Joanne's long walks: Sentiero Liguria 11: Finale Ligure

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Sentiero Liguria 11: Finale Ligure - Loano

Finalpia (Finale Ligure) - Loano

Via Finalborgo, Borgio Verezzi (15 km)

A sunny Sunday and the hills are alive.... with hikers, mountain bikers, rock climbers and wild boar hunters!

I start out by crossing the three hamlets making up the town of Finale Ligure, from Finalpia along the waterfront of Finale Marina and then inland to the medieval walled village of Finalborgo.

Finale Marina

Finalborgo

Finalborgo - Santa Caterina

Leaving Finalborgo

Finalborgo from above

From Finalborgo the path climbs steeply through the woods and becomes an ancient road paved with stones and bounded by dry stone walls, leading to Borgio Verezzi.

Mother Mary watches over the path

And here is her sanctuary at the top of the hill

With this view over Pietra Ligure

Borgio Verezzi is the little village of square stone houses on the lower right in the picture above. Here is it closer up:

And even closer up:

And inside:

Washtroughs old and new:

Verezzi

From Verezzi the stone-paved path zig-zags down the hill amidst carob trees, olive trees and hedges in bloom which buzz with hundreds of bees, disturbed at my approach.

At the bottom, in Pietra Ligure, I had to decide whether to take the high road - the Sentiero Liguria path high up into the hills, coming out at Boissano, above Toirano - or walk along the waterfront, following the directions for the Via della Costa. As it turned out, fate decided for me - my phone was just about dead and my portable recharger didn't seem to be working. No way was I heading into the woods alone without my maps and GPS tracks! Plus, clouds were gathering over the hilltops - and there were likely to be bands of armed men up there. Not because Ligurian rebels are engaged in guerrilla warfare in the hills - but because the boar hunt is open on Sundays in October!

So, after pausing in a cafè to recharge my phone, I carried on through the town of Pietra Ligure, where I found, even on a Sunday at lunch time, a Chinese shop where I could buy a replacement cable for my charger - it had been damaged by being twisted up in my belt pack all the time on the Via Francigena last year! Having solved that problem, I proceeded along the waterfront to Loano, where I had a sudden attack of laziness and decided to check into a small hotel, take a hot shower and explore the town.