Cinque Terre Run

There is a fantastic hiking trail at Cinque Terre which goes from the western most village, Monterosso, to the eastern most village, Riomaggiore, where we were staying. Known as the Sentiero Azzuro (Blue trail), it offers fantastic views of the area and the five vilages. I had decided that I would run the trail, and given the heat during the day an early start would be necessary. I caught a train to the western end at Monterosso as the track gets progressively better towards the eastern end. I was on my way from Monterosso by 6:30am, with first section from Monterosso to Vernazza quite narrow, steep, rocky and with alot of uneven rock stairs carved into the hills. However, the views of both Monterossa and Vernazza were superb and you have to be on the trail to see them. The photo attached is above Vernazza. Although the morning was still coolish, the humidity was very high and I was saturated in sweat after the first climb alone. After a steep descent and a short run through Vernazza it was back uphill on the way to Corniglia, again on a rocky trail but a bit wider this time. The descent back to the ocean after Corniglia is down about 400 stairs and then it's mainly flat concrete through Manorola to Rionaggiore for the final 3.5km. After 10.8km and a very slow 94 minutes (a whopping 8:43/km) due to the nature of the trail, I was back home after a very rewarding run.

The link below shows the trail in Google Maps as recorded on my GPS watch:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=fr&msa=0&msid=107625359958396125227.00046e1a4f56116bc9048&ll=44.12518,9.707108&spn=0.05927,0.15398&t=h&z=13