Cinque Terre - Corniglia

Today we had the best weather of the week so far - bright sunny skies and it was quite warm too, with no threat of a rainstorm. We had another wonderful breakfast at our little family run hotel (more of a pension than a hotel) - grandma serves the breakfast, dad is in the kitchen, and grandad makes the best soya cappuccino ever! We then caught the train to Venazza, where we were yesterday, but today we walked in the opposite direction to the mountain top village of Corniglia. 

It was a good hike, quite steep to start but then we had wonderful views back on to the town of Vernazza. The coastline faces south so it depends on which direction you are walking, and in which direction the town faces whether you get the sun behind you or if you are shooting into the sun. (Added an extra of Venazza from above). It took about 1 hour 20 mins to walk to Corniglia, climbing to about 282m. Corniglia is surrounded by vineyards as can be seen in this image, with far reaching views over the sea.There were beautiful wild flowers including a type of sweet pea, jasmine, and the smells were incredible.

After a refreshing drink In Corniglia we decided to carry on and walk to the next village of Manarola. Unfortunately the coastal path was closed due to a landslide so we had to hike all the way up the mountain, above the main road. It was a very steep and tiring hike, but the views down to the sea were incredible. See extra of that view down on to Corniglia. After 2 hours 15 minutes, just when I thought my calves were about to cramp and my legs felt like jelly, we reached Manarola. There were thousands of steps down in to the village that was very testing - I always thought going up stairs was the worst, but now I can confirm that going down stairs is very painful on the calves! Being a beautiful sunny day I took more pictures of this village, and what a difference from the ones I took on Monday when it was cloudy conditions. I have added an extra to show you the good light.

So now we have hiked the entire trail between the five villages, a wonderful way to see them and well worth the painful legs! Tomorrow, a boat ride...

Thank you for all the hearts, stars and comments - I am reading every one of them and appreciate your comments. It is just too busy to spend any time on Blip journals at the moment, apologies for that.