 Here's
a disrupted tower amidst the sea. This poto was obviously shot in late
summer and it's from my archive like some other ones in this article. |
a
| Here's
a disrupted tower amidst the sea. This poto was obviously shot in late
summer and it's from my archive like some other ones in this article. |
| Gimme
a basin of water. Like Pontius Pilatus I'm gonna wash my hands. This trip is really fine but if you do it ending in jail and your canoe on public auction of distrained goods it's not a fault of mine. 01\04\2005 Cinque terre 'Twas from septober or perhaps octember 2004 I was yearning on this trip from Muggiano (SP) to Levanto . This late in the season there's always something going wrong. Once my partner's clock doesn't ring, then it's cloudy, then the sea is gruff, then hours of light are too few …… I sworn on my paddle that on the first week end with the legal hour I would have been there. Two friends of mine accompanied me till Portovenere then, the usual alone stray dog, I went on on the trip you can discover grazing your mouse's tail on my signature and then on the blue dots   . |
 When
at peace with the world and not the usual SOB I try to give helpful tips.Read them only if you really want to go and use them "cum granu salis". You can't find free parking lots anywhere in the fashionable places so you'll go here. Out of the highway head for La Spezia then for Lerici till you find an arrow for Muggiano then at the first traffic light turn left and you'll find a canoe club with an optimal slipway and parking. There's also a bus stop from the station when you come back by train the day after to recover your car as i'll explain later.. |
 Portovenere
is wonderful and deserves a visit. There's a narrow strait between the Palmaria (the main island) and mainland so local conditions for wind and sea are not to be accounted for. |
 The sheer cliffs of the Palmaria are of a peculiar and rare marble and there are not so ancient quarries you can visit landing after the south point. This cliff with it's horizontal grey and white bands mimic the 'romanico pisano' style cathedrals like in Pisa. |
 There
are three islands. Palmaria the big one you can land on and visit. Then the Tino strictly forbidden (military zone) and Tinetto just a rock with a really fine ruins on the top. You can land with a flat sea on a natural slipway on the east side. |
 Never
try to land on Tino, a friend of mine was arrested for it. Only once a year in septemper you can visit the relics of S.Venerio, the local protector saint. |
 Rocks
and cliffs, rocks and cliffs, rocks and cliffs. Colors fantastic and crystal water But no shelter for many kms. |
 The
'Cinque terre' so called as an unit because these five hamlets were
once reachable only by sea, by foot or by train (still the most used 'cause
the roads are a little more twisting than a screw pull ) and lived on
fishing and on a local wine "sciacchetrà" they grow on
incredible ancient terraced vines..The coast is so harsh that there are only two suitable places to camp. One is the public beach of Riomaggiore 100 yards from the center but out of sight on the right behind a cliff. As an experienced hobo my tent is up only after dusk. I make a gastronomical pilgrimage to "Cosimo" a oven where they conjure a noticeable "cecina" aka "farinata" aka "torta" aka "chick pea pie" . Every few kilometers the name changes and it's still delicious. Then saying goodnight to a few shivering romantic couples I zip the fly and sleep like a log. In the morning I pack and land just in the middle of the poto. I'm a social hobo and chattering before a cup of coffee I said I'd slept on the beach. They said "We do know. There's a web cam and a monitor in the square " Free camping is forbidden fines are heavy and the canoe distrained. A well-do-nothin' friend of mine wondered " Why didn't you had troubles ? Out of season ? Pitiable conditions ? Death of a pope? " In Italy there's a saying 'every death of a pope' as a rare event and I obviously and proudly could say "The third you said !" The last pope died just that day after a long long pontificate. Blasphemous jokes apart I think I looked old, civil, mainly alone .... |
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| Usually I never go
back where I started if it isn't a circumnavigation. In this trip there is a train every hour to go back where you left your car. Easy and relaxing from Levanto thru highway. Spectacular and tortuos thru Riomaggiore etc. Now
it's not my fault if emulating me you'll be fined and harassed by officials
and authorities. PONTIVS PILATVS |
