Madeira Hiking Holiday

"To travel, to experience and learn: that is to live." Tenzing Norgay

You could certainly be forgiven for thinking that a slow living holiday means the ones where you sit on the sun lounger, devour several light-read books and go to town on the all inclusive buffet each evening. But for me, whilst that is a slow down holiday, it doesn’t necessarily lead to slow living. On paper it feels like an escape from your day to day life, perfect right?

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I don’t know about anyone else but for me once I’ve laid doing nothing for approximately two hours my brain goes into overdrive. Did I put my out of office on? Did I tell my boss about that issue before I left? What if I redecorated this part of my house? What if I just moved to another country? Do I have the right goals right now? Whilst my body gets the slow down it needs my brain never quite gets the message!

A couple of months ago I went to Madeira, a small Portuguese island off of Morocco for the weekend. It is known as the Hawaii of Europe and is renowned for its stunning hiking trails. I can certainly see the resemblance, driving round the island reminded me of the Road to Hana in Maui. Although the late March European temperatures were much more hiking friendly than I remember Hawaii being.

On the face of it hiking doesn’t necessarily conjure up images of a slow living holiday but for me it is the epitome of slow living. On the Saturday we hiked the PR 8 - Vereda da Ponta de São Lourenço route. The temperature was a perfect 19C, the route comes with the most epic views around every corner with so many “stop to be present where you are” moments, the trail is a good mix of easy to scrambling requiring just enough concentration to stop your mind from wandering and the path wasn’t too busy so you can go at whatever pace works for you.

I consider slow living to be living life with more intention, creating more time in your life to do things you enjoy simply because you enjoy them. All in sharp contrast to the hustle culture we’ve been raised on. I feel like hiking, particularly in such a beautiful location as Madeira ticks all those boxes for me.

The weather wasn’t completely on our side so we only managed one more, rain soaked hike over the weekend. But we did manage to go swimming in these amazing rock pools right in the Atlantic Ocean. A bucket list moment for sure!

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Whilst my body is tired and aches like my body is in fact in its late 30s, I left this island with my mind rested, with some peace from the stresses of everyday life, some beautiful hikes under my belt and enough energy in my tank to return home to focus on the things that are most important to me.

What do you think? Can hiking count as slow living?

Samantha x

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