Originally Posted by TheFlyingCyclist

On a gravel bike with normal gravel gears, you may find the hills insanely steep unless you are mega fit. When I used to be light and speedy, each morning I was resigned to a 90 minute grovel up a comically steep road / fire road in the lowest couple of gears on a mountain bike. 1000m straight up in 4 miles. There are hills, then there are Madeira hills. This was more around Calheta, though, and up to Paul da Serra. Maybe it’s less brutal around Funchal.