Joanne's long walks: October 2016

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Sentiero Liguria 15: Sanremo - Ventimiglia

Sanremo - Ventimiglia (18 km)

along the waterfront, via Bordighera

The last leg in this Long Walk!

Left my splendid chambers in Gioberti House early in the morning to meet Aldo in front of the cathedral, where we had heard a lovely concert last night put on by singers and musicians from an English girls' school, currently touring Liguria. We were hoping to run into someone ecclesiastical who could put a stamp on our pilgrims' passports, but no-one was about at that hour, so we decided to settle for the hotel stamps we had got the night before and start walking. Our route once more followed the waterfront, primarily on cycling and pedestrian paths along the former railway bed, including another long tunnel - though luckily this one was well lit, and made up for the lack of a view with overhead panels providing educational and entertaining snippets of information about the history of the Milano-Sanremo cycling race.

Coming into Bordighera we had to walk for a while on the sidewalk of the Via Aurelia, a particularly busy road at this point near the border. At the end of this stretch we stopped to recover in a beautiful café on the rocks above the sea before proceeding through the town of Bordighera, where it was market day, and the crowded market stalls on the waterfront slowed our progress somewhat! Once past the throngs of shoppers, both Italian and French, we carried on along the waterfront and, at one point, on the beach, past Vallecrosia and Camporosso, with a view extending to Montecarlo in the distance. Finally we reached Ventimiglia and headed for the centre of town, where I had Aldo take a photo to mark the momentous occasion of my arrival in Ventimiglia before saying goodbye and wishing him well on his way walking across France to the Spanish border - his destination by the middle of next month. Then I managed to obtain a stamp from Ventimiglia town hall for my pilgrim's passport before taking the train back to Chiavari. Three and half hours on the train, tracing backwards the route I have walked over the past two weeks. Every view was laden with memories. Every glimpse of the waterfront or of a city centre revealed landmark spots on my walk. But I was absolutely exhausted after having walked 25 to 30 km a day for the past few days, and quite glad to get home, take a hot bath and return to more mundane occupations - for the time being!

Our meeting-place in front of Sanremo Cathedral in the morning

Sanremo in the morning

Sanremo Casino

Sanremo waterfront early in the morning

LOOOOONG tunnel

Bordighera waterfront: old railway station, now a bicycle rental place

Along the waterfront

Ventimiglia!

I made it!

Today's GPS track. Blank spot when going through tunnel!

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Sentiero Liguria 14: Imperia - Sanremo

Imperia - Sanremo
30 km along the seashore

Breakfast at dawn with our hosts Luigi and Riccarda in the hills above Imperia, then we filled the pockets of our backpacks with little apples from their tree and set out down the hill to Oneglia, past the port of Imperia and along the waterfront to Porto Maurizio. We then followed the seashore for 30 km, from one colourful waterfront village to another, along the cycling and pedestrian path that follows the bed of the old railway line. At one point the path went through a tunnel 1.5 km long - and the lights weren't working! It was back dark but luckily I had a small flashlight so we could see where we were going and Aldo had a couple of flashing armbands which we put on so that cyclists could see us and stay on their own side. That was quite an adventure, but there were no cars there so it was nothing compared to walking 2 km along the Via Aurelia highway - with no sidewalk, just a steep drop and a railway line below! Fortunately it's the only stretch of road like that I've come across on the Via della Costa, and it's likely to be eliminated from the route when the railway line is moved further inland (this winter) and the old railway line is made into a cycle path here too (hopefully not too far in the future).

Happy pilgrims who have eaten and slept well and are ready for departure!

Villa Grock (home of the famous clown Grock)

Descending into Imperia, with a view of Porto Maurizio

Porto Maurizio

Borgo Cappuccini

Looking back at Porto Maurizio

It was like this pretty much all day

San Lorenzo al Mare

Guerilla knitting

Santo Stefano al Mare

Water dispensing machine: chilled, purified water either still or sparkling, only 5 cents a litre

At Santo Stefano al Mare we came across a dispensing machine providing chilled, purified water, still or sparkling, for only 5 cents a litre – with a beautiful view of colourful houses. We stopped here for a break before the last stretch into the city of Sanremo, on the bicycle path around Capo Verde. The hotel Aldo had booked was full up, so I rented a room at Gioberti House, right in the historic part of the town near the harbour. In the evening we met for pizza and stopped by the cathedral to hear a lovely concert of singers and musicians from an English girls' school currently touring Liguria.

Riva Ligure

Another tunnel (not the scary one)

Rounding Capo Verde towards Sanremo

Getting close to France!

Concert in the cathedral in Sanremo

Sanremo by night

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Sentiero Liguria 13: Alassio - Imperia

Alassio - Imperia
27 km

Having thrown in my lot with Aldo, the pilgrim from Genoa I met in Albenga, I checked into the same hotel in Alassio so we could dine together and set off together in the morning. In the end we walked together all day and Aldo invited me along to stay with his brother and sister-in-law in Imperia!

