We completed nearly all of this ten kilometre trail, the Sentiero degli Dei, or Path of the Gods, on our second day. It was certainly spectacular and once we were on it, it was a well kept and easy to walk trail. It was once the main route that locals would use to get between the villages along the Amalfi Coast, with the main coast road only being constructed much later on.
Here are some of the photos….
Our final day together started with an unnecessarily large breakfast for Bev and I, with Gordon and Steve having a lovely walk along the seafront before we all met up. The idea was to have a pleasant train journey to Pompeii to look around there for a few hours, before the other three went to their hotel before their early flight whilst I caught a bus to Naples airport.
The train journey was a bloody nightmare and Bev was very vocal about what she thought about some of the occupants of the train. The railway service was hopeless, there were two trains but few people seemed to have a clue which was which, with both running late. The train that we were on was packed, a situation which just got worse as we got nearer to Pompeii.
Steve and I, who are selfless people, decided that Bev and Gordon could have the last remaining two seats. We found an area that we could stand in, whilst watching as people crammed themselves onto the train. It’s fair to say that some people are politer than others, but on the bright side, Bev didn’t bite anyone. Gordon also realised at the end of the journey that he could have just opened a window to get some cold air in.
We got off the train to have a leisurely lunch, where Gordon kindly shared his chips. He’s so graceful and elegant like that. Gordon caused a slight scene by nearly walking into the kitchen rather than the toilet, but I felt that it all added to the excitement of the proceedings.
Then it was on to Pompeii, which proved to be a far larger site than I had realised. We walked around for three hours and it was clear that we had only scratched the surface of what there was to see. I then read that the area of the site accessible to the public today is only 30% of what it was in the 1960s.
I won’t repeat the areas of the site that Bev wanted to see, but they were certainly not for children. After our long walk, we decided to just stop exploring the site, as it wasn’t brilliant in terms of the amount of signage or information and it all began to be just a little confusing. However, it was a fascinating site and I’m very pleased that I went. I can imagine going again in the future.
One little rider actually about there not being enough information. Bev had found a book somewhere along the route and she decided to be our tour guide. Steve and I ran off several times, but Gordon listened occasionally, and when he stopped listening Bev just told anyone who happened to be nearby what she could see in her guide.
And then Bev had another little incident, when she dropped her map outside of the site. Gordon and I didn’t feel that we were qualified to hang off the side of a stone wall to get the bloody thing back, but Steve, who is a professional, managed to secure it. He’s so very brave.
Then it was the sad moment for the others, the time had come for me to depart. They all left me alone at the bus station, but I was brave and managed to cope well and find my bus. I was very brave coming to think of it. With regards to the bus, it was only picking me up as I had pre-booked and it was a request pick-up only, but I was relieved to see it to be honest.
I’m now at the airport in the lounge waiting for my late night flight to London Gatwick with British Airways. The others are no doubt drunk in some bar in Pompeii…..
And with that, that’s the end of this blog in terms of the day by day summaries (unless something really exciting happens to the other three that I need to write about urgently). However, there are many more photos and some more exciting text about some of our adventures during the week to come. How very exciting….
PS, there’s one more thing to watch which comes from this week. Bev is holding a party at her Norwich abode for anyone she invites where we will burn her biscuits, for reasons known only to her.
And so the last day of walking was upon us already. The morning started well, with my card payment going through at the hotel (their machine hadn’t worked the day before). The breakfast for Steve, Bev and myself was substantial and I’m sure that the staff didn’t mind clearing up Bev’s coffee spillage. There was pleasant views over the countryside and Bev and Steve enjoyed their play in the lift.
We waited for Gordon to arrive from his luxury hotel and I was disappointed that he didn’t arrive in a carriage pulled by horses. Instead he jumped out of a little car and you could see his eyes were glistening with excitement at the walk ahead. Bev and Steve had another little play in the lift of our hotel and we were ready and waiting for the adventure ahead.
And then there was an incident. Another bloody dog decided to walk with us to our destination, just as with the previous day, the dog wasn’t that good with traffic and liked running out. I don’t know why we are attracting so many of the dogs in this locality, but such is life….. We think that the dogs are perhaps looking at Gordon’s bag and wanting to mate with it, but we’re not sure.
