Monterosso Day 5

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On the track of Cinque Terre by ¼ to 8 with no one else around up as early to tackle the first leg. The trek starts with a lovely walk along a part of the promenade in the old part. Within a few minutes the steps are climbing literally towards the sky, the road which seems like miles above us is looking closer and closer by the minute. The elevation was breathtaking for a number of reasons the first being we didn’t have much breath left by the time we reached what we thought was the top and the view which was stunning. Part of the track wound through a vineyard where together with grapes peaches, apples, lemons and blackberries where growing. The actual track looks nothing like the pics in the promotional tourist brochure (shock horror, hehehe!) and consists of dirt, dust and rocks, not the lovely paved flat path! The view back towards Monterosso where amazing and down the rugged coastline to Vanezza looked the same. The beautifully coloured buildings, red, yellow, cream, white, ochre, pale ink, pale green and apricot were such a contrast of the blue of the Mediterranean and the greenery of the vines and bush.

It took us just an hour to reach the next town and as we did it seems to be just waking up for the day. The red warning flags were up due to the rough sea at the marina/harbour at the front of the town. We sat for a while just watching the locals going about their day, setting up tables and umbrellas for the influx of tourists that were likely to emerge around lunch time and for the rest of the day. We wandered through the town and found a bakery that was open and enjoyed a pastry and watched one of the local cats. I don’t think I have mentioned the cats of Cinque Terre. They were in all 5 towns and in Monterosso two in particular would lie around, mainly in the middle of the road and cars would actually drive around them. I think we all know that most cats have a “up yours” kind of attitude…the CT cats would have won the award for the cats with the most attitude. One cat had its “spot” on the edge of a platform at the base of a table in one the restaurants, obviously the owner didn’t care nor did the diners.

Anyway…back to the trek…
We pushed onto the next town of Cornigorglio with pretty much the same track with a steep elevation, so much so at one stage it felt like my heart was in my head pumping away. Again this part took an hour and the views were the same as the first leg…I could go on and on about them…but I’d be repeating myself each time ! When we reached

We had overheard an American couple telling another table of Americans a couple of nights previously that the 1st two legs were steep, the elevation amazing, pretty hard, etc, etc and then the rest fairly easy. He was right…

At the 4th town, Manorola we stopped for a coffee for R and I had one of those sports drinks…don’t normally drink them but needed something! This leg was pretty flat and when we had left the last town it started with a slight incline up one of the main streets and then down a few flights of easy, well paved stairs and then flat, flat, slat along the ocean.

Half of the leg to the 5th town Reggiomario was paved and it was obvious a fair bit of money spent on paving and wiring to hold the cliffs and boulders together. There were all ages on this walk from babes in strollers to Grandparents.

We saw some amazing fashion along all parts of the trek from the hard core trekkers with their boots and poles to a girl in a mini skirt with thongs on her feet! There was a lady with a full face of makeup dressed in white with a gold bag and matching wedges at one stage…all interesting and great entertainment!

We returned to Monterosso via train very grateful for the overcast day and that we had started with the hardest legs first. Showered and down to the internet café to check emails and upload blog then of to happy hour, a takeaway pizza did us for dinner, packed and in bed for the next day to Roma.

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