The Cinque Terre

Four intrepid Americans set off to experience the Cinque Terre with Ramblers Worldwide Holidays this last May/June. We had spectacular weather (never rained once), wonderful coastal scenery and some grand strenuous (for me) adventures in the Ligurian Alps.

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We were lucky enough to have a husband and wife team for our leaders. Dennis was our ingenious navigator and Marion (in addition to her wonderful sense of humour) offered us Italian lessons every night. How lucky can you get? Plus our group had a really international flair; what with Americans, Irish, English and quite a few Australians. In fact the English were in the minority!

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My best adventure was on the Alta Via route which had unexpectedly been altered. This, of course, set Dennis’ calculations all awry. An added complication was that we needed to get down to catch a bus by a certain time, or wait two hours for the next one. Dennis took a short cut which was successful until overgrowth became too much of a challenge. Right, climb the wall to get into the field – but the wall was so high I needed a push up. The push was a bit too energetic (by an Australian of course!) and I got my head in a briar bush! “Wait, wait” I said, but was laughing too hard and got pushed again. The next challenges were the steep banks in the field. I just sat down, slid down them and laughed again all the way down.

Here I am seventy four years old, having grand adventures, hiking mountains, sliding down steep grassy banks and getting tangled in briar bushes. We all made it for the bus. Never forget that day.