Cinque Terrific

Mother Nature is a very powerful woman. Of course, we had the crazy heatwaves early on and as we’ve been heading south we’ve noticed the rivers getting emptier and emptier, and the ground is getting significantly drier. We mostly clock this as we struggle to put our tent pegs in, which is obviously trivial, but it definitely makes you think about the wider impacts of the drought. For example, we were following a path where we surrounded by walls of greenery and in the blink of an eye the beautiful summer green we were surrounded by, turned orange. It felt surreal, as though we were cycling through a film set and had just transitioned from the summer scenery to the autumn. The bottom of the trees were blackened and the smell of smoke still hung in the air. It was clear that a recent wildfire had spread, we could see the harsh boundary between the orange and green in the distance in all directions. Parts of people’s houses had been burnt, fields had been lost and infrastructure was being repaired. It was easy enough for us to leave the image behind as we cycled and left the burnt orange behind us, but I can’t help feeling anxious that scenes like that are only going to become more common over time.

We cycled for a while in silence, digesting what we had just seen.  It wasn’t until the next day that the impact of the extreme, fast-changing weather was driven home more directly. Being from England, we are normally pretty happy to cycle when it’s wet. We’ve cycled in heavy rain once or twice on the trip so far and had the odd overnight storm. As we set off towards our next big destination, the Cinque Terre, the light rain didn’t really bother us. We pedalled through and it gradually escalated from light to heavy. We reached a junction where we weren’t entirely sure which way to go. The truck behind us was shouting at us in Italian and pointing right, towards the tunnel. They were very insistent we should go in the tunnel, so we pulled over and we realised quickly why. The rain suddenly got heavier and the wind got a lot stronger. The real storm had begun. We fought the wind across the road into the entrance of the tunnel to join the row of motorbikes who were also hiding from the force of the storm. Even inside the tunnel we were getting drenched. The rain was coming in horizontally and we stood holding the bike, our faces being stung by leaves, rain and anything else flying off the road. The motorcyclist next to us was saying he’d never seen anything like this, and I know I hadn’t either. All we could do was wait, try and take our minds away from fearing the worst and hope the storm calmed down. In total I think we stayed in the tunnel for around 30 minutes, but the fear and adrenaline made it feel a lot longer. We decided it was safe to leave when we rain was back to falling vertically and we continued along roads that had turned into rivers in places, passing all sorts of blown over debris. 

We had a day and a half to explore the Cinque Terre and we spent most of it staring at breathtaking views over the Mediterranean. The villages are a collage of narrow streets, gorgeous pastel coloured buildings and sea views. They make a lot of wine, so we headed up to a vineyard with great views for our first evening and (accidentally, we got confused by the menu) spent a small fortune tasting local wines. It was pretty impressive, the hills are so steep around the area that all the care of the vines has to be done by hand. We spent the daytime walking through the villages, paddling in the sea and hiking up to gorgeous panoramic viewpoints. In the evening we sat, reading our books accompanied by the sound of the waves and a traditional Italian ‘aperitivo’ which usually consists of local snacks and a drink. The Cinque Terre have definitely been one of the most beautiful, calming and charming places we’ve visited so far. 

We got the train to Genoa and spent a day exploring the impressive city. Now, we’re continuing west along the coast towards France. The views as we follow the sea are totally mesmerising. The sparkling water seems to go on forever, and sometimes we can see miles of coastline behind us of the path we’ve taken. Every night we have managed to stay close to the sea. We take romantic strolls along the beach, eat truly delicious (and cheap!) takeaway pizza cooked by locals and today we even went for an evening swim. It’s all very idyllic.

Speak soon,

Jack and Baz