Thursday's twelfth stage of the Giro d'Italia took a slightly changed route to what was originally planned. The decision to alter it was taken a couple of months back and for sad reasons. It was meant to pass right through the heart of the Cinque Terre -- a place of outstanding beauty right on the Mediterranean surrounded by steep scenic hills that I spent four great days of my honeymoon in last summer -- but following severe mud slides late last year from which a number of the roads were damaged the organisors were forced to change the route.
Thankfully the route wasn't changed by a great deal and the course still skirted the edges of Cinque Terre and as such provided for some fantastic shots from the race helicopter. It would have been nicer still had it been able to go into the heart of those five small coastline towns, but you can't complain with scenic pictures such as the one at the top.
It gives you an idea just how hilly the area is. The land rises upward on a steep trajectory the moment the water stops and the little towns that dot the rugged coast line are built on these hills. A little train shuttles through tunnels and along the edge of the water between the towns though there is a coastal patch of which you can walk if the heat isn't quite as stifling as it was when we were there last July. If it is you can always spend time on the beach in Monterosso al Mer, or in the water itself, or as we choose to do sometimes, on the balcony of our bed and breakfast which was located less than a kilometer from the waters edge but already several hundred feet into the air. To walk to the beach required taking a number of steps if you wanted to avoid the hairpin sweeps of the narrow road which lacked a footpath.
One of the five little towns -- the middle one, Corniglia -- was built a-top of a steep hill, almost directly above the train station but a hike of 382 zig-zagging steps to it's summit. To one side is an almost vertical drop down to the sea, while on the others you are surrounded by hills of vineyards and terraces. It's a hefty walk to appreciate it, especially under a hot sun, but very much worth it when sipping that cold pint of Birra Moretti and looking at the Italian coastline for as far as the eye can see.
I really hope the race officials live up to their promise to take the race back into the Cinque Terre in the very near future. I just wish I could go along to catch the stage when it happens. I know the next time I visit there, I'll bring along a bike to tackle some of the stiff climbs.
To get an idea of the terrain, here is Taylor Phinney's Strava details for the stage. I'm not sure what impresses me most... the amount of climbing around Cinque Terre, or the average speed this super human athletes can maintain?
