In late April/early May, the alphabet soup (D, L, G, K, C and I) decamped to the Cinque Terra for a few days of hiking, eating and drinking. It was K's brilliant idea to go to the Cinque Terra, and I say that without any of my usual sarcasm - it was a brilliant holiday. The Cinque Terra is five Italian towns nestled in the hills on the coast of the Liguria region of Italy. The towns are joined by a hiking trail and tram. The distance between the town varies. At its longest, the hike is about 1.5 hours between two towns over a path that an Italian quite accurately described as a "goat path". At its easiest, it's a 15 minute walk over a paved area joining two of the towns. In any event, if you give up or decide not to do the return journey, there's always a train.
We based ourselves in one town, spending the days walking to the other towns and then catching the train back in the evening. The walks were beautiful, and we felt they justified us being incredibly greedy at every town we visited, and gorging ourselves on the delicious local food and wine.
One of my favourite times of day was afternoon apperativo time. Apperativo time inevitably involved an Apperol spritz. The proprietors of whatever bar we were at would then usually bring out a tray of delicious snacks to eat. It effectively added a fourth main meal to the day, which none of us complained about.
In an attempt to counteract the gluttony, I kept up my running, although my runs became noticeably slower yet felt harder as the days went on. It wasn't very beachy weather, but after a morning run D and I braved the water, so I can say I went swimming while I was there.
After about three days in the Cinque Terra, sadly the alphabet soup broke up, with K and C off to Rome, D and L to Milan then Perth and G and I headed off to Asti.
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