24 March 2011: Cinque Terre Day Seven.

There were a few hazy heads when we all caught up this morning, but we were determined to get a bit of exercise in today. The pathway from Manarola to Vernazza (the next town north of Manarola) was shut so we took the train to Vernazza with the idea of then walking to Monterosso (the town after Vernazza).

It was a short train trip to Vernazza and we pretty much relaxed and lazed around recovering from the night before. Whilst sitting in the park near the edge of the water, we decided to take the path to Monterosso after lunch. The sign said that it would take approximately two hours to walk, so we thought that was a pretty decent sort of work out. The sign also said that the path was closed due to repairs being conducted but, as they say here, regulazioni e non important……….

Unfortunately, Lareen had to leave us at this point but we will be meeting up with her again in Nice, ciao Lareen!

We sussed out a nice little restaurant not far from the water and sat down to load up for the long trek ahead. It was a fantastic lunch washed down with a beer and white wine (probably not the sort of liquid we should have been drinking before a long walk). Nobody was saying, but I got the inclination that if anyone of us had said, “lets just stay here”, that walk may well have gone by the wayside.

After lunch we made our way to the start of the pathway to Montorosso, we stalled for a few minutes at the entrance and debated whether it was a good idea to go, “the sign is pretty clear…pathway closed for repairs” said Michelle. In the end we decide we are fearless adventurers and we are up to the challenge.

The pathway is very steep and slightly narrow initially and after a few hundred yards we have gained considerable altitude and are able to look back and down on Vernazza. The views just keep getting better and better but there is a quiet buzzing noise to the north of us that attracts our attention. We can see off into the distance a helicopter which seems to be carrying some sort of package from the top of the hills down to the beach at Montorosso, we watch as it circles the coastline weaving its way to its destination and then repeating the trip every few minutes.

We’re in no hurry and we stop every few hundred yards to rest, the climb continues to be steep and the path is narrowing with every step we take. The pit stops are filled with picture snapping, taking in the view, conversations with other people on the pathway (the couple from Alabama and the Grandmas from Oxford) and the constant buzzing of the helicopter.

It’s probably an hour into the walk and we’re still heading upwards, thought it might have flattened out for us by now but no cigar. Every few hundred yards the pathway winds its way to the edge of the cliff and we can get a glimpse of where we have walked from and where we are heading. It just becomes more spectacular as we make our way along….and the helicopter is getting louder as we continue along the path.

At one of our rests we noticed that the chopper is actually dropping bags of rock and dirt along the path ahead of us, there are workmen spaced out along the track and they seem to be there to complete the repairs to the pathway. Hmmmm, this might get a little tricky in the next twenty minutes.

We are now approximately one hour and forty-five minutes into the hike, the track is relatively safe but it is very narrow in places and the stones not so secure. It was necessary to watch our footing but all in all, we are comfortable enough and it’s been a great experience. Gee that helicopter is really close to us…..

We reached a point in the pathway where the chopper was really close and appeared to be approaching the point where we were standing with one of its loads of rock. We decided to move quickly through that part of the track to avoid getting in the way of the workers and the chopper with its load…….nothing doing.

No more than twenty meters from where we were standing and thirty meters off the ground, the chopper came in over our heads. The first thing to go was Marks cap, which was swept away by the wind, created by the force of the rotors.  It was pointless trying to speak, we simply wouldn’t have heard each other over the noise and we did the only thing you can do in that situation, we huddled together and whimpered like little kids.

Initially, all I could do is keep my head down waiting for the chopper to drop the load and take off again but it seemed to be lingering for quite some time. I managed to lift my eyes and see that the pilot was having some difficulty releasing the load in a secure place. He keep lifting and dropping the rocks hoping it would stick to its spot on the side of the hill but wouldn’t take. Lifting my eyes past the load and up the line to the chopper I could see that the pilot was working overtime trying to land the load in the right place. The chopper was lurching forward and sideways and the thought crossed my mind that if the rotors hit the side of the hill……….

This was not a time to panic, this situation called for someone to take control and be a hero. I took a quick look around and couldn’t see that person, then followed more huddling and more whimpering. Eventually the pilot was happy with the placing of his load, released it and flew off. The whole episode probably only lasted thirty seconds but for the four of us, it was a lifetime.

I've attached a video  which Michelle took after we moved on down the track of the area we were caught in, very interesting footage.

Not wanting to hang around for the next load, we moved pretty quickly along the path from that point on. But when we rounded the next corner, we ran into some workers who were completing the repairs to the pathway. Right in front of us were three bags of rock completely blocking our way. We had to grab one of the workers hands, swing our bodies out over the edge of the hill and work our way around the bags to the other side.

All the time I’m thinking about that sign at the start of the walk and wondering when one of the workers was going to give us a lecture about irresponsibility etc etc. But, they didn’t, they just acted like it was the norm. Besides, we had Michelle along to do that for them, so I guess they gave us a reprieve.

Three hours after we started, we finally wound our way down the last part of the track to Montorosso. Whilst we agreed it was a foolish thing to ignore the warning signs and that the chopper incident was a bit of a scare, we decided alls well that ends well, it was a real adventure and we did allow ourselves to give off a few “whoo hoo’s” at the end of the track.

A few beers at a restaurant on the beach and a bit of a rest were just the things to finish off our afternoons trek. A short train ride back to Manarola and a light meal on the balcony at our apartment to watch the sunset and at eight o’clock, we were all nicely tucked up in bed. They don’t have CCTV cameras in the Cinque Terre hills between Vernazza and Montorosso……do they?