Riding the Cinque Terre

Corniglia

 Our hosts in Levanto after learning of our experience riding our Vstrom mentioned that they had one as well. Also a 1000 but of the 2nd generation. When I asked to see it, Corrado did one better, he offered to let me take it for a ride. 

Bad mistake! He may never get it back while I'm in Italy. 



First I took it for a short ride and when I came back Sara suggested I needed to ride a bit more. So I suggested I'd see if Sandra felt comfortable without our normal riding gear on and we arranged to take it the next day.

Well Sandra agreed and at first was a bit hesitant but got into perfect riding form in no time flat. She's quite proud of it and said to me "See I've still got it!". Yes you do dear, yes you do!

We headed out on the Strada Nationale Cinque Terre (SP370) from Levanto. Traffic was light on this narrow mountain road and the panoramic scenery amazing. I had forgotten how beautiful it was. Then where in a previous ride years before we stayed to the left and went inland, we stayed right towards Vernazza and Manarola onward to La Spezia. The scenery got even better from a panorama standpoint.

What stood out so much were the tiered mountain sides for grapes. And then Corniglia popped out into the ocean. As one of the 5 towns it is the only one not directly on the water.

Us on other side of Corniglia

We continued south passing over Manarola
Mechanical grape rancher on track (Manorola)






Grape Rancher







and Rio Maggorie and then arriving in La Spezia where we headed out to Porto Venere,

Porto Venere

a WHO site for it's ancient castle. It is a HUGE tourist attraction as well and a Cruise Ship stop. 

The beaches are well used there as well.

Black Sailboat







Busy Beach


La Spezia Cruise Ship Stop

See, I still have GOT IT!


After numerous stops for pictures and sight seeing we headed back to Levanto with our appetite whetted for more motorcycle travel. Next time hopefully on our own, again!



Comments

MGB said…
High Brian ! (I'm Pierre & Myriam from Orleans France / Triumph Tiger 800 & BMW F650 GS) We met you in Levanto B&B when we visited 'les cinq terres' July 2014. We never come again in this area since this time.... I'm very glad to see you both with the bike...
My wife Myriam decided not to ride again bike, and preferes stay on the back seat as she drive not enougth to keep her driving experience at the good level for her safety... (from her opinion...)
From my side I change my Triumph Tiger 800 XR 2011 (road version)and move to the same Triumph 800 but 2018 XC Version (21' front wheel and WP shock and fork system ) and many other improvement. I only use it for road trip with two years covid stand by... Next projet with some old friends to 'Les Ardennes' (France / Belgium) some little curvy roads... one week in August and Alpes Moto Festival in Barcelonette (Alpes) september https://www.alpesaventuremotofestival.com/ via 'Route Napoléons' RN85 https://route-napoleon.com/... I wish you a very good trip. Friendly / Pierre
July 12, 2022 at 1:46 AM
The Smith's V Strom Adventures said…
Hi Pierre. Thanks for writing back. I spend time every time I ride focusing on reinforcing my skills, making sure I pick the correct line through a corner, in the right gear etc.> I think it is a must. Your Triumph XC w/21" wheel set I'm sure is very nice and as long as Myriam is with you, that is what's important. Cris and I were actually talking about you being there when we were last there but we thought that was 2015. Maybe we meet again!
July 12, 2022 at 11:39 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hope for the Best, plan for the worst!

Image
 Hope for the Best, plan for the worst! Ready to Ship This year we re-committed ourselves to travelling back through parts of Europe on our bike. Westjet's BikeAir program was not well founded at the beginning but in June seemed to have found it's feet. We found reasonably priced premium Economy seats, chose Rome as the destination as Barcelona/Spain doesn't honour the EU temporary permit for moto's for leisure purposes. We wanted to avoid as much of the high tourist season and high heat temperatures.  Plan for the Worst We knew that Westjet would fly the bike from Vancouver as well as Calgary with a small surcharge but since we had family to visit we decided to truck the bike to Calgary and visit family in advance. That worked great and a benefit was my son-in-law came to the cargo drop-off and I got a picture with the bike after the customs clearance was given for it. Next day, was flight day, our premium economy seats came with priority boarding passes and we were th
Read more

Switzerland - Sept. 21-23 - Lukmanier Pass and Disentis

Image
   Lukmanier Pass and Disentis Our last morning in Menaggio and we wake up to threatening skies. We knew they were forecast but we hoped we'd luck out like the rest of our trip and have great weather. It was not to be. After our final breakfast at the Hotel Merloni we load the bike and head towards Lugano, Switzerland.  This is a memorable highway for us that dates back to mid May 2006 when we rode from Colmar, France to Menaggio on a day that got colder and colder and began to snow on the Gotthard Pass. So much so, that we were turned back and had to take the Oberpal pass to Disentis and the Lukmanier Pass to Lugano.  I always characterized that ride which turned to pouring rain once you got over the Alps, "as driving inside a firehose" . We've been in contact with Heiko as he wanted to ride the pass and meet us 1/2 way and take us to his friends place in Disentis, CH. His last report was everything was cloudy but not raining there, and with it still dry when we prep
Read more

Ostia Antica and Ostia Lido

Image
 Ostia Antica and Ostia Lido After a nice hot humid afternoon getting repacked after recovering our riding gear from panniers etc. we enjoyed a nice pizza at our B&B suite hotel. They run an extremely successful B&B, pizzeria near Ostia Antica, which was the birthplace of Rome before Rome. We had been here passing through in 2006 and stayed in 2014 while visiting the ruins of Ostia Antica itself. Our neighbor Jeff who has a degree in Archeology remarked about how impressed he was with OA and it is impressive. Our 2014 Ostia experience is here .  This morning, Sunday, we reset and were just going to go for a walk when I suggested we head close to the Lido and then take our walk there. It was a good plan. Neptune and Friend to the left The Lido was busy when we got there around 10:30 am as it was super sunny, 33C humid and real beach weather. As we walked the Lido we got to see Neptune with a guy fishing beside him, and jam packed beaches. Beaches crowded The architecture there i
Read more