Kilometres walked : 8

Flights climbed : 116

Monday 1st May, 2023.

Still recovering from head colds and with the weather being slightly inclement we opted for the shortest walk today between the villages. Manarola to Riomaggiore and back. Just a few klms’s but holy moly, if you aren’t a mountain goat already you will be by the end of it. Heading straight out of our front door directly onto the extremely steep path off we went. Stone steps carved into the hillside give your thighs the best work out they have ever had. And let me tell you these steps are different sizes and different heights just to mess with your head. Taking it nice and slow with regular breaks to enjoy the absolutely amazing views we eventually reached the summit. Then it was straight down the opposite side of the hill to Riomaggiore. Sometimes I think its actually harder to go downhill rather up with the old knees these days. But as they say slow and steady wins the race.

Passing grapevines and fruit trees planted in every available space on the ascent and descent we just marvelled at how they have achieved it all and still use it all today. No wonder they are all so fit and live to such a ripe old age. On the decent into the village I have to admit it didn’t stand out as much to me as Manarola did when we arrived. Don’t get me wrong, the village is still very cute and has all those different coloured houses it’s famous for and the harbour where all the little boats are is very picturesque. And would be even more I imagine so on a sunny day. But it just didn’t have the same feeling about the place. We did the touristy thing and wandered around, had lunch on the pebbly beach and took some photos. Once we had achieved all this and grabbed a very good coffee we high tailed it out of there and headed for home. One great thing about the weather is that the trail wasn’t overly busy.

Not the best weather for taking photos but we still enjoyed our walk and gave our legs a great workout. Got to work off that pasta somehow!