Portovenere under a snow filled sky
An extraordinary day of weather here on the Italian Riviera. The walk began after a short train ride and a taxi to the start point but within 45 minutes the snow had started. By this time I had climbed to over 2500 feet and so the cold was less surprising but I had not really expected this sort of weather a mile or two from the coast. It certainly underlines the fact that Liguria has mountains and sea – nothing else. There is little flat land between the two and when bad weather hits the hills it soon makes its presence felt down here.
The route along the alta via has some interesting stretches and on a warm day the shade from the woods of very different types along the path would have been very welcome. But of course the trees have the added effect of hiding the views of the famous Cinque Terre coastline and the stretch between Termine above Monterosso to Portovenere began with very few views at all. Theer was a lot of climbing however. This is a moderately difficult walk of six hours which is a world away from the coast and the queues of tourists. As I approached Portovenere the pines gave way to open scrub and the seascapes opened up beautifully. Even with the snow falling it was time to stand and stare.
On the coast the snow continued to fall throughout the evening. It wasn’t settling on the roads and pavements but cars were becoming covered and the beach even managed to turn white in places.
