Cinque Terre: The Big Hike

After brushing up on our hiking skills on Wednesday afternoon, Matt and I decided to make our last full day on the road a challenging one.  On Thursday, we tackled our "el guapo" -- the fabled hike from Riomaggiore (which is the southern-most of the Cinque Terre) to the town of Porto Venere.  Our hotel guy warned us about this 5-hour hike.  He said emphatically that we should not even attempt the hike if it was cloudy, let alone if it was raining.  And the forecast called for rain.  But the morning skies looked like they would hold out, and so we embarked.

It wasn't easy, but we conquered our el guapo.  This was definitely, by far, the toughest hike I've done. But it was great.  Slow-going for sure at certain stretches.  That's inevitable when you're on a hike that is so long in both overall elevation and distance, has such treacherous and slippery terrain, and includes such dramatic exposure.  There were many points where I was stunned at how precariously perched we were over the sea.  The scenery was tremendous, and the huge castle that suddenly appeared as we approached sea level in Porto Venere made it all worth it.