Monthly Archives: November 2021

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Sunday, 28th November 2021:

Sunday, 28 November – Once again, it’s that time of the year when towns and villages across Liguria await Christmas by setting up lovely Nativity scenes in the churches or on the hills. Over the past years, we enjoyed hiking to the Xmas cribs of Manarola, Pentema, Lavagna (just to name a few).

While most towns are not ready yet (Manarola, Borgio Verezzi and Viganego will open in 2-3 weeks, not much is known about the fate of Pentema and Lavagna), Montallegro in Rapallo is already unwrapping their Nativity scene this Sunday: https://www.levantenews.it/2021/11/24/rapallo-a-montallegro-grande-presepe-sul-sagrato/

The plan then is to hike to Montallegro from Rapallo: we’ll try to get there by taking the adventurous path along the Tuia brook. You might remember trying part of it 2-3 years ago. Back then, we had to take a long detour via Monte Castello, but this year they should have completed the cleaning of the direct trail.

Hike is well described on
https://portofinotrek.com/en/from-rapallo/73-rapallo-montallegro-via-tuja-and-passing-through-pianalunga.html
and takes 2h45.

Should we have time for a bonus hike, we could either try treading a bit of the pilgrim trail to Canevale (i.e. the hamlet of the shepherd, who saw the Virgin Mary and received the Byzantine portrait, that can be seen on the altar of the shrine) or return to Rapallo via the Groppallo path of watermills. If we’re out of time, the traditional pilgrim path is the easiest way. Or, if all fails, there’s the bus (I believe the cable car is not working this month)

A hiking map is available on:
http://www.salitamontallegro.it/assets/pdf/CartaMontallegro_compressed.pdf .

Hike is rated as E (medium), with 650 mt of elevation gain. The PortofinoTrek website mentions chains, though, so it might be E/EE in a couple of spots.

How to get to Rapallo, and how to come back alive:

On Sunday, 28th November, let’s meet at Rapallo train station at 11:07 am.

Recommended trains are:

  • if you travel eastwards

Reg 32075 – 10:20 Genova Brignole – Rapallo 11:07

  • if you travel westwards

REG 3262: La Spezia Centrale 9:50 Rapallo 10:40

  • if you travel southwards:

Return will be from Rapallo station, probably around 5pm

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(*) if you’re coming from afar, do consider getting the 3 day regional pass for 29 euro. There may be a bug on the website, but you can buy the offer through the app.

As usual, if you have doubts, questions, Hamlet-like dilemmas… feel free to write me (at vidlothianATgmailDOTcom) or call me (at +39 329 7203364)

next hike

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Saturday, 13th November 2021:

Recco

Weather and trains may not be highly favourable for hiking this weekend, but Saturday might not be so bad. While Sunday looks hopeless, with rain showers and even a Trenitalia strike, Saturday should be ok (cloudy with sun spells), at least until 4pm. Given that the event “Locali Storici” will have many historical stores open their doors to the public ( https://www.localistorici.it/ ), shall we head to Manuelina, the legendary place in Recco that has been baking focaccia for over 130 years?

The idea is to get there by following the footsteps of Paolo Villaggio, who allegedly fled at night from the Colonia Arnaldi health center and walked down to Recco, craving for focaccia from Manuelina. Since we already did the first part of his walk in July (remember visiting Passo della Spinarola and the partly fascinating/partly eerie Colonia Arnaldi?), we’ll now do the second part, in the form of a loop from Recco. Plan is to hike from Recco up to Mt Ampola and Passo del Gallo, then head down to Recco via the trail of Roman bridges ( http://sentieridellevanteligure.blogspot.com/2013/04/v-behaviorurldefaultvmlo_2127.html ). Should the weather get wet sooner than expected, we can shorten the hike by heading down from Piane di Caravaggio.

Full hike takes 3 hours and is rated as T/E (easy/medium), with 500 metres of elevation gain.

In order to visit Manuelina, send an email to manuelina@manuelina.it (or call them, see https://www.localistorici.it/ for full details).
Should Manuelina get booked out, not all hope is lost: I think there’s another focacceria in Recco that will have guided tours.

As for the hike, let’s meetup at Recco station at 10:55.

How to get to Recco, and how to come back alive:

On Saturday, 13th November, let’s meet at 10:55 am at the entrance of Recco railway station

Suggested trains are:

– if you’re travelling eastwards

REG 12353 10:11 Genova Principe (10:20 Brignole) 10:54 Recco

– if you’re travelling westwards

REG 3262
09:50 La Spezia Centrale – 10:51 Recco

– if you’re travelling southwards

REG 3015 07:25 Milano Centrale (7:32 Lambrate 7:38 Rogoredo) 9:51 Recco (*)

Return will be from Recco, probably after 6pm.

(*) if you’re coming from afar, do consider getting the 3 day regional pass for 29 euro.

As usual, if you have doubts, questions, Hamlet-like dilemmas… feel free to write me (at vidlothianATgmailDOTcom) or call me (at +39 329 7203364)