or just visit alionsonny.com. Yes, and that's actually all about this video. In the next part we go hiking again in Ribeiro Frio to the Balcoes. This time without a rain apocalypse.

Oh yes, one more thing. If you do not already know it: New videos will be uploaded from now on only, if the previous video has gotten at least 50 views. This is a little experiment and also i do not want videos to "get left behind", just because I upload too fast. So don't be surprised, if there's nothing new for some time.

And now have fun riding the bus!

AlionLive - Spring in Madeira - Day 7 - Finally we go on!

Yes, there was a long pause since day 6 and I'm kinda sorry, and the reasons are not important ;) Welcome back, myself! I have even waited with this blog entry until the two parts of the day 7 were done, so I can show you something real here in the blog, and not just one part. That would be inappropriate after the long wait.

Plot
On the 7th day of the Lord and the Lady (Malina) rested. Somehow we needed a quiet day again and we had anyway long ago (already in 2011) planned to visit the fort "Fortaleza de São João Baptista do Pico" and the artist quarter in the Zona Velha (Old Town) more in detail. It proved to be clever to split the video material into two parts because it had a total of almost hour of playtime, which has proven to be unwanted by the audience. Most viewers seem to like their videos around half an hour in length, or even better 20 minutes. In addition, the thematic separation yielded itself. The first part shows the ascent to and the visiting of the fortress, the second shows the visit to the artist quarter. Both topics each took about 50% of the video material, so it was all just reasonable. Now in detail about the two parts:


The Fortress (Die Festung)
We initially had no idea if a visit to the fortress was possible at all. The ascent to the selfsame was more complicated than expected. We hiked around the fortress mountain on the west side ... where unfortunately is no entrance to the fortress. So we hiked on the northwestern slope up to find, shortly before the fortress, a nice cafe (highly recommended) where we refreshed ourselves with an exquisite Poncha. Then we walked around the fortress wall, first in the wrong direction (west) and found that there was no direct access from the sea side. So we walked all around the fortress and at the southeast corner, well hidden in the upper old town, there was the entrance. We visited the fortress really detailed. I do not want to reveal more here ;).

ART! (KUNST!)
After our adventure in the fortress we went quickly south east, downhill, on our way to the lower old town, called Zona Velha. There is the art district that is famous for, that there the front doors of the houses art painted by artists. These doors we filmed extensively and truly Malina's photography supported my video work in an excellent way. I was frankly quite surprised about the ammount of material during editing. We visited an art gallery, and here we also filmed and photographed alot. Then "we collected a few forgotten doors" and then decided to end that day in the bar "Tapas do Anibal" with a high quality Poncha at an unbeatable low price. After that we visited, since we were allready drinking, a bar near the church of "Santa Maria", the "Barreirinha Bar Café". Also, this is recommended, despite its slightly high prices, because for the quality of the drinks the prices are more than fair. Ok, and so this day also came to an end.

Day 8
Yes, of course I'll let you know what will happen on day 8: It is also a "two-parts day". Part one shows a wonderful and, one can safely say spectacular, hike with first class weather, on the eastern tip of the island. Viewers of the 2012 series "Return 2 Madeira" may remember: Back then the weather was not so good and I hiked in sandals ... The second part will please the friends of the bus ride videos, of which there are more than I thought. My second most popular video is a bus ride video. And between this and Day 8 Part 2 there is a commonality: It's the same route. only this time we ride back in the evening to Funchal while the video from 2012 shows a midday drive from Funchal to the "Ponta de São Lourenço". Ok, now that was but enough text. It goes on!

Bike ride to the Lueneburg Heath - Rolling home!

Yepp, it's done: The final part of this short, but long on the other hand, series is finally on Youtube! This time we ride from Asendorf, in the far north of the Lüneburg Heath, across the imposing Elbbrücken back to my home in the north-east of Hamburg. All in one day. A good amount of beer flows and my language skills, presumably for exhaustion reasons, reach an all time low. The soundtrack is completely from the alionsonny album "Electronic Spacerock".

The soundtrack in detail:

•      00:00 - Sunrise
•      05:18 - Days of our years
•      10:00 - Flowers
•      15:23 - Forest
•      21:00 - Sunbeams

The route
The total distance traveled was on this day 54 km / 33.6 miles:

And now once again the total distance. This amounted to a total of 206 km / 128 miles:

And just for fun here is also again the height profile, which is indeed in no way comparable with Madeira, but anyways no one should say northern Germany is generally flat ;)

Ok, that's it! And yes: Soon I'll be on a new bike ride. Where will it go to? I will not reveal this here and now, but it will be definitely interesting. Have fun with the video!

Spring in Madeira - Day 3 - Hiking from Santo da Serra to Faial

From the intro ;)

Currently it is going blow upon blow with the videos :). Just a week ago I uploaded the last video, and here's already the new one. While we are on the subject: From time to time I am asked why I am not, like My Let's Play colleagues, able to upload at least one video a day. This is simply impossible, because the editing of the video takes as long as it does. I have, for example, never seen a Let's Play with hundreds of cuts, transitions, and certainly none with subtitles. Ok, so this should be clarified ;).

The latest video, as the title suggests, is part of the series about our this year's trip to Madeira. In this third part the regular viewers will once again see many familiar places. Somewhat late we took a bus to Santo da Serra, where I was already on day 8 of the 2012 series. Initially we planned to hike the Levada do Furado to Ribeiro Frio. Fortunately we met two nice hikers who told us that this Levada is still closed. How long is that supposed to take? I mean: It is closed since early 2013 already. The information given by the nice hikers saved us hiking half the Levada and then have to hike back. But now we were absolutely clueless about where we should hike to. So we decided to hike north and to see where we end up. So we hiked through valleys and mountains in almost uncomfortably burning sun to Portela. There we rested a while and then made our way towards Faial via Referta. Those who have seen the 2012 series, will remember this route from the video of day 12. However, we missed a turnoff somewhere near Referta, which should lead us to the path of my 2012 hike. Due to extensive breaks and filming, we were already very late and the missed turnoff caused that we actually went to Porto da Cruz. There we found out that at least from there no buses were going anymore. So we went on a forced march to Faial, where we arrived after 8 pm. At this time really no buses are going to Funchal from there anymore. So we decided, after some daring plan games, to burden our small travel fund with the cost of a taxi ride to Funchal. Not nice, but still better than having to spend a night on the north side of the island or to do a nightly hike across the island ;).

The route

The soundtrack also this time consists not only from the works of the house of alionmind, but there are again two guest musicians presented. This time it is DecibelAlex and Anthony Charretier, two nice fellow musicians whom I met on Facebook. At this point I would like to say thanks for providing their wonderful pieces of music. The rest of the soundtrack consists of 3 tracks from the recently released alionsonny album "Continuity". But first I want to introduce the guest musicians properly:

Decibel Alex:

• SoundCloud
• Facebook
• Youtube

Anthony Charretier:

• SoundCloud
• Facebook
• Anthony's Blog

The soundtrack in detail:

• 00:00 - DecibelAlex - Sunset Dub
• 03:55 - Anthony Charretier - Poznan
• 09:02 - alionsonny - Brain Forest Chapter III
• 13:47 - alionsonny - Bulletproof
• 18:54 - alionsonny - Going Bonkers

The alionsonny album "Continuity" is available on

• iTunes
• Amazon
• Spotify

 And now: Have fun with the video!