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

Finale Marina

Finalborgo

Finalborgo

Finalborgo

Finalborgo - Santa Caterina 

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.

Pietra Ligure: the main square and, on the left, the shop that solved my phone charger problem!

Pietra Ligure: city hall

Beach break between Pietra Ligure and Loano

Loano

Loano

Loano

Loano

Loano has several oratories belonging to confraternities, housing crucifixes like this one that are taken out in procession on their feast days 

Today's GPS track. Blank spot in Pietra Lugire where my phone went into power saving mode!

Sentiero Liguria 10: Spotorno - Finale Ligure

Spotorno - Finale Ligure
Via Noli, Capo Noli, Altopiano Le Manie (19 km)

After two days of rest at home waiting out the storm system that was passing through, this morning I went back to where I had left off in Spotorno to resume my walk. Not without some difficulty, as there were no trains running between Chiavari and Genova due to trees being blown over onto the railway line. There was supposed to be a substitute bus service, but after I had been waiting around for it for some time, a man who had been waiting for an hour and a half got together a group of four to share a taxi to Genova, and I joined in. On the other side of Genova the trains were running normally.

Upon reaching Spotorno I set off on the path that follows the old road to Noli, the only link between the two towns until the stretch of the Via Aurelia around the promontory was built in 1817. Already the views were spectacular, but this was only a hint of what was in store after Noli, on the Sentiero del Pellegrino toward Varigotti.

Noli - or Chiavari?

Another town with covered sidewalks!

Saturday morning = weddings

Must come back some time when this church is open! It looks really interesting

Noli seen from the east. 

Now to cross that promontory - Capo Noli!

Noli seen from the west, on the way up to Capo Noli

A lot of paths converge here!

There are ruins of several ancient churches along the way, including Santa Margherita

The view from Grotta dei Falsari, "Counterfeiters' Cave", high above Capo Noli, where I stop for lunch

Capo Noli looms above

The path climbs higher and higher toward Semaforo

At Le Manie there are farms and mountain biking paths and a couple of rustic restaurants that rent rooms. But it's too early to turn in for the night at 3 pm, so I continue on, past a dog who looks like something out of a Dr. Suess book and some fine donkeys

Continuing into Val Ponci and some geologically fascinating territory

Hard to tell what's manmade and what's natural sometimes

Now I'm on an ancient Roman road, the Via Giulia Augusta

Coming down from the Ponci valley towards Finalpia - the first of the three towns that together are known as Finale Ligure

Coming into Finalpia, or Final Pia... the pious part of the town. I head for the abbey, where my guiebook says they host pilgrims... but... the monks are so pious they only host men... and they make them sleep on the floor. So says the lady in the abbey shop. So I survey the area for alternative accommodations and come up with a less pious and more fun alternative: the children's hotel!

Hotel dei Bambini is specifically designed for children, in bright colours with all kinds of toys, bicycles, etc. When I arrive there's a noisy birthday party going on and everyone is eating Nutella sandwiches. But children are not known for keeping late hours and in fact the place soon becomes very quiet. 

In low season the Hotel dei Bambini even accepts unaccompanied adults!

Today's itinerary