The Scroop's European Holiday: Monterosso

This morning we wanted to do some hiking along the Cinque Terre trails so we head down to the tourist office for some advice. The girl at the tourist office clearly saw us as an inconvenience to her day and we left still a little unsure of where we should be going. From what we can gather, all of the coastal trails are closed due to the large rainfall we had last night except the coastal trail from Monterosso to Venazza. The coastal trails are the walks they charge people to do but it seems pointless if the rest are shut so we decide to do the free walk which is longer, up higher and away from the coast. We start wandering up the hill but we can’t find the start the of the trail so lucky for us there is another tourist office right opposite where we think the trail start point is and we go in and ask. Lucky we did because the lady there tells us that part of the longer route is closed as well so if we had of done that we would have wasted hours. In the end we decide to do the coastal route from Monterosso to Venazza which means turning around and heading back down to the beach. We check in with the boat company to see if the boats between the five towns are operating but they too are closed due to the conditions. We’re not sure what conditions they are talking about because as far as we can see, it’s as flat as a tack out there and it’s a beautiful day. Anyway, we head to the start of the trail and right from the start there are steps, and lots of them. I’m not talking stair type steps; I’m talking bits of rock one higher than another with mud all over them. The trail is very hairy, you are walking along a path that at times is no wider than about a foot or so and there could be a 30-40 foot drop. Couple that with steps and more steps it is quite an arduous walk. I also read somewhere that the trail rises up about 200-300m above sea level. The walk from Monterosso to Venazza is estimated at 2 hours long but we are Scroops and there is no way we are going to except that. This walk is a real challenge but we take it on as a challenge we have to win. The trail is packed with people from all over the world of all differing ages, we see people in front of us and that instantly means we HAVE to pass them. The walk to Venazza was extremely tough but the rewards were some amazing views. We get there in good time and have a wander around the small but very pretty village before finding a restaurant near the sea front to have some lunch. We tuck into some amazing pizza while Kris and I also have a couple of alcoholic beverages. I think it may have been those alcoholic beverages that made us make the stupid statement “hey kids, lets walk back”. The kids were super excited and I distinctly remember Mia screaming out “Yeahhhhhhh!!!!” After a couple of hours at the restaurant we make our way back through the village to the start of the trail. We get about 13 steps into the 1,000,000,030 steps your required to do on this walk and Mia says “I’m tired......” I look at her at say “you were the one screaming yeahhhhh.........start walking”. With a couple of drinks under our belts we were feeling the pinch but once we got a roll on we were off. I said to the kids “come on guys, let’s go for a Scroop world record” and we all pushed hard and eventually did the trek in 1 hour and 15 minutes, YEAH, in your face 2 hours!!! During our walk home I had decided to get a haircut. There is a little hairdressers just down the road from our apartment so I said to the kids “that’s it, I’m getting it shaved off” They didn’t believe me so I stopped in and had it shaved. It’s been a while since I have had my hair shaved and the kids couldn’t believe I’d done it. Anyway, we get back to the apartment slightly exhausted and very much in need of a drink so we make our way over to Mario’s wine bar for a wine. We hang out there for a while until its nudging dinner time and then we move down the road to a restaurant. We all order spaghetti bog so they bring it out on one big plate so we can serve ourselves rather than 4 separate plates. What an awesome idea! A couple more drinks and we are plum tuckered and we head back to the apartment for a well earned sleep.