Day 3: Moneglia - Deiva - Framura - Montaretto

16.5 km, net walking time 5 hours 30 minutes

I'm not sure whether or not this includes the bits where the GPS signal was lost!

1

 

Set out from Moneglia at 7:30 with my friend and hostess Laura, who happens to be a licensed hiking guide! (Luckily for me!)

Looking back down at Moneglia at 8 AM

 

 

After coming through Deiva Marina and then another steep climb, we can see right back up the coast (in the direction of France) as far as Portofino.

And in the other direction I see the territory I will be walking over in the next couple of days.

Oh dear, that looks like a lot of ups and downs!!!

Along the way Laura teaches me the names of various plants (in Italian and English), all about the natural cycles of life in the forest and the diseases of pine trees, how to tell the difference between quartz and calcite, and how to tell whether a pine cone has been chewed on by a squirrel or by a mouse!

There are plenty of healthy snacks to be had along the path: figs, blackberries, peaches right off the tree

After coming through some farmland and vineyards along the top of a ridge between two valleys, we find ourselves coming into the beautiful hamlet of Costa

Taking a power nap on a bench under an 11th century watchtower

 

The hostel in the village of Costa opened in the year 1400!

 

But it was only lunch time so we didn't stop there, but when on down to this secluded cove for a swim! Then Laura went home by train while I proceeded onward and upward to Montaretto. 

It was hard to find the trail through the woods because a storm only a few days earlier had washed out the trail and covered it over with leaves and twigs. After a moment of despair, finding myself alone in the woods (for the first time) and lost, I reasoned that if I followed the stream bed uphill I would eventually get to the top of the hill and, presumably, the town. Before I had gone far I spotted a gravel road on the other side of the stream and followed it to Montaretto. 

Once in the town, I sat down for a rest and a drink at the Casa del Popolo while I waited for the young woman who has the key to the hostel to come and let me in. I did not buy anything from the small grocery store for my dinner because I could see that the village bar/trattoria was open. But while I was checking into my hostel, it closed!  

The hostel at Montaretto is in an old elementary school, which has a kitchen proportioned appropriately for feeding a whole school. I went downstairs to investigate, as my hostess had suggested I help myself to anything to eat that might have been left by other walkers. The school kitchen had plenty of pots and pans scaled for cooking for a whole class, sinks big enough to bathe the kindergarten pupils in, and cupboards full of salt, oil, vinegar, spices, garlic, coffee, even a couple of bottles of wine... but no solid food! Just as I was beginning to despair I opened the very last cupboard and found a giant package of melba toast. 

So it was wine and melba toast for dinner, coffee and melba toast for breakfast!