The High Point

This is Pico do Arieiro, the highest point on Madeira. My oh my but the air is thin up there - I felt like a very unfit ninety-year-old.

As I looked down on blankets of cotton-wool cloud, higher banks of cloud rolled over the mountain top, obliterating the paths. All you can do is stay very still and wait for it to pass.

It's the same view that you get from a plane, except you're standing on the ground. Standing, and maybe wheezing a bit.