There is a god! On our way out of Recco, while we are negotiating a flight of steps – yet another – Nellie now a mule step expert – we meet a man who asks where we are going and tells us about a series of good paths leading to the Alta Via de Monto Liguri that will enable us to ride along the top of ridges and avoid Genoa!! We follow his advice and discover winding roads through Sunday communities - where the churches are full and families gather in large groups – and finally find ourselves on the old contraband roads, rough-paved, tough climbing, but strongly evocative of the time – infinitely more so than the majority of the via Francigena where sections of Roman road are either buried or over-exposed. We hope that by tracing these contraband routes for our LightFoot walkers we will also support the valiant work of the enthusiasts who have signed them so that they will not be entirely forgotten.
Finally, the proverbial problem – a place to stay. As always, any flat, green space is either fenced or cultivated or both so we finally resort to the back of a church. The priest is either absent or non-existent, so we pitch camp and hope for the best. In the end we are discovered but not turned out.
Told you all along to head for the Alta Via!
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