Cinque Terre

I am sitting on the harbor at Vernazza having a glass of red wine watching the people in the piazza and, the waves in the ocean. And I am completely exhausted. This morning when we awoke the weather was overcast and looked quite dismal, after almost 4 weeks of perfect weather why is it that the day we had decided was a beach day is cloudy? So our plans to walk to Monterossa to the beach were put off. Though the weather was clearly not a beach day it was a great day for hiking. Being in Cinque Terre hiking between the villages was something I was keen to do so we set off for the village of Corniglia. It was a bit hilly at the start but it was lovely with gorgeous views back over Vernazza and out to sea. Just to amuse ourselves we decided that when we passed people - (why was everyone else going the opposite direction) we would each say good morning in a different language, I'm not really sure if anyone else noticed but it made the trip go really fast - It took just over an hour at which point we entered Corniglia found a coffee shop and contemplated our next move. The walk between this town and the next was closed but there was a route that involved going up the mountain to another town then back down to Manarola via another small town. Instead of being daunted we set off - it clearly was not a well used track and it involved a 2km walk straight up stairs just to start, which had us puffing and panting. After what seemed like forever we arrived in Manarola, but rather then stop we kept going to Riomaggiore because we knew once we sat down it would be hard to get up, we also knew that this part of the walk was going to be really easy - there's a board walk all the way. This led us along the water which though not as panoramic as the other walks was still beautiful. Lunch then home by train seemed a great way to finish the day but.... Now the kids blame me for what happened next but I think they were desperate to do the last leg of the trail - the walk from Monterossa to Vernazza because when I said we would finish the next day I am sure I saw disappointed faces so a decision was made to train it to Monterossa and then hike the last leg. It's only natural that when you hike over hills you have to go up first but why is it so much more difficult and why do they put uneven spaced steps?
Zander led the way on this leg and he was determined to do it quicker then the two hours that the guide book suggested, we overtook many a huffing puffing person, went round people hobbling- why would you wear those shoes hiking - scootered past people who 'god forbid' stopped to rest and even meandered past, yes we were ears dropping, people on the trail arguing that they just couldn't do it.
Very soon Vernazza was insight a picture perfect view of this beautiful Cinque Terre town.
Which has me now sitting and enjoying the view after our 5 hours, 19km of walking up and down and up some more hills and though we are exhausted it was so worth it.