Actually I’m in a town a few km past Sarzana, figuring that adding a few extra km to a shorter day will ease the burden on the following, longer day. Come to think of it, I’m not even in a town, just that curious outcome of planning that leaves huge swathes of the countryside not quite towns and not quite farmland. Where I’m staying there is a new church (with pilgrim hostel upstairs), a huge Supermarket just down the road, but housing density is not apparent. Looking around from the patio, the hillsides are all seemingly random houses, punctuated with numerous hilltop villages.
It was a day for hilltop villages. Immediately leaving Aulla it was a steep climb through the forest for an hour on what was presumably an ancient pathway, when quite unexpectedly you are confronted by a small hilltop town. It’s not totally clear why it is there in the middle of nowhere, but this was a recurring theme for the day. There were also great views of the Mediterranean from the trail, but not sure that I’ll actually get to dip my toes in it: the VF skirts inland and I’m not sure that the extra km to the water are worth the detour.
The pic with the flood lights is the next in the series of views from the accommodation!
Daily km: 24.7
2saunter 