Spring in Madeira - Caldeirão do Inferno - New Video

I am sorry to say that the camera, during this third of four parts, unfortunately is even shakier and inaccurate, than you already know it, because of increasing fatigue. However, there are beautiful views of nature around the Caldeirão do Inferno.

The Plot
After we had passed the long and dark Pico Ruivo tunnel, we made a (for myself) surprising decision. Time was running out. If we went straight back through the tunnel, we would have reached the bus back to Funchal probably. But Malina was simply not up for hiking again through the tunnel and suddenly wanted to see the Caldeirão do Inferno. The Lady's wish is my command, and so I agreed, with not just a bit of a doubt. The past, quite strenuous, hike was reflected by increased fatigue. And so we crossed a fairly large number of additional tunnels to be rewarded with a magnificent spectacle of nature: the Caldeirão do Inferno. This is a deep valley surrounded by impressive cliffs, from which water is flowing everywhere. Here we had the first real rest of the day and drank at last the only beer we had brought. Then we went, surprisingly well rested, on the rest of the hike, towards the Caldeirão Verde and Queimadas. And with us leaving the Caldeirão do Inferno this part ends.

I think there is no place with more spectacular and vertigo-causing views anywhere in Madeira than near the Caldeirão do Inferno

 Soundtrack
Just as the previous two parts, also this is one accompanied by Cimeliums album "Mesopotamia". And also this time I find the music choice more than suitable. Here is the track list:

• 00:00 Babylon
• 05:54 Akkadia
• 11:38 Sumeria
• 17:34 Lilith

And now again only the purchase link for the album is missing. One can buy the album anywhere else, but I simply prefer iTunes. This link goes directly to the album. Also, the link to the homepage of the album on alionmind.com should not be missing here. There you'll find more sources.

All hail our mighty hiking boots ;)

 What's next?
Well rested, we go on our very long hike to Queimadas. We visit, very briefly, the Caldeirão Verde. Time was not only running out, but we were long overdue.

And now have fun with the video!

Hiking along the Levada do Pico Ruivo to the Pico Ruivo tunnel - New Video

There's really is not much to say about the second of four parts for day 10. With 16 minutes it is slightly shorter than the other parts and this is so because the the cut did just fit.

The Plot
We hike nicely for a long time along the Levada do Pico Ruivo. We pass many small and smaller tunnels. The hike offers us breathtaking views and I do quite a lot of nonsense. This is due to the fact that I was actually a little annoyed by the unexpectedly long distance, and had to cheer myself up. Initially my jokes, with which I more or less convincing tried to fool the audience with with false Pico Ruivo tunnels, were still funny. But with each false Pico Ruivo tunnel it became less funny. At the end we had to find that the Pico Ruivo tunnel was divided in two by a ravine. The first part was indeed somewhat long and very dark, but it was not the 2.5 km monster that awaited us. Speaking of darkness: The darkness was additionally supported by the fact that my beloved flashlight suddenly had a power shortage, despite previously inserted new batteries. This part ends before the long section of the tunnel.

Always on duty, here in one of the many small tunnels.

 Soundtrack
As the last part, this one is also accompanied by Cimeliums album "Mesopotamia". I think the choice of music fits very well with the images. The soundtrack of this part in detail:

• 00:00 Ishtar
• 05:06 Enlil
• 10:14 Assyria
• 15:25 Babylon

What is missing is the obligatory link to the album. This time, I recommend buying it at the GooglePlay store, which can be wonderfully accessed via this link. More buy links can of cause be found on the homepage of the album on alionmind.com.

The entrance to the first part of the Pico Ruivo tunnel.

 What's next?
Because of the darkness in the tunnel it made no sense to film. And so the next part starts right after the tunnel, where we were rewarded for the long hike with amazing natural spectacles. The absolute highlight here is the Caldeirão do Inferno, where we can finally drink our Coral Tonica. No AlionLive without beer!

And now have fun with the video!

Hiking from Cruzinhas to the hydroelectric plant and the Levada do Pico Ruivo

On day 10 we started the longest hike of this journey and longest to date at all. We knew that this would be not a short hike, but then were somewhat surpised how long it took to reach the Pico Ruivo tunnel. Yes, Madeira is in this respect, because of the mountains, always good for a surprise. But it should get even better: We came to a daring decision, which again extended the hike considerably. Since the video and photo material was accordingly extensive, and I've recently introduced the "20 minutes +/- 5 per episode' rule, there will be a total of 4 parts for day 10.

Each hike starts somewhere. And this was our start for the day, near Cruzinhas.

The Plot

We started very early in the morning, after a long bus ride, in Cruzinhas, near Faial. From there we hiked the unexpectedly long gravel road to the hydroelectric power plant of Nogueira and even catched a glance at the Balcoes, from where we had already examined the route the day before. The sight of the height difference gave us a general idea of ​​the ascent to the Levada do Pico Ruivo. Behind the hydroelectric plant, quite well hidden, is the path to the ascension. As we already known from Madeira, we hiked in snake lines on the really hard ascent to the Levada. I must say here, because people told me different, that this route does not pose any danger. Arrived at the Levada we had a wonderful view. Since the trail was quite wide, this route was, contrary to some warnings from friends, quite harmless. However, the hike to the Pico Ruivo tunnel was, as already mentioned, unexpectedly long. There were also a lot of tunnels on that route. So we thought a few times that we had already reached our destination, and it wasn't the case. And so this part ends in the middle of the Levada do Pico Ruivo.

