These few days were really transition days for us.
From La Spezia, we wanted to avoid the big hills along the coast so we took the train to Sestri Levante.
It’s a nice town that was very quiet when we were there. The season was definitely over and many places had closed for the winter. They had also bulldozed the stones from the beach or sand into mounds to protect the infrastructure on the beach itself. Judging by the waves today, it was definitely needed.
The next two days were expected to be very very wet. There was an alert advising people only to travel if necessary and they expected more than 50mm of rain in a short time. So, we planned a rest day, and the following day, we’d go to Arrenzano to avoid even more hills as well as the rain.
As it turned out, the weather was a bit overcast and there was some drizzle. The deluge was postponed, so on our rest day, we went for a nice ride along a rail trail that was pancake flat and ran back towards Cinque Terra. We enjoyed it. The sun was out and we had a nice lunch outside, then caught the train back to the hotel in Sestri Levante.
The next day, the rain still hadn’t arrived, so we caught the train to Arrenzano and again expected massive downfalls of rain. We booked a place not too far from the station so we wouldn’t get too wet on the way there.
Again, the rain hadn’t arrived, so we rode to our accommodation, checked in and walked into town for a late lunch and a coffee. After wandering around a bit, it indeed started to rain and it felt like a relief. We hurried back to our room and got ourselves organised for the coming days.
That night, we went out looking for a restaurant for dinner, and the majority of them were closed. Luckily or otherwise, we found one with a grumpy waitress and spent the meal wondering why she was upset.
There was a fair amount of rain overnight but it was all gone by morning.
It all sounds like a bit of a let down, but we ended up with three easy days, some good progress by train along the Italian Riviera, and we also had a good look around.