Cinque Terre

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Our ferry arrived eight hours late in Genoa, so we sort of missed out one of our hotel bookings, although we did manage to persuade them to give us breakfast, which was welcome and very good (although at 70 euros once we'd 'missed' the night, so it should have been!).

The journey to Riomaggiore takes about 2 hours from Genoa, and takes in some breathtaking coastline scenery; little villages clinging to the rockface and wonderful sea views. Our appartment courtesy of Mar-Mar, turned out to be wonderfully spacious and tastefully done. We stayed two nights while Gavin came down with, suffered from, and then started to shake off (onto Heather) a cold. Heather is starting to wish we hadn't agreed to share everything on this holiday...

We took in two wonderful suppers at La Lanterna, enjoying in particular the stuffed bream and their ever-popular antipasti. The first afternoon was spent swimming in the sea (and jumping in if you were Gavin), and then walking to Corniglia and taking the train back. On the second day, set aside for walking, we climbed to the ridge path, and instead of walking through the Cinque Terre as planned, we walked south east, to the end of the peninsula, Portovenere, which is a lovely port town, with a tiny sandy beach (lacking in the Cinque Terre). There were some really stunning views along this path, and the walking was mostly easy going, until the last mountain where the path, rather than climbing the peak, scrambled around the rocky mountain-side, which involved some rather narrow ledges over steep drops. Anyway, we survived and made it to our destination in time for a paddle and a beer before the last boat back to Riomaggiore.

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