geeteetravels

The ride today took us into the Nervia and Crosia Valleys, starting in Ventimiglia. These 3 towns are all classified as “Borgo Più Bello d’Italia or most beautiful towns in Italy. They are medieval with castles and churches, situated on top of hills/mountains with narrow streets and much character. The whole ride was only around 40 kms but again involved some fairly serious climbing, about 500 meters, so took most of the day. We stopped in the 1st town, Dolceacqua, to wander around the old city and do a bit of souvenir shopping. There is a famous old bridge going into the city that was built in the 15th century and was painted by Monet.

The towns kept getting higher in elevation as we progressed. At one point just before reaching Apricale we saw another town perched high above us and joked that this was our next point, and in fact it was, Perinaldo. The road to Perinaldo was ridiculously narrow, I thought it was a bike path at first, but spectacular as it wound up to the town through a forest and of course gave us great vistas of the towns below. At times the grade of incline was over 14%, a new world record for us. But then we got a free ride all the way back to Ventimiglia.

For the evening passeggiata we visited the old city of Ventimiglia which is perched up above the modern city. Like the towns we explored today it is a fully functional modern habitat for the people but appears to be from the middle ages with it’s narrow streets and passageways, so different from our own home where we have so much room to live.

Today we set off for a ride to France and Monaco, made it to Menton 12 kms away, sat down at a cafe to enjoy the seaside view and our back tire suddenly went flat with a loud pfft while we were sitting there. So we went about changing it, George checked the tire for anything sharp, pumped up the new tube and the same thing happened again! And yes we had only brought one tube for this short ride. But now we discovered a worn area on the sidewall that was pinching the tube and causing the problem. So now we needed a new tire and tube, luckily we were in a city not in the middle of nowhere. Also after carrying a spare tire for the last 8 years we decided to leave it at home this year…

George managed to remember enough French (we are getting very used to Italian) to ask where to find a bike shop and they had what we needed. So we (mostly George) fixed it and carried on but it took a couple of hours to sort out. This was an expensive cafe stop.

We made it to Montecarlo and rode to the casino and the big marina before turning around to head back to Italy. George had been there in 1976 for the Monaco Grand Prix and wanted to see it again. The ride along the coast was spectacular.

Taking a train with a lungo bici can be tricky. We try to be prepared and read all the rules but in Italy you can never be sure. Trying to determine if we need to pay the supplement or not and which car has the bici storage area (front or back) and where to wait so you can get on quickly as they only stop for a few minutes, and then get the paniers on the train also. It is stress inducing. Anyway we managed to get to Ventimiglia with the bicycle and bags but it took most of the day.

We are staying in a bungalow in a campground which is different than usual. We have our own kitchen and small patio so we can buy food for some meals and store food in the fridge rather than buying daily.

We did go out for supper though to a place called Basta Pasta (enough pasta). The servings were so large we brought the leftover home for supper tomorrow. I had a pesto and green bean sauce, George had carbonara. It was delicious.

Today we started heading to the far west side of the trip, Ventimiglia at the French border. First we had to climb our way out of Lerici to get back along the Riviera Levante and then we plan to catch a train the rest of the way tomorrow morning. It was another warm day with over 800m of climbing but we made it without a hitch. We saw a lot of cyclists on the peaceful upper road we were on, and little other traffic so it was lovely.

We’re staying overnight at a hotel in Lavagna with half board (meaning dinner and breakfast included). This is a good deal if the food is high quality and this evening it was.

Today we did a ride around the Lerici area climbing up to Montemarcello, down to Bocca di Magra then to Tellaro and finishing at the beach in Fiascherino.

Tellaro looks very much like one of the Cinque Terre villages except very quiet and peaceful not full of tourists. It is literally at the end of the road along the coast.

We had to work hard to go swimming in Fiascherino. The beach was at the bottom of a switchback staircase that we had to carry the bike down, but the swim was very refreshing.

Today was a slower day, no riding, slept in a bit. After breakfast we took a ferry ride across the golf to Porto Venere. This is a beautiful little port with tall colorful houses facing the water. These houses were actually part of the defensive wall at one point in history. There’s also a castle and a couple of churches to see. One of these churches dates from the 1300’s and is situated right out on the point.

