Saturday, July 30th 2022:
Summer holidays may be getting closer, but perhaps we still have time for two more hikes? The first one will take place in the biggest swimming pool in Liguria this Saturday, while the second one will smell of fried fish and will be on August 13th. If you’re regular visitors to this group, I’m sure you don’t need more clues!
Kicking off this Saturday will be the “piscina naturale” event, which will be held in Portovenere and finally returns, after 3 long years. The idea, of course, is to hike along a path leading to the Infinite trail, then head down to Portovenere and swim to Palmaria island.
For the uninitiated, the Portovenere strait will be off limits to boats. From 3pm till 6pm, boats won’t be allowed to cross it, thus making it feasible to swim from Portovenere to Palmaria. At least, theoretically, as the weather will have the last say (we even had tornadoes once! which of course caused the swim to be called off)
Anyway, weather permitting, we’ll try to swim to the island and back to Portovenere (unless you come from Basel with your wickelfisch, in which case I guess you could go on hiking to the lighthouse on top of Palmaria island). So that you know, the distance between Portovenere and Palmaria is around 200/250 metres.
As for the hiking part: let’s meet at La Spezia station around 10:45am and head to the fishermen town of Cadimare. Depending on how many we are, we’ll either walk or catch a city bus. From Cadimare, we’ll hike up to Sella di Derbi, along the forest trail described on http://www.parconaturaleportovenere.it/il-sentiero-nel-bosco/ . This should allow us to do the ascending part of the hike under the shade of the woods (as well as discover the Jubilee Cross, that illuminates the Spezia gulf at night). Once we reach Sella di Derbi, we’ll continue along the so called “infinite trail”, so as to finish the hike in Portovenere. The “infinite” trail probably owes its name to the fact that the alignment of Mt Muzzerone, Portovenere and the islands of Palmaria and Tino make the trail appear much longer (almost infinite) than it actually is. In truth, the walk from Fezzano to Derbi should take 1,5 hours, while the trail to Portovenere requires another 1,5 hours. Hike is rated as “E” (intermediate), with an elevation gain of 350 metres.
You may read more about the Infinite trail on:
- https://sentieridautore.it/2015/11/25/seguendo-minerva-a-portovenere/ and about the Natural Swimming Pool on:
- https://www.cittadellaspezia.com/2022/07/27/sabato-torna-la-piscina-naturale-porto-venere-si-prepara-al-sold-out-455385/
How to get to La Spezia, and how to come back alive:
On Saturday, July 30th, let’s meet at 10:45am outside La Spezia Centrale railway station, near the red human pyramid monument
Suggested trains are:
» if you are travelling eastwards:
Reg 12335 + 12221 Genova Piazza Principe 8:14 (Genova Brignole 8:23 Sestri Levante 9:41) La Spezia 10:45 (*)
or
IC 505 – 08:53 Genova Piazza Principe (9:01 Genova Brignole) 10:09 La Spezia (might get booked out soon)
» if you are travelling southwards:
REG 2179 Milano Lambrate 6:32 (Rogoredo 6:38) Genova P.Principe 8:21
(*) +
IC 505 Genova P.Principe 8:51 – La Spezia 10:09
(if you have blind faith in Trenitalia, there’s also another way, via Parma)
Return will be from Portovenere/La Spezia, possibly around 6pm/7pm.
(*) if you’re coming from afar, you may consider getting the 3 day regional pass for 29 euro. Or the summer ticket (4 weekends) for 39 euro.
As usual, if you have doubts, questions, Hamlet-like dilemmas… feel free to message me ( vidlothianATgmailDOTcom ) or call me (+393297203364)
Liguriah 