The hydroelectric power plant of Nogueira. From here we always went uphill.

The Soundtrack

Since the new Cimelium album "Madeira" still awaits completion, I have decided to use the album "Mesopotamia" for the videos of day 10 again. This album has served well already in several Madeira videos. In this video, the following songs are used:

• 00:00 Innana
• 05:58 Dumuzi
• 10:58 Marduk
• 16:03 Ishtar

What is missing is the mandatory purchase link for the album if one or the other likes the music. The easiest and most profitable way for me ;) is to buy the album on iTunes. Links to other sources can be found on the official website of the album.

On this hike, we saw the mountains of Madeira yet from a different angle again.

Thank you "Can"

I met Can on the Portugal forum and he was so kind to provide me with a KML file with the GPS coordinates of the trail to the Pico Ruivo tunnel. This not only helped to find the entrance to the gravel road to the hydroelectric plant, but also to deal with the ascent to the Levada. A very big thank you for this! Can has a nice blog on which he presents his wonderful travel photos to the world. Check it out!

Gues who's this ;) This is the closing picture of this part.

What is next?

In the next part we complete the other (approximately) half of the hike along the Levada and finally reach the Pico Ruivo tunnel. Here we walk even through the first section of it, where it is interrupted by a ravine.

And now have fun with the video!

First Hike 2015 - North-East Hamburg!

The first hiking video of this year is very short but crisp. What? This guy constantly uploads Madeira videos! Yes, that's true, but the material is from spring 2014, and so it is almost one year old. This video, however, is brand new. Why does Sonny write a whole blog post for a 7 minute video? Because I can and because there is actually something to say about it.

The occasion of this little 35 km hike was the first day of this year with really nice spring weather. In addition, I decided to acquire a head lamp for some travel (mystical undertone), to avoid having to stumble with the fat Maglite flashlight through slippery tunnels again. That flashlight has indeed let me down during the last time in Madeira. The relevant video of the 2014 Series is not yet available, but will be the second to next one. And since Malina's head lamp, a Petzl Tikka, performed very well, I wanted one of those too. The only shop nearby that sells something nice like that is the Globetrotter in Barmbek. So it made sense to do the first hike of the year to there, of course only through green areas and this is more than just possible in our nice green Hamburg.

Another reason why it was a good idea to do a hike again was that I feared that my old bones were so rusty after the long winter, that I would badly fail during a upcoming travel (mystical undertone). This fear, however, has proven to be 100% unfounded. Legs and feet were quite tired after the hike, but the next day everything was alright again. Works!

Another reason for the hike was provided by the fortunate circumstance that I call my own a beautiful new camera and wanted to test it in detail. First reactions on the video embedded below say, that the purchase was definitely worth it. I agree. The video looks much sharper and generally better. The capacity of the built-in battery seems to be as specified by the manufacturer and is therefore suitable for very long hikes. I didn't like cameras with built-in batteries, because these batteries usually had a rather laughable capacity. I will do a detailed review of the camera soon, because I have some surprises in store for you, I don't want to spoil (again mystical undertone).

The soundtrack consists of two pre-release versions (unfinnished) from the soon released album "Madeira" of my music project "Cimelium":

00:00 - Poiso
04:41 - Santo da Serra 

Finally, I can only say that this little hike in all aspects fulfilled its purpose and has provided the desired results, including the tiny little video that I hereby present to you. Have fun!

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!

Something new to play with : Youtube Infocards!

Well, that was a nice surprise when I went to the antique annotation editor of Youtube today, which in my opinion by the way, needs a major overhaul. In fact I had forgotten to "fill the annotations in the outro of the recent video with life". Well, fortunately, just 26 people watched the video so far and yet nobody complained ;). Well, and now there was this notice, which said that so-called information cards are available from now on. WTF? I had no clue what it was all about first and went on a Google recherche. Then my old skull had figured out what it is and what it is good for. Anyone who wants to know more, can read all about it on the official documentation page.
 

The infocards are behind this little icon. A left mouse click and they are shown.

My impression? My Opinion? Caveat: The implementation could in my opinion be improved a bit. Especially that one can not freely determine the vertical order of the information cards. In the screenshots shown below you can see that I added an infocard for the playlist of the "Frühling auf Madeira" series (to which this Video belongs) and for a link to the alionsonny album "Reggae?". So far I have not found a way to change the vertical order. But maybe this is in the next update ;). The editor for the infocards is definitely much more intuitive and useful than the uglyness, called the annotation editor.

Here you see 2 infocards: One is of type Playlist and links to the videos playlist and one is of type Merchandise and links to the music album. In total you can put 5 infocards in a single video.

The benefits of this new feature? Well, there will be for sure different opinions about this, but I think it's a nice way, for example, to link to the corresponding playlist from which a video is. Any Youtuber, who wanted to accomplish this before, had to use annotations, which most of the time received mixed response from the audience. I also find the option beautiful, to have the possibility to add merchandising links with minimal effort and minimal impact on the viewer experience, such as the link to the music album. And all that using just that small (i) that even disappears if you do not move the mouse cursor across the video window.

Conclusion: I think this is great! For me it is a welcome opportunity to achieve such things without flooding the video window with annotations. In my opinion, this feature is the best thing the Youtube developers have managed to get done in a long time. Keep it up!