I won’t give the finer details of another little incident that happened, but Gordon ended up getting a view of Bev that she hadn’t expected him to see. All very exciting for him.
As some conversation, Gordon explained about his little medical issue whilst we walked towards our first destination, which was Bagni Regina Giovanna, the site of a Roman villa. I knew that there was a beach there and Bev wanted a little swim about, so we bravely marched off there. Bev couldn’t really keep up, but we had a chat and decided that if we walked quickly that would inspire her to walk faster.
We got to the beach and there was a sign nearby saying that there was no swimming, although it’s clearly a popular swimming site and the sign just seemed to be warning that there was no lifeguard. Bev dived (well, waded clumsily) into the water, whilst Steve had a paddle and then a swim. Gordon sat on a rock and I padded in about four feet, which more than enough excitement for one day. Bev pretended to be a mermaid, Steve pretended not to know her and Gordon briefly considered having a little paddle.
The swim reinvigorated Bev and she was ready for her afternoon wine, which was fortunate as there was a nearby restaurant and bar. Gordon ordered the most expensive thing on the menu and we enjoyed the breezes from the sea. Very lovely and we enjoyed looking at Bev’s sunglasses.
We then walked back into Sorrento and Bev irritated everyone (by everyone, I mean me) with her constant demands for photos. We decided to try the tactic of rushing off to see if that inspired Bev to walk faster, but again, that didn’t work. She mentioned later something about her being ill so she couldn’t keep up, so we realised why she wasn’t inspired.
There was a little incident where Steve and Gordon nearly ended up sharing a room, which would have made for an excellent series of blog posts. Unfortunately, that situation got resolved and they enjoyed their snacks and quick 20-minute lesson on how to use their keys to get into their accommodation. Bev also confused the B&B we were in and we nearly ended up in one room as well, until I mentioned that we did have two rooms booked. The hotel we were in didn’t have some key facilities that I might like, but it did have a shower where guests can change the colour of the lights, so I was entirely satisfied with this.
Bev and I left the hotel to meet up in the town’s square and we started to head towards a beer place which looked lovely. Anyway, that was shut. Then it started raining, so we got wet, before meeting up with the others in a cafe on a market square. There the waiter actually irritated me more than any waiter I can remember in some time. Bev liked him as he was chatting her up, Steve, Gordon and I found his behaviour entirely off-putting. But it worked as Bev bought wine and snacks that we didn’t need. The waiter, I think, was left in no doubt of what I thought of him. Bev then had a dilemma of whether she gave 50 cents in tip, as that was all she had, or whether she should keep it. She kept it.
Then we went to the beer place again. That was shut. But opposite was a decent restaurant that had excellent reviews. And I for one was very impressed, although a couple of us walked in looking like drowned rats. Bev then tried to get the staff to set fire to her biscuits, but they refused as they didn’t want their restaurant to burn down. I was very pleased with my seafood platter and then panna cotta, and the others enjoyed the food. Bev moaned about the lighting, but she enjoyed her meatballs. Gordon looked ill, but he felt better after ordering the most expensive thing on the menu, a rather large pork chop.
Then we went to the beer place again. Which finally wasn’t shut. They had a large selection of beers and there were some interesting options on there, although very little dark beer. However there was one which met my requirements and Bev ate nearly all the crisps as she needed salt.
It was still raining outside so I wanted to rush off back to the accommodation. Unfortunately Bev was faffing about, so we decided we’d see if rushing off made her walk faster. Pleasingly it had better results on this occasion, and before we knew it we were back in the accommodation all safe.
So, it’s sad that the walking element of the trip is over and this is my final night in Italy, although the others have an overnight stay before flying back Friday morning. It’s all been very lovely.
We were meant to just be looking around the main church in Amalfi, but Bev and I managed to watch a wedding take place. Quite nice if you like romantic things I suppose.
The third day of walking on our Amalfi expedition was set to be slightly more leisurely than the previous day. Bev, Steve and I were rested after our exertions, whereas Gordon was still stuck up the road in some farmhouse in a location that even he can’t recall. If he had been kidnapped and held ransom no-one would ever have found him even if Gordon had access to a phone to tell people where he thought he was.
