24.8 km today.
3.8 km/h average today.
6 hours 30 mins walking time.
68.6 km this trip.
3283.6 km from start.
0 metres minimum height.
68 metres maximum height.
158 metres ascent.
180 metres descent.
Track Log: Logged.
Travel: Train, Train.
20.00 Euros.
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2012-04-04-000-Imperia-Porto-Maurizio-to-Alassio.kml
2012-04-04-000-Imperia-Porto-Maurizio-to-Alassio.gpx
Started traffic free and got busier. Pavements for some stretches. Hard to avoid the main coast road. A wet day with almost no breaks.
The 06:07 Ventimiglia train from Genova Piazza Principe departed on time. Neil got out at Imperia, Porto Maurizio.
The predicted rain arrived 24 hours late. The first couple of hours of the walk were overcast but dry. Showers were clearly visible over the sea and they got closer and closer. Then the heavens opened. Later it settled into a drizzle.
From Imperia to Diano Marina, the old coast road, closed to through traffic, was really nice. Diano Marina seems to be an Italian retirement town. I was accosted by two elderly ladies asking for information. Sadly my Italian is too poor, even to get the gist. The town was full of people in various stages of physical rehabilitation, walking with assorted aids.
The rest of the route was on the coast road with light to middling traffic. There were some sections with good pedestrian safety but others where walking in the road was the only way. With the pouring rain and spray from the vehicles, it was not the nicest walk.
Plan A was to stop at Laigueglia station. This is a minor stop so I added 3 km to get to Alassio where the Ventimiglia to Milano express stops. This got me home by 17:30 so I can catch up on the sleep missed yesterday. At Alassio I had a minor panic caused by my poor Italian. A TV screen said "Out of Service" (my translation). I feared the whole station was closed but it was just the TV screen. They'd have done better to turn it off rather than leaving a confusing message.
Home and dry again, type up these words, have an instant soup with a pate sandwiched and all is well with the world again. The weather is set fair for the Easter weekend. Hopefully the transport arrangements will work too. I'll be close to base so if all else fails, a taxi home is a possibility.