We tried to do a short hike above the town but only went about 45 minutes before it started to pour. We found a small forest refuge/restaurant (of course) luckily so we didn’t get soaked. It stopped raining fairly soon so made our way back to town and went for a walk along the waterfront before heading back to Lerici on the ferry.

Leaving Lerici behind on the quick trip to Porto Venere.

An inspirational spot for Lord Byron apparently but could be for anyone.

The ride today started with a steep climb of about 575 meters out of Levanto to the road that runs above the Cinque Terre. There were some 12% grades and lots of 8-10%, so a bit tough for an hour or so but as George always says, there’s no view without the climb. The views of the villages were spectacular. This is one of the best roads we have encountered in all of our bicycle trips, see the photos that follow.

After the Cinque Terre area we descended to La Spezia and then rode to Lerici around the golfo dei poeti, so named for the famous residents – Byron and Shelley. We found our new abode for the next 3 nights, a very small hotel with just enough room to park the bike in the office. Again we are on the sea and George went in for a dip before the evening walk and supper.

Today we took a short ride from Levanto west on an old railway converted to a bike/pedestrian pathway running along the coast to Bonassola and Framura. The majority of the time was spent in a tunnel but it did open up frequently to give us glimpses of the Mediterranean and hidden coves and beaches. Also tunnels are cool so it was a refreshing ride.

In Bonassola we had our first swim in the Mediterranean and enjoyed the beach for an hour or so, just long enough for George to get a sunburn on all the places he had no sunscreen.

Later in the day we did a self guided walking tour of Levanto and took part in the evening passagiata before finding our supper.

Those rocks are not only sharp but burning hot!

The beach in Levanto

Three colourful palazzi along the waterfront in Levanto

Find the flying girl in this picture

On the Levanto – Framura cycle path, only about 6km but well done

No riding today, we took a train into the first of the Cinque Terre (5 Lands) Monterosso. Suddenly we were in a busy tourist area the second we stepped off the train. It reminded us of Venice and Rome with many Americans, Japanese and Chinese. After a short look around the town we found the trail that takes you to the 2nd village of Vernazza. The trail is lovely with many steps to climb through the forest and some vineyards and orchards also. We enjoyed this very much. The trail was somewhat busy, not bad though, 3 kms long and took us about 90 minutes. The view of the villages from the trail was spectacular. The highlight of the area is seeing the villages from the trails or from the water. The actual villages, once you’re in them, are typical of many Italian villages we have visited with many eateries and shops, not so interesting. Vernazza also had a castle to climb up to give us a good vista.

After a nice lunch in the main piazza we took the train to the last village Riomaggiore and explored there with plans to take a boat back to Levanto to see the area from the water but unfortunately the water was rough so the ferry was not operating. So the train was our only option.

We chose only to go to 3 villages as it seemed enough for us, too many people!

Bougainvillea love it here

Looking back at Monterosso as we hike towards Vernazza

Heading up on the trail to Vernazza

There could be trolls here

Vernazza in the distance

Walking down into Vernazza

Riomaggiore

The coastline here rises sharply from the water, vertically in many places, so there is no nice flat shoreline road at all times. We knew that when we planned the trip of course but this would be our first trip inland in order to get to Levanto which is a kind of gateway to the Cinque Terre. Unfortunately these colds we picked up are hanging on so we’re not in top shape but away we went. The coastline here is truly remarkable in its beauty and there’s no view without the climb so we were distracted as we pushed.

We stayed low on the coast for the first 20km or so and then started inland and up at Sestri Levante. The road was great and much quieter off the coast, very little traffic. We rode through pine forests in silence except for a bit of chain noise and heavy breathing as we gradually came on top of the ridge. Then we floated along for awhile until plunging down to the sea and Levanto in the last 10km. We are staying here for three nights so we get a rest and a chance to see the Cinque Terre.

Up in the pine forests

At this point we still had a lot of climbing left

The morning view from our hotel in Rapallo

Coming down the mountain into Levanto