This is a slightly easier days walk compared to day one, 19km and only 650m of ascent.
We were woken to heavy rain falling, didn't bode well.
By the time we had breakfasted and stowed our packed lunch the rain had eased back to a very light drizzle, we set off under very leaden skies.
There was an option to walk round fields, but after the heavy rain we thought keeping to the asphalt would be better. It was a slow wind up the hill to Montacuto.
We worked our way along the ridge eventually getting to the castle, from here it was a gentle descent to a village of Albareto and down into Varzi.
There are wild boar in the woods which aren't supposed to be a bother to walkers during the daytime.
I did suggest after walking in Yosemite, where you are supposed to have a bear stick to "scare" the wild bears, that Allan should perhaps find himself a "boar stick", I had two walking poles, so i was covered. He pooh poohed the idea but we definitely heard something large in the hedgerow as we walked down the hill, there were plenty of marks in the verge indicating an animal had been there previous.
The view down into Varzi got better, as the sun came out and we took the old road avoiding the zigzags and walked straight down into Varzi, it was a little overgrown even early in the season.
The walk through the town was stunning, a totally pedestrianised old town, that was quietly steaming as the earlier rain evaporated.
We were woken to heavy rain falling, didn't bode well.
By the time we had breakfasted and stowed our packed lunch the rain had eased back to a very light drizzle, we set off under very leaden skies.
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| Locanda del Molino |
This is easy rolling country side, the view of our next hill was never far away.
We are heading to Costa Croce the ever present red and white flashes on the trees of the CAI will be there all the way to Varzi.
There was a steady climb from Costa Croce the views getting ever greater
Our next destination to aim for was Oramala and its castle, we will be going past Monte Bruno with a ridge walk going in a complete U south east, south, west and finally north west, ignoring all the temptations to come off the ridge.
There were magnificent views across the valley, but the cloud never left us all day whilst we were up here.
Oramala Castle came into view through the trees.
We worked our way along the ridge eventually getting to the castle, from here it was a gentle descent to a village of Albareto and down into Varzi.
There are wild boar in the woods which aren't supposed to be a bother to walkers during the daytime.
I did suggest after walking in Yosemite, where you are supposed to have a bear stick to "scare" the wild bears, that Allan should perhaps find himself a "boar stick", I had two walking poles, so i was covered. He pooh poohed the idea but we definitely heard something large in the hedgerow as we walked down the hill, there were plenty of marks in the verge indicating an animal had been there previous.
The view down into Varzi got better, as the sun came out and we took the old road avoiding the zigzags and walked straight down into Varzi, it was a little overgrown even early in the season.
The walk through the town was stunning, a totally pedestrianised old town, that was quietly steaming as the earlier rain evaporated.
We had an easy walk through the town finding our accommodation Locanda Le Cicale just out of the historic pedestrianised zone.
Greta was there to great us, soon we were sitting in the sun enjoying a well earned beer, boots off watching the world go by. The locals use this as their stop of a quick coffee and a chat or an gellato.
Once we got to our room we showered changed and had a walk through the town to explore more of its history. For a population of about three thousand the town had a real buzz it.
We left at 19.30 a deserted bar and restaurant, on our return the place was buzzing for a Monday evening, we had an excellent evening meal trying out the local produce and wine, for which they were so very proud.
This is something we found throughout this journey, the Italians are so passionate about their local produce and so enjoy telling us all about it, its really good to have people promoting their region.
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