Our accommodation came with a free breakfast at a nearby cafe, where our plates were laden with pastries. Someone local must have upset Bev as she decided to tell everyone what she thought about the country, but she calmed down after a few coffees. The weather looked favourable, so we were looking forwards to a day without rain. After a visit to the toilet in what was a hut looking out onto a beautiful vista, we set off.
Then our first problem of the day presented itself to us. A dog. Now, I quite like dogs, especially ones which don’t make lots of noise and look like they might bite me. And the dog which followed us was rather delightful and we looked forwards to the dog finding its home nearby and leaving us. Bev was very pleased with this dog though and Gordon also noticed that there was a dog following us after around 40 minutes.
Well, 90 minutes later and we arrived at our train stop and this bloody dog was still with us. We had done everything we could to lose it, including hiding behind a wall and rushing down a passageway when the dog wasn’t looking. There we were, four adults trying to hide from this damn dog. It found us every time, this was no stupid dog.
And the problem with the dog wasn’t just that we couldn’t get rid of it, it was that it had a road sense of a five year old child. So perhaps it was a little stupid having through about it. It ran out in the road and expected cars to stop for it, which fortunately they always did. Some of the locals looked furious that we weren’t keeping out dog under control, but we didn’t known the Italian for “it’s not our bloody dog”.
We were fortunate that when we got to the train station in Meta that the dog didn’t come in, so perhaps he has guided people down there before. We rushed through the ticket barriers and we were free from the dog. We hope that he found his way home safely….
We asked a local which side of the railway station we needed to be on to get to Sorrento, and they told us. Then the locals on the other side of the platform all rushed over to our side, having overheard what we’d been told. The train arrived soon after and we just about fitted on. And then I heard there was someone banging about and playing music to get money on the train. I like trains and I really like quiet trains, so I wasn’t thrilled…. Gordon wondered why we couldn’t just get a taxi.
We arrived into Sorrento soon enough and then the debacle about Gordon’s toilet visit started. He tried to sneak into the disabled toilet, but then couldn’t gain access, before traipsing around the building’s basement looking for facilities. He was then charged 50 cents to gain access, but he didn’t mind this as he could afford it.
We then got the bus to Termini, which is where our walk began. Our plan was to set off after having a short drink in this little town, but we were a little waylaid on this walking expedition when we were stopped by a man offering us food and drink. Sitting by the side of the road, inhaling car fumes, we enjoyed lunch by a shack. Gordon ordered two lasagnes, Bev and Steve one each, which seemed a reasonable number, and I had a salad. All very lovely.
Three of us had a limoncello spritzer thing, which sent Gordon and Bev out for the count. Gordon seemed to be quite under the influence of this alluring elixir and was revealing all sorts of secrets. I am though nothing if but discreet, so I won’t reveal anything about the clubs of which he is a member. I couldn’t understand why Bev and Gordon found this drink so strong, I agreed with Steve that it just tasted of lemon Fanta.
Gordon did though give us the idea of having a murder mystery evening for Hike Norfolk. This seems a marvellous idea and we just needed to find someone for whom there would be a motive for wanting to kill. We soon thought of who that could fit, but I won’t reveal who we choose.
After this drunken lunch binge we set off on our walk, which went straight up a hill. The walk gave us wonderful coastal views and we met a couple from the Netherlands who told us that they had seen a snake. I was far from impressed at that news…. Steve and Bev walked down a little further than Gordon and myself, and I was surprised at just how few people were on the route. Gordon and I talked about death which helped to pass the time until Bev and Steve returned.
We then walked slowly back after being fortunate to see such extensive views which were mesmerising. Gordon fell over and impaled his little finger on a twig, but after that we dropped back into the village and began our walk to the hotel. I was slightly nervous about the route as it seemed to gain and lose height quickly, but it was a manageable route and it went through a little cave tunnel.
The walk to the hotel was around an hour for three of us, but Gordon had booked somewhere rather more, well, expensive. He got a taxi there, because he can afford it, whilst the rest of us remained at our hotel playing in the lift. There’s a long story about that, but I might leave that treat for another day. Needless to say, it was another mini adventure. But I’ve found that people from Hike Norfolk, and similar groups, tend to get into a lot of little adventures.
