We've finally done one of the walks. Apparently it's not the hardest, but it was hard enough for us. Straight up the mountain to the town of Corneglia before we even started - 380 steps give or take. Then it's into the hills, again up steep slopes or down steep slopes. There wasn't much flat walking. It had also been raining so the steps were very slippery in places which added to the effort. My arthritic knees just managed the downhill parts but I was very glad to sit down for a rest when we'd finished! I think I must be getting old or something. The sun came out after about 45 minutes walking and suddenly the sea was the sort of azure blue you imagine it would be. the walk is only short - about 3.5km but it took us a good 2 hours to do it because of all the ups and downs. Vernazza is another beautiful town perched on the cliffs and hills around a small fishing harbour. It and Monterosso were devastated in 2011 by floods that caused mud slides to inundate the towns. Apparently they had 22 inches of rain in 4 hours causing flash flooding and burying the towns under 3 metres of mud. These towns are built around old ravines, with the old water courses now diverted into drains below the road, but the drains couldn't handle the amount of water coming down and simply burst open into the road above. The ravines also served to direct the water and mud down into the main area of the town. The result was threefold: the town was rebuilt and businesses renovated, the community was brought together by adversity as they worked together to rebuild over the following year and the landowners realised that they needed to keep up the maintenance of their vineyards so the grapevines would hold the soil together. Today there's no sign of the floods apart from a large display near the station with lots of photos of the devastation cause by the floods.

Some of the 380 steps up to Corniglia before the walk starts

Corneglia

Up some more steps

Vernazza

Vernazza waterfront