Day 4 – stage 2 of coast to coast
My ear, head and jaw were much less painful last night but still not totally back to normal. Hopefully tonight will see it off.
This morning didn’t go as well as one would have hoped. Steve’s attempt at his first coffee of the day proved very frustrating . He’d already made a huge sacrifice by bringing instant coffee sachets instead of his usual ground Machu Pichu beans. There was no kettle in our shared kitchen but he found a saucepan and intended to boil some water in that. Unfortunately he couldn’t find any matches or anything to light the stove with. After breakfast (where he did get one coffee at the cafe) he found the lighter for the cooker but then lost the sachets. I made him a cup of tea instead, after which he found the coffee.. I think dark forces are at work- the
Incas are angry.
The local supermarket was a bit thin on lunchtime stuff but we managed to find some rolls and filling, grabbed some water and set off. Once we got walking, the sun came out, the day got warmer and the little problems of life soon got forgotten.
Stage 2 of the ctc is mainly walking on trails through the forest. We passed many sweet chestnut trees, oak trees and maritime pines. There was very little wildlife to see other than lizards but I did spy a dead salamander which an army of beetles was trying to drag it somewhere to be “disposed” of.
We walked up hill for some time eventually making it to the Passo Napoli, the highest point of the trek at 1000m. We didn’t see any other trekkers today but we did see quite a few locals looking for mushrooms.
Steve’s difficult day did continue unfortunately as his poorly heel decided not to play ball and became very painful in the latter stages. Hope he’s ok tomorrow.
Our accommodation is on the outskirts of the old town of Monterosso. The room is petite but has air con, toiletries a coffee machine and a kettle! Happy days.
Finding somewhere decent to eat that wasn’t a long walk away was a challenge we failed to step up to. Monterosso looks beautiful from a distance but is quite run down close up with not many facilities. We ended up at a burger restaurant close by which was run by one of the mushroom hunters we met earlier. Larger than life and very pleasant, Leon recommended the pork shank and showed us the menu which was accessed via a QR code. All fine and dandy but we didn’t have enough service to view it. Leon showed us how to access the internet via another QR code which wasn’t the easiest but we got there. At last we had the menu which was 18 pages long! After about 10 minutes we decided on various delicious beef burgers only to be told he didn’t have any. We ordered the pork shank.
As we were eating our very salty dinner, a couple who I spoke to in the restaurant last night walked in. I had assumed they were Italian but actually they were Australian. We chatted while they too struggled with the menu, got the internet eventually and tried to order stuff that Leon didn’t have. He suggested the pork shank and I was avidly waiting to see if they’d go for it, but they swerved and went for chicken. Brave.
Leon offered a(free) aperitif and S plumped for the Amaro as he had some last night – it was herby, spicy, blood red and very potent.
This one was puddle brown, also herby with a vague taste of gravy and a smell of engine oil. Nasty but Steve seemed to like it!
We sauntered back and puffed our way up the lane by the side of our accommodation- by far the steepest incline of the day.
Stage 3 of the ctc tomorrow. Lots of descent tomorrow-think our poor old knees are going to be feeling it.
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