There was then a discussion about where we should go for our evening meal. It was either staying in the hotel that three of us were in, or going to Gordon’s expensive hotel. Three of us couldn’t afford Gordon’s expensive hotel, so he bribed us to go by paying for all of our food, but none of the drink. We demanded his hotel laid on a shuttle for us, which they agreed to do.
Steve and Bev had a play in the lift and then when the shuttle turned up Gordon shocked us all by saying he was now only paying for half of the buffet. We were very livid indeed, but none of us said anything and we pretended to pleased with his generosity. Gordon’s hotel was rather too posh for us, but it had a lovely view over the bay and Bev was tempted to jump into the hotel’s swimming pool. Gordon had his clothes drying outside of his room, which was a lovely sight for the rich guests when they arrived.
Gordon had arranged for us to eat from his hotel’s buffet and we were initially disappointed with the selection of food. Then we realised, after piling our plates high, that we were just looking at the starters. So, we binge ate starters in the thought that was the limit to the food. Then we had to struggle our way through mains and desserts, although I was very brave and managed to have two plates of mains anyway. I was entirely unimpressed at the restaurant’s beer and wine selection, so opted for sparkling water, which was very mature of me.
Then something irritating happened. The hotel thought that it would be a marvellous idea to have a local entertainer sing and play the guitar. Now, I’m not going to be negative about anyone, but I will say that this entertainer caused Bev great amusement. She joined in with great enthusiasm with the music and managed to break one of the instruments. She had a most lovely time.
Gordon, who is on the cusp of being upper class, let alone middle class, looked confused as to what to do. Here he was, being the perfect host, and one of his guests was in fits of hysterics. He looked calm though, that’s what the British gentry are very good at. He’ll soon be in that upper class bracket, I just know it.
We then got the shuttle back to our less glamorous accommodation and had another play in the lift. And that is the short version of our day….. Photos will follow at some point….
I have fifteen minutes at the moment to try and write about our bravery of yesterday. There is no way that I can fit everything in that happened, but I’ll do my best and the photos can come later.
The morning started in our lovely hotel where we all were, some of us in budget accommodation, some of us in what can only be described as the bridal suite. The breakfast was lovely, especially my five cakes, croissants, meats, cheeses, pastries and other miscellaneous produce. Bev had an egg and complained about it, Gordon looked worried about the walk (he was right to be looking back….) and Steve looked professional and calm.
After checking out of the hotel we started the walk up to the Path of the Gods. The first part of this walk is up steps within the town and it’s fair to say that of us four elite walkers, we were all exhausted before we even got to the start point. I spent about 25 minutes complaining that the path up to the Path of the Gods (which is on a bloody great cliff) was too hard and looked too scary. As it happened, for two thirds of the way up there was a staircase. This pleased me greatly as it meant no scrambling or scary heights.
We got to a church two thirds of the way up and had a rest. Bev started to get annoyed by some locals and I started to get grumpy when I saw that the steps stopped and I could see people walking on very dangerous terrain above (which later transpired not to be dangerous, but I do worry). I had a sulk going up the last bit to the Path of the Gods but Bev, unusually, was very helpful and supportive.
We got to the top of the path and then joined the Path of the Gods. We decided that we’d walk towards the start of the Path of the Gods and then walk to the end point which was in the direction of our accommodation. Actually, we didn’t decide that, we did it because I’m incompetent. We missed the sign, which it later transpired Bev had actually taken a bloody photo of. But ultimately we got lucky, as we saw more of the Path of the Gods.
And, as for this path, it was stunning. The views were some of the best I’ve seen, we were so high up that it was hard to comprehend just how high we were. If that makes sense. Which it probably doesn’t. We walked along the Path of Gods and I was slightly nervous that it might be difficult, but it was actually surprisingly acceptable.
Everyone was very brave and we walked to the end of the Path of the Gods and found a restaurant to have a drink and snack in. I won’t dwell on this restaurant, but it was the worst service I’ve encountered in many years and that must be in the thousands of restaurants. I don’t seek to understand their issue, but I imagine Bev upset them. Gordon had an expensive salad and shouted at his B&B owner over the phone when they called and we were then set to get a taxi back.
