3rd June

It looks like it’s just going to be one of those days!  We headed out with just 3 things to achieve: post the mail, get cash for the apartment and book the train tickets for tomorrow.  The Post Office is closed due to ‘problem technica’, the ATM is not dispensing money due to ‘problem technica’ and there is a train strike until 5pm.  We head back to the apartment to make a new plan.  After a lunch where we cleaned out as much food as we could from the fridge we tried again.  Some trains are running so we made it to Monterosso, managed to book seats successfully for tomorrow and get money.  Things are looking up.  While we are there the sun is shining so Libby had that swim she’s been talking about for the last 2 days.  She is almost the only one actually swimming, everyone else just stands knee deep in water and sunbakes vertically instead of the more normal horizontal position.  Perhaps that’s because the pebbly beaches get a bit too uncomfortable after awhile.  Managed to just miss 2 very quick downpours while either on the train home or in the subway. 

 On  settling the bill for our stay I was able to get some answers.  There was no festiva yesterday, I think we were just ripped-off, perhaps I shouldn’t have asked.  There is a cemetery on the outskirts of town where locals are buried so that's where they went the other day. For many years the boats did have to be man-handled in and out of the water but  for the last 20 yrs they have been able to use a pulley system.  There is no commercial fishing here though, just a hobby for locals when it is quiet here - in the winter mostly.  They also like to go hunting which is good as feral pigs are a problem in the area.  He showed me some photos of the area under a blanket of snow both in 1985 and also 2002.  Also of wild storms where the ocean breakers have washed over the trail to Corniglia.  Apparently, on average, every year a couple of people are swept off and killed.  We’ve loved it here in Cinque Terra, so glad it has been preserved by the National Park structure, but we are ready to move on tomorrow.