The best laid plans of mice and men

 Crispy is suffering. After her stalwart efforts on the mountain she has this morning paid the price. She is in pain with stiff legs. The  over use of her aged legs in their battle against the ancient mountain may have proved too much. This morning it took a long time and no end of bribes to persuade her to move from her bed. Bless her she can hardly walk. I've told her that the best cure is exercise but her response was to explicit to publish here in full. I never even knew that she could use such language.

Today is thankfully a rest day before our next little adventure. We had planned to take the cable car to the village of Monte in order to sledge on the infamous Funchal toboggan down to the botanical gardens. I did suggest we walked up to the village but her response was not favourable.  However on arrival at the cable car station we were informed by the ticket seller that the toboggans don't operate on a Sunday. This negated the need for a cable car ride as it meant we would have to do it again another day. The sled run is a definite must do whilst we are here in Funchal and Crispy is insistent that she wants to do it. 

A quick reshuffle of our busy itinerary meant that today was going to be the whale watching trip. The skies were forecast to be cloudy in the afternoon but this didn't put Dear old Crispy off. Since Tuna fishing in Lanzarote several years ago she is now quite the sailor. Prior to that trip even looking at a boat made her green and nauseous. 

It's a consolation because if we are ever short of a few euros I am confident that I could get her a part time job on a North sea trawler without worrying over her well being.   It's always wise to have a fall back plan.

Switching to whale watching meant we had the morning free. We had a walk (hobble) around the old town so Crispy could do a little shopping. This was the perfect day for such an activity as being Sunday all the shops were closed.

She spent a fantastic couple of hours gazing into the shop windows looking at what she could have had. 

We made our way back to the lodgings in readiness for our nautical excursion. Poor Crispy was struggling even after several liberal applications of ibuprofen cream. Whilst hobbling down the street. In a distressed manner, several good natured passers by offered to help but I dismissed them by informing them that it was purely attention seeking.

Once back at the lodgings she had a short lie on the bed to try and ease the pain in her tortured legs. During our stay she has had several tiny midgie bites but is now convinced that our bed is infested with bed bugs and that the last guests must have been French. I know it is not. The apartment is spotless and beautiful.

As she lay there nursing her tortured limbs I waited my time before pointing at the bed and shouting "Oh shit! Look at the size of that". She looked startled and replied "Oh f@ck" as she swung her painful legs wildly like a counterbalance to get off the bed as quickly as possible. It took several attempts before she managed to alight from the mattress.  She was not happy with my little joke and is still not talking to me.

The whale watching was good. A large catamaran that took us from the harbour out into the bay. We had not been sailing 30 minutes when we spied our targets. A group of pilot whale with calf's. It's the first time we have seen whale and it was incredible. Pilot whales resemble dolphin but can grow to a length of 6 meters. We were so lucky to see them and the trauma of Crispy's legs faded into oblivion for a few moments. The rest of the trip was pleasant but a tad cold out at sea. After another hour or so we spotted a pod of bottlenose dolphin and watched them cavort around the boat for a good few minutes.  

After the boat Trip it was a short walk back to the lodgings for a shower and another liberal application of ibuprofen before dinner. 

Tomorrow we will again attempt the cable car and toboggan run. She's in bed now all comfy but is still not talking to me. Every cloud as they say

Bare and Crispy signing off. Funchal. Madeira

Not my pic but one I wish I could have taken