Until we discovered that a taxi would be €150 or so for four of us. Gordon was fine with that. Some of us weren’t, we decided to try and get a bus. We go and find the bus stop and to cut another long story short, we had a long wait there whilst Gordon purchased half the cafe bar’s products. However, he bought us all a coffee, so we were very pleased with him.
The bus came and we hardly fitted on, but luckily there was a seat for me. The others didn’t get a seat, but I didn’t mind that. We get off the bus, ready to connect to another bus, and luckily found the right spot to do so. Steve wandered off to check something and then we nearly missed the bus, but we got on and were then told we couldn’t buy the tickets on the bus and so we got off it again.
We then walked back into Positano, bought the tickets, looked at the lovely views, and then got the next bus. The bus journey was tremendous along the coast road, really charming views. We got off and began the final 60 minute walk to our accommodation. We were very pleased with how this was going, until we discovered it was uphill. Up a very big hill. No-one had checked that. But we were brave adventurers and we just carried on, unworried by this.
We then trek up this bloody hill and settle into our accommodation. Well, Bev, Steve and me did. Gordon was elsewhere and he then promptly got lost. But we only discovered that later otherwise we’d have been straight out to assist him. Gordon hardly mentioned that he had wanted to get the taxi in the first place to avoid all of this.
So, then it was on to the restaurant after a quick change in the B&B. That was an experience as we accidentally got caught in a wine tasting event with some very lovely people. It was hard to extract Bev from that, but we managed and went into this wonderful restaurant with views over Naples. The service there was much friendlier and my three course meal of meat & cheese platter, seafood spaghetti carbonara and a cheesecake was delightful.
Gordon then turned up at the restaurant, he had been given a lift in and was surprisingly content and happy given the drama of the day. We then walked back to the B&B (Gordon got escorted back by a chauffeur) and that, as they say, was the end of that.
This is the abbreviated version of the day, much more to follow….. And photos of course.
The first day of walking took us from Amalfi to Praiano, in what transpired to be an interesting route to say the least….. The start of the day was marvellous for some of us, I had what could only be described as a large breakfast with cheese, meat, croissants, cereals, cake, coffee and orange juice, Steve had a delightful snack in a pub which was included in his accommodation, Bev had breakfast in bed and Gordon had a piece of cake and nearly fell over on some glass steps.
But the real problem wasn’t that Gordon was at risk of suffering from lack of food, it was the weather. It was raining hard and, to be honest, the day’s walking didn’t look too appealing. There was some talk of the weather clearing up later in the morning and so on that hope we started the walk. Fortunately the weather cleared up soon after and my photos of the day (in a separate post, I’ve put three on here but I have hundreds more….) show a remarkable change in the weather during the course of the walk.
Packing is difficult when expecting heavy rain, as it’s important to protect the bag as much as possible. I’ve got electronic items in my bag that I didn’t want to get wet, so it took some time to protect everything, but fortunately I was able to. I hadn’t expected it to stop raining so quickly so most of my preparations weren’t needed. Gordon was the luckiest here as he had such a small bag that he just put a carrier bag around his to protect it. We were impressed at just how clever he had been.
The first section of the walk was really just navigating as best we could onto a path, which worked out well. We soon left the busy coast road and went onto a quieter path and we surprisingly (and worringly….) saw very few people throughout the entire day. The path was easy to follow, just with some quick checking a map every now and then to ensure that we were heading in the right direction, and there was nothing too technical.
A problem though emerged around two hours into the walk. That problem was the hill we had to climb. Unfortunately I may have slightly understated just how hilly the hill was. But there were very few complaints. Actually, there weren’t really any. Bev nearly stopped breathing at one point, but Gordon was reassuring, kind and calm. There was a lively discussion about dill and something else, with Gordon foraging for some food amongst the undergrowth in a bid to make up for his breakfast. He also was well fed with the quantity of food that Bev had acquired from her breakfast. Gordon had purloined a banana from breakfast and Bev tried to squash it, which I thought was very childish. Although I joined in that game too.
The hill that we climbed wasn’t entirely pleasant, but it was steps and so it was more of a long trek than anything else. I reassured everyone that it flattened out and then we would start to go downhill. This didn’t entirely happen, it flattened out for three feet and then went up again. There was a little more complaining at this point, but I ignored it.
