1st June

Awoke to cloudy skies and impending rain so stayed in bed and made the most of it.  Eventually decided that it was worth trying to walk at least one leg for the day so took the train to Monterosso al Mare.  This is the resort end of the area with bathing boxes, beach umbrellas and paddle boats for hire along the beach of pebbles, but all vacant today with such cloudy skies.  Its the largest of the villages because unlike the others it can be reached by car as well as train and ferry. We walked to the old end of town with its gigantic (14 metre) sculpture of Neptune, God of the Sea.  He’s holding up a terrace that in the 20’s was a shell-shaped dance floor! Took the walking trail from here along the coast to Vernassa,  extremely tough uphill start but then very pleasant walk into this next village.  You can tell these are challenging trails when the guidebook tells you to that it will take 2 hrs to walk the 3 kms!  We were delighted with this village and had a fresh seafood lunch in the main thoroughfare.  Refreshed we took on the next leg as well, Vernassa to Corniglia.  Perhaps this was a bit ambitious; it was harder than expected after the morning and on top of yesterday but feels good to have it done. Celebrated with a gelato on the station platform while waiting for the train home to Manorola. My knee is swollen tonight but I’m confident it will recover, I bet our calves will be tight tomorrow though.  A bath would have been good tonight but lacking one of those, had to settle for a hot shower and hoping for a swim in the ocean tomorrow if the weather improves.   The rain held off today and it turned out to be very suitable for trekking.