Funcahl; Tuesday, 06 March, 2018

It was still raining when I got up, and it rained all the way through breakfast and the first part of the morning.

Given the weather was so poor I decided there really wasn’t any point in trying to brave it so instead I just hung around in the hotel until it was close to checkout time, which did coincide with the rain finally stopping.

I walked the half mile or so along the front from the hotel to the bus stop for the aerobus back to the airport.

I was quite early at the stop, so I headed to the neighbouring café for a quick lunch and a drink before heading back to the bus stop just before the bus was due.

In the end I could have waited quite a bit longer at the café as the bus was nearly 20 minutes late and a very elderly looking coach when it arrived, rather than the modern low-floor bus that it had been on the way in from the airport.

I don’t know if the 20-minute delay had been deliberate to give the driver an excuse to put his foot down on the motorway, but it was certainly a very quick journey to the airport arriving early compared to the timetable.

I checked in and headed through security and found a comfy seat with a good view of the airport runway to wait at to see if I would be making it home. Thankfully planes were landing and taking off without any major issues, and 90 minutes before we were due to leave the sight of a BA A320 touching down confirmed that I would be getting off Madeira this time.