Rising 1800m from the deep Atlantic, Madeira was formed by volcanic activity and therefore flat terrain is almost unknown. It exists only in a very narrow strip around the coast often only metres wide, and, from a running point of view, by sticking to the contours of the often extraordinarily steep slopes that rise without mercy from the within earshot of the crashing surf, or along high mountain ridges. To add to this the island is covered on the lower slopes by precarious agricultural terraces and above by thick temperate forest and then rocky mountains. Despite this apparently less that attractive prospectus the island offers some of the best and most interesting running you will find anywhere. When allied to a warm climate year round and a tradition of excellent cake making it takes on the mantle of a true hidden gem to add to your quiver of great run locations. It is also home to a number of Ultra-trail races the most famous being the MIUT (Madeira International Ultra Trail) which has iterations from 16km to 115km taking in over 6000m of elevation along the way and crosses the entire island.

For this overview I will divide the madeira run experience into four categories which can be mixed and matched as you plan your adventures.

Coastal sunrise and sunsets: Most of the places where you would stay are at the coast and most of the them have paved promenades with fantastic views. The coast of the island is circumnavigated by a, mostly reasonably flat, coastal road studded by stunning headlands that present short steep climbs and similar descents, each one presenting a fresh view of headlands, amazing rock stacks and surf pounding on stone beaches. A 10k sunrise (between 7 and 8 AM) out and back will, from most places, will be an amazing experience bringing you back gibbering about the fantastic things you encountered and not just because of the delicious strong coffee and delicious cakes you can treat yourself with on your return.

My fave city run is an out and back of about 10k along the run strip in the capital Funchal which starting at the yellow fort in the east of the sea front included harbour walls that jut out into the ocean, a port full of yachts of all kinds including cruise ships and a variety of beautiful tall ships, colonial buildings, coffee shops, the CR7 Ronaldo Museum, an area of beautiful colonial hotels, an eclectic selection of public art, including a statue of Winston Churchill, and finally to the surf beach at Praia Formosa and back again.

Leverda runnning: Running the leverda trails gives you the rare opportunity to run through the beautiful flower filled temperate forest of Madeira at gradients that are usually no more than 4%. You will however need to tackle some intense gradients or drive or take a taxi to the trail heads as they are often at altitudes of 4000ft+. The island is criss-crossed by more than 2000km of man made micro-canals originally designed to irrigate the island farmland but now focussed on providing hydro-electricity. They traverse the thick forest clinging to the contours. They may be relatively flat but not less technical for it. You will find yourself running along the narrow concrete lips of the canals, passing horrendous albeit fenced precipices, through awesome tunnels and waterfalls and across thick mud. I found my run poles invaluable here as is a head torch. These are truly magical runs. The views are amazing, the technical tictac fun, in the middle of they day they are nicely shaded. You never know what you will come across. Some can become quite busy in the day so a morning start is advised.

My fave, although it would take a lifetime to explore them all, is the Levarda Ribiera de Janela, above beautiful Porto Moniz, that snakes through a forest studded by hidden vistas (see above) and waterfalls, and that can be turned into a satisfying circular run with a little ingenuity, although not all of this is by levarda.

The High Mountains: Above the tree line you can find the high volcanic peaks at the heights of the island. These climb to 1800m and are characterised by hard volcanic trails, long stretches of steps and magnificent view, cloud cover allowing, (although you will often be above the clouds) and often high winds. Planning and care are needed here but the experience is worth it. Similar parcour can be found on the magnificent peninsula that juts out to the extreme East of the island where beyond Canical enormous cliffs, steep slopes and the ubiquitous steps transport you to magnificent views over the Atlantic Ocean.

Creating adventures: You can do any one of the above on its own but the best fun is to be found mixing it up – perhaps a levada run to the high tops or along the coast up to the first levada and down again. My best run to date has been a combination of the three. The route to the Fanal Forest begins in Porto Moniz with a run on the prom with its coffee shops and restaurants, past the beautiful volcanic pools along the old coast road and then following the ancient walkways up to the levada. These paths, originally built to allow farmers to bring their products to market are a challenge in themselves. They rise, stepped, hundreds of feet at gradients of over 30% – very tough to run. A section of steep forest track leading to the entrance to the Levada Dos Cedros and 7 km of beautiful forest running. Now in front of you you see the steps – more than a kilometre and 1000ft of steps built in wood and mud – a pure leg-burner. The reward is to enter the magical Laurel forest at Fanal where ancient trees grow many metres across. The return journey is a 14km down hill on the road or through dense forest and down another tranche of even more sketchy steps. This is a proper epic, 35km with 5250ft of elevation but worth every often painful stride. Madeira has an endless list of comparable runs that would take years to explore but each would be an incomparable adventure.