The mountains soar up into the sky, touching the clouds. Cable cars reach into the heavens and touch the beautiful sky. The crystal blue sea is transparent as far as the eye can see. Shadows dance across the water bed as fish glide through it.

Then I hear a whoosh, a shout, and a scream. I see it, a basket being pushed by two people in all-white clothes. This is a tradition in Madeira, the tarmac is glossy because of all of the tracks that have gone over it. We continue our climb up the final stages of the sheer, cliff-like road. We turned around and took in the view. Luscious green trees flowed like a stream down the valley into the beautiful blue ocean below. I could see buildings littering the valley below flowing into the cobalt sea below. The terraces of all the houses, dressed in pink and orange glisten and glow like the sun in the sky.

The cruise ship which we had been on not long ago was there, fading in the mist of the sea beneath. Camouflaging into the sea like a submarine before attack. The sky is clear, the same azure blue as the sea. Birds soar across my view like an arrow, casting a shadow from the heavens above. The sun was throwing bolts of heat like arrows at our backs as we continued the climb up the mountain sweat started to form on our foreheads. It rolled down my cheek, leaving a path like a tear across my face. It was starting to get unbearably hot. We climbed further up. We didn’t really know our objective other than to just keep on going up until we touch the sky. It felt like we had been climbing for days, but in fact only for minutes. As the dock started to fade away behind us, the cruise ship like an ant on the sea. We still went further. Further. Further. Finally. After a long trek, we could start to see, in its whole, the expanse of what was laid out in front of us finally settled in. The trees that were cast along the slope to the houses with orange rooves, showing a lava-like appearance flowing like a fast stream into the deep sea.

As a prize for our hard work. We sat down and had a long rest. We decided to put back on the calories that we had lost and settled for an ice cream. It tasted like heaven. The fresh, cool feeling as I licked it. We had conquered a battle of defeating the rising mountain. However, now it was time to go back. We decided to take the basket ride down the mountain as we had seen people go down the track whilst we were on our walk down. We lined up and were ready. Upon us getting to the front we got into the basket, with the two men behind us, and prepared to set off. We glided around the corners, the wind in our hair, the shiny, glossy road. Each corner a challenge. Each hill a provocation. Our progress never halted. Our speed always increased until we were going at speeds faster than a car could. All of a sudden. Just as fast as it had started. We came to a stop and finished at the bottom of the mountain.Image result for madeira basket"

  • Thomas Evans
  • : I love to travel around the road and see new sights as I travel
  • : youth_(12_–_18_as_of_31st_december_2019)
  • : This is the first time this story has been published.