A cat then decided that it wanted to kill me. We were minding our own business when this cat jumped out of nowhere and in a cat-like manner was able to jump up a wall and move across it. Around 5 seconds later a large stone came flying onto the path. Some might say the cat did it by mistake and just knocked it as it was moving, but I know that cat had a sinister side. It clearly pushed that stone in a deliberate attempt to cause harm…..
The paths we were walking must have been there for centuries, they are well built and would have been used by the locals to get from village to village and would have been used by farmers and fishermen as well. So, we plodded on, sometimes even verging into gossip about people we know. I won’t mention names of course, discretion is important.
The next stage of the walk was along the coast road, just for a short while. This offered some really impressive views of a valley, but the traffic meant that we really just wanted to get off it. It wasn’t particularly dangerous as the cars weren’t going quickly and they seemed used to pedestrians in that spot, but nonetheless it was good to get back onto quieter roads.
We dropped down towards the coast to partly look for a lunch stop and partly to look for the route down to Praiano. We knew that such a route must exist, but it didn’t appear on the maps that I had, so it was an adventure we knew at the beginning of the day that we’d have. As it happened, all worked out and we connected to that path.
And, that path, which I called the valley of death, certainly was interesting. The path seemed impossible to me when looking at where it would go. Now, everyone agrees that I’m the bravest person on most trips, but I wasn’t entirely content with how difficult the path looked.
There were two German people coming the other way, actually the only people we saw on this entire section of the route, so I asked them if there was any danger of us plummeting to our deaths. They assured me that there wasn’t and the path was easy. This was only partly true, as the path wasn’t easy, but they were right that it would have been hard to fall off the hill.
So, I continued, not entirely confident in the destination of our journey, but willing to proceed. Then I saw what turned out to be a black whip snake which must have been at least 45 feet long. I was very brave and rushed off, not willing to get a photo of it. I assumed it was very dangerous indeed, but I checked later and it’s non venomous and common in this area. To be honest, I still wish the authorities would place them in an area that humans don’t encounter…..
I then decided to get a bit ahead of the group so that they didn’t see that I wasn’t entirely at ease with the path. Then I managed to miss a huge red sign saying “no” and went the wrong way. I was, once again, brave and recovered the route again. I was fortunate that I could hear Bev yelling, or talking as she calls it, so I was able to find my way back to the main path.
We then dropped down into Praiano, which pleased me greatly. We then went to a small gym cafe and got involved with the cafe element and left the gym bit to others. Bev kept buying expensive homemade yoghurt and spent about €40 on it, but we didn’t query this. Gordon decided to have a large meal of pita bread with mozzarella. He wasn’t impressed. I had an ice cream on a liquorice stick and complained loudly that I seemed to have become allergic to something on the path.
We then went to the hotel and I was delighted with my room which was the cheapest and had no windows, but it was nice to be in a prison cell environment as it was peaceful. Gordon and Bev had the most expensive rooms, Gordon because he’s like that and Bev because that’s all that was left, with Steve also having a sea view in a random nearby building. They did have some wonderful views over the sea, but Gordon wouldn’t let us in his room. There was something very shifty going on in that room if you ask me…..
The meal in the evening was pizza, and for me it was fried pizza, a local delicacy. It’s also a local delicacy in Scotland and since I like fried food, I gave it a go. The base was excellent, light and with the taste of a doughnut, but I was marginally less impressed with the toppings. But this can be detailed on another post. Bev was a bloody nightmare during the meal, chatting up the male staff and screeching loudly upsetting the other diners in the restaurant (particularly Gordon, Steve and myself). However, we didn’t say anything about her behaviour…… Gordon managed to order half the menu, but he bought me a beer, so I was only full of praise about him after that.
One of the bravest things that I’ve seen this year also took place during the meal, when Gordon deliberately messed up Bev’s dessert before she had taken a photo. She was livid. I’m not for gossip, but she said Gordon needs to watch out this week….. I didn’t get involved.
After a walk around the town it was then time to return to the hotel after what had been a long day. The distances we walked, around 12 miles, weren’t that long and the terrain wasn’t overly challenging other than for a period of uphill. Tomorrow will be harder, I suspect much harder. But, the views we saw today were stunning and there were surprises around every corner. A most delightful day.