We walked all morning through the hills and all afternoon along the seaside in the hot sunshine. When we finally reached Imperia, I discovered we still had a long way to go – up the hill past Villa Grock, and up still further to Cascine, way above the town, where’ Aldo’s brother Luigi and his wife Riccarda have their agriturismo, Le navi in cielo. The holiday apartments were closed for the season, but I Aldo and I shared what had been the children’s bedroom in Luigi and Riccarda’s own house. After a hot bath (not a shower - a good soak is a rarity when walking!), I pitched in to give a hand with the dinner preparations, learning to peel and cook a new vegetable: cavolo navone, which looks like a turnip but tastes like cabbage. Boiled and dressed with our hosts’ own olive oil, it made a fine dinner along with a soup of grains and legumes – the perfect meal after a long day of hiking!

Only two days to go to Ventimiglia!

October beach

Lagueglia

Looking back over Lagueglia and Alassio

Medieval bridge

Cervo and Diano Marina in the distance

Cervo

L'Incompiuta - the "Unfinished" cycling and pedestrian path

The church of San Luca, on the way up the hill to our resting place for the night

The view from the church of San Luca

Today's route

Monday, October 17, 2016

Sentiero Liguria 12: Loano - Alassio

Perhaps I should change the name of this series of blog posts. Once again today I abandoned the Sentiero Liguria in favour of the Via della Costa. Both are long-range paths crossing the entire region of Liguria. The difference is that the Sentiero Liguria is meant to illustrate the natural and cultural beauty of the region of Liguria, and therefore touches on coastal towns, hilltop villages and spots of natural beauty in the hinterland - such as the caves of Toirano or the hot springs at Acquasanta. The Via della Costa is a pilgrimage route which crosses the region in order to connect with the pilgrimage routes to Rome (in one direction) and Santiago (in the other). People who are planning on walking that kind of distance don't want to go too far out of their way to see pretty spots along the way, and will put up with walking along the sidewalk of a busy road for a while if the alternative means going miles out of their way.

I am choosing day by day whether the follow one or the other route, or a combination of the two. Today I followed the Via della Costa (yellow arrows), and in one section, between Borghetto Santo Spirito and Ceriale, it coincided with the Sentiero Liguria.

I set off from Loano following a hearty breakfast in my little hotel (Villa Tempo d'Estate), which was at the eastern end of town, which meant I had to cross the whole length of the town I had explored yesterday afternoon again (1.5 km). From there I proceeded along the waterfront to Borghetto Santo Spirito, a town which, like many along the riviera, has a small, picturesque old centre swallowed up and totally surrounded by highrises built in the shabby style of the '60s and '70s - when beach tourism became a mass phenomenon in Italy. After crossing the old part of Borghetto the path abandons the coast, in a steep scramble through the woods up the side of the rocky promontory that separates the town from the flat agricultural plain of Ceriale and Albenga. The path widens out where it passes the ramparts of the castle atop the hill, then descends more gently to Ceriale on the other side.

I found nothing of interest in the town of Ceriale, just a vast expanse of concrete to be crossed - but I suppose it's possible that it too has a historic heart, and that I missed it for all the highrises! However the road through the flat plain between Ceriale and Albenga was more pleasant - winding between greenhouses and nursery gardens. The principal crops at the moment seem to be rosemary, red and white winter flowers (the name temporarily escapes me) and crysanthemums - the day of the dead is coming up, when they are traditionally placed on graves.

After crossing this agricultural flatland the route enters Albenga at Pontelungo - originally a Roman bridge, rebuilt in the 12th and 13th centuries. There is now no water flowing under it, as the course of the river has since changed, and it is half-buried, as sediment from the river has raised the level of the land. For the same reason, the ruins of the 7th century basilica of San Vittore are now below street level.

The city of Albenga is a treasure trove of Roman ruins and medieval churches. Unfortunately at lunch time all the churches were shut.... so after admiring them from the outside I proceeded on out of the city over the new bridge on the other side, past yet another ancient Roman ruin and onto a Roman road - the Via Julia Augusta, built in the year 13 B.C.

And it was here that - for the first time in 12 days - I came across another pilgrim walking the Via della Costa! And in the same direction as me! Aldo left Genova only three days ago, and walks about twice as far in a day as I do, but this evening we will stop in the same place so we can have dinner together and walk together for a while in the morning. It was nice to have company after 11 days of walking alone! Especially when, on a detour that took us high up through the woods to avoid the site of a landslide on the ancient Roman road, a large-ish animal we never had a chance to see made a racket in the trees right by the path - I probably would have had a heart attack if I'd been up there on my own!!!