Usually being an off the beaten track kind of traveller looking to remote villages, uninfluenced local customs and culture and places that my friends have to google to locate on a map, walking the Amalfi Coast didn’t send me off straight away to pack up my pack and start choosing the best footwear. But it possibly should have. I was expecting the same overused view I’ve seen on postcards from people I know who only a few years ago were going on 18-30 holidays to Ibiza and Tenerife, but it was much more than what I was expecting. The sweeping mountain scenery that gets me going was here in force, and if the drama wasn’t quite that of Nepal, I think the highest peak in the region is 1,400, but then you are seeing it almost rise from the sea, the view turning 180 degrees of the coastline more than made up for it. I also thought I’d be mingling with the over 60’s walking holiday tour set, but there were plenty of trails to choose from and being me and partial to the most difficult looking path I can find I didn’t come across anyone I wouldn’t have been happy to pass on Mont Blanc (but I’m sure if you’re in the over 60’s walking holiday tour set you’ll enjoy this trip as well.).

As well as the attractive vistas there is also a wealth of culture waiting to be absorbed. And it may not be particularly remote or uninfluenced but it’s actually far more ancient and probably more of an influence on modernity than the other way around. Just out of Amalfi, past some lemon groves is the monastery of Santa Rosa and on from there is the easy but famous “Footpath of the Gods” which has views across to Capri worth sharing a track with other people for. On from there is Positano, a particularly attractive town perched on the coast in a rakish, defiant fashion below which is a valley you can complete some ascents of the Lattari Mountains, if you like that sort of thing, nothing to thrilling but it makes a nice way to break up the pleasant easy cliff top walking. Ravello is another nice town to stop in, but there are numerous, all clinging to the cliff and with plenty of places to stay. Round the corner and you’ll see views of Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples.

This is a civilised walking trip if ever there was one, lots of good food and drink in the evening and views and clear skies all day. I’m disappointed al myself that I enjoyed it so much really. Now I’m tempted to tackle some other more popular journeys that my friends will have heard of and maybe even completed before me.

Written by  paul.birss.

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