Walking the Cinque Terre

What a day! As I said yesterday we planned to go to Manarola and have lunch at Nessun Dorma, a cafe recommended by Kate Hoy. Well, it is another beautiful clear sunny day with hardly a breeze. Karen suggests we might get the train to Vernazza and then back to Corniglia and then Manarola. So we decide to get a day ticket which also gives us access to the national park in case we might want to walk a trail (as if). We head off at 10.15 and get off the train at Vernazza. The girls are checking out the shops and I see a sign to Corniglia. I head off up the steps to see how far it goes and to get some good views of the village. Ross and Luggy follow and I call back to Ann jokingly that if we are not back in an hour and a half. they should get the train to Corniglia and we will meet them there.
We keep going up with great views back over the village and to Monterosso. After about 15 mins of climbing we reach the start of the trail and there is a park officer to check hikers have the pass. We show ours and I ask him how far and how long the trail goes up. He says it continues up for another 15 mins, then flattens out and it is then downhill, all up about 90 mins. It is 11.55, so we head on. There are spectacular views of the coastline whenever you round a bend or clear the vegetation. The park officer lied, because it is at least another 30 mins of climbing, some of it gentle, but lots of rocky steps. We eventually reach the top and are rewarded with magnificent views. We are 700 feet above sea level and after a short flat track we head downhill. We can see Corniglia well below us! The track down for me was worse with a lot of pressure on my knees, some of the steps were fine but others were quite a big step, and when I say step it is just big rocks laid in the steep descending track.
We eventually make it into Corniglia and look for the girls. Can’t see them so we head to the railway station. The station must be 500 metres below us and there is a never ending zig zag of steps heading down to the station! The girls are not at the station, so we figure they must be at Manarola. We let one train go in case they are on it but they don’t appear so we will take the next at 12.46. While waiting for the train, Ross sees Heather right in front of us. Heather was our guide from Berlin! We have a great chat as she is with her parents and we did tell her we would be in CT at the same time she was - what are the odds!
We catch the train to Manarola, have a quick look for the girls and then head off to find Nessun Dorma. We walk down to the port area and turn right and Luggy sees a cafe/restaurant high up on the side of the hill so we head up there. It is the place but we can’t see the girls, so we stand in line to get a seat thinking they may be inside. We get to the front of the line and then Ann and I see each other, with Ann on the upper level just above the restaurant. She calls the others and joins us just as we get a table. It is a fantastic site with views over the harbour. We order food, beers and Aperol Spritz
and have a great afternoon.
It turns out the girls did try to get to Corniglia but trains were cancelled and they ended up going to Riomaggiore and then coming back to Manarola. Incredibly the times worked out and we met up and had a great afternoon - thanks Kate for your recommendation. We thought about coming back tomorrow night for dinner but it is closed on Tuesdays. After a late lunch we headed back to Riomaggiore and for a rest! We had a quiet night and tomorrow we pack again for Milan. While the path to the station is downhill, there are stairs to carry the luggage down from our rooms and also on the station.
It was a great day and we are proud that we walked the Cinque Terre, or at least one part!