San Fruttuoso - GE

July 20, 2013 

This morning we moved up along the coast to Santa Margherita Ligure. We pointed to Portofino to check if we could park there, only to find confirmation that the population there are just posh shits (and the only local car park have outrageously high prices, like €5.50/hr), so we turned back to SML, parked on top of hill for free, and took the boat to San Fruttuoso where we spent the day swimming.

San Fruttuoso

By mid afternoon we went back to the car and headed up north to visit the in-laws... and gained a proper bed in the process ...

Now we ordered a couple of softer mattresses for the Quber, so it'll probably be better to sleep in next time. At the moment the mattresses we use are pretty dense and they give us (especially me) some trouble with our chests, making it feel really heavy. Now with the new foams that should arrive next week, we should be ok, otherwise it becomes really difficult sleeping in the Quber for more than a couple of days...

Cinque Terre - SP

July 19, 2013
After breakfast in the camper van area of the service station, we left the motorway in Levanto and found us a suitable car park where we paid for a whole day stay. We then made a special ticket for the Cinque Terre Trail and Trains, so we could walk the trail from Monterosso to Vernazza and then to Corniglia, and we took the train to the other Terre, as the trail had been interrupted by landslide nearly two years ago.


From the same year's floods that caused the landslides (2011), we witnessed the remains of a house, built too close to the river that overflowed...





  




The walk was good, but with lots of ups and down, for the mountain there is very steep... the day was also really hot so we did a fair bit of sweating...

Monterosso

In Vernazza we lunched with a piece of local focaccia, always a must in Liguria, :) before walking on towards Corniglia, our next destination.

Vernazza

After Corniglia we caught the train to Riomaggiore, thinking of reaching Manarola on the next walk, but that was interrupted too, so we just caught the train back to Monterosso for a swim. Then, back on the train to Levanto and the car.

Corniglia

Leaving the Cinque Terre we decided not to take the motorway, but to use the normal road, so when a sign for a Hotel and Restaurant caught our attention we decided to follow it, as it was going towards the top of the mountain. When we reached the place we found ourselves very high up, with great views over the sea. We then asked the owners of the place if they knew where we could go to sleep with our Qubo, somewhere not too far and with toilet facilities... like we hoped, the lady told us we could stop there for the night, so we gladly accepted and remained for dinner, as a way of thanking them for their hospitality. The food was very good and the portions well generous. The place was very quiet and we really enjoyed our time there!

Our stop for the night

 










 

Circular Tour - Orsiera Regional Park

Circular tour: Travers a Mont - Rif. Valgravio - Colle Aciano - Rif. Toesca - Alpe Balmetta - Rif. Amprimo - Paradiso delle Rane

Leisurely walk up to the hut 'Valgravio' (1400m), then very steep up to the ridge where you pass Colle Aciano (2020m). The first third of the uphill was quite alright, a very steep trail in the woods, then we tackled a very rough second section, where you could scarcely see where to put your feet, and the final section really did me in, although it wasn't really that bad... not enough training, surely...

the view climbing up

We rested for lunch just past the pass (Colle Aciano), near the Park Rangers' hut (closed) - time so far: 4 hrs.

Colle Aciano

After lunch we headed towards the hut 'Toesca', that we reached in 1.15 hrs with a few up and downhills...

a spot of lunch - risotto

There we enjoyed a well deserved cuppa and some excellent home made cakes (a bit steep in price, though, at €4.00 a slice... next time, for the same proce, I'll bake a cake myself and carry it with me...).

tea and cakes

After another 1.30 hrs we made it back to the car, in a light drizzle with the sun shining at the same time.
All together (including breaks) it's been an 8-hour walk, pretty hard at times, but well enjoyed at the end of the day.

Lots of rhododendrums in bloom, and plenty of other mountain flowers too, some of them proved to be a nice place to take a nap...

In this hike I tested my newly bought mountaineering boots, that I'm gonna use in Iceland for my next holiday: the result was quite alright as my feet are still all in one piece, just a bit of rubbing round the back of the heel, but that's pretty standard with any new shoe I buy. I wore them through rocks, woods, water, mud and even a patch of snow - it was a good test! I think they will perform well on Icelandic trails.

Whenever I go hiking in the Alps, I get rather frustrated at first, as the ascents are always very long and steep, and so are the descents. The impression you get, every time, is: steep steep steep up, a summit of sorts, steep steep steep down, liked it? ok. Well, no, actually, I didn't like it at all, but that's what you get in the Alps.
Only, at the end of the day, summon it all up, I do enjoy my hikes most of the time. I should have learnt by now, but still I tend to dream of a nice coastal walk or a Lake District fell while I'm sweating away my mountain hikes... I guess I have to make the most of what I have at the moment, though :)