Levada Nova - Ponta do Sol

The point of Levada Nova is a waterfall you walk through rather than look at. The path runs behind the falling water on a ledge cut into the rock, and you can stand under it. Straight after, the channel enters a tunnel of roughly 200 metres, dead straight, flat and completely dark.

This is the upper of two water channels in the same valley. The lower one, Levada do Moinho, is a quiet walk under trees. Levada Nova runs along the cliff instead, past farms and terraces, with the valley floor a long way below. The views are the payment for the exposure.

• Torch: a tunnel of about 200 metres starts right after the waterfall. It is pitch black. A headlamp beats a phone, as it leaves your hands free.
• Navigation: signage along the route is minimal. Download an offline map or a GPS track before you set off.
• No facilities: no toilets and no drinking water anywhere near the trail. Bring what you need.
• Heights: the levada narrows in places, with a drop on the open side. Not a walk for anyone uneasy with heights.
• Route: the full walk is 9.3 km. Go out on the lower Levada do Moinho and come back on Levada Nova.

Access is by car, up onto the Lombada plateau above Ponta do Sol. Walkers leave the car by the Lombada church or on Caminho das Pedras, which runs off Estrada Nova da Lombada close to the trailhead, and start on foot from the roadside. Most people walk the valley as a loop of 9.3 km: out along the lower Levada do Moinho, back along Levada Nova. Once you leave the road there is nowhere to buy anything and nowhere to fill a bottle.

Better: morning, starting from the Levada Nova side. Avoid: a late start.

This track carries fewer walkers than Madeira's headline levadas, and mornings are quieter still. Nothing on the route is lit, and the tunnel past the waterfall is dark at any hour, so leave yourself enough daylight for the return leg.