Saturday 19th September 2026

Cissone to Cravanzana

Even the weary bones couldn’t defeat the mind and a 401 wake up set the scene for a long day. Another beautiful day with a touch of mist to provide an eerie view of the surrounds, but it augurs well for beautiful walking weather.

Foodland delivered again with a delightful breakfast in a room full of hikers, bikers and good old fashioned holidayers. The spread was amazing and based on last nights menu pricing I can only say it was nice to have it included in the price of accommodation.

The age, perhaps an inadequate preparation and tougher than expected conditions certainly left its mark on the body of us both and we took the recommendation of the tour company to take a taxi so as to shorten the day. In the end it was a blessing with today’s route vineyard free and mostly walking or in many cases scrambling through forests and hazelnut plantations.

The walk started in a small village where most people had dogs less friendly than those encountered yesterday. We were not on the tarmac very long and spent an hour heading downhill on a track that had an ankle twist waiting to grab you every step. The sides of the track were scarred with the rooting of feral pigs and thankfully none were around, actually on the whole trip the absence of animals generally had been noticeable. The sight of a road midway way down was heartening, unfortunately the track down was eroded away and it was a bum slide down for about 10 metres.

At the end of the track was a tarmac road which we trod for a while on the flat . Jane had a broken language chat with a delightful old guy who was harvesting the last of his vegetable garden.

Reached another turn into the forest or more appropriately a mountain bike track that steepled up into the sky. Can imagine it would be a hell of a ride down on that terrain. Interestingly where we joined the track it was a 45 minute road walk to the town where we would end after our rocky odyssey.

Thankfully we didn’t encounter any motor bikes on the way down finally reaching the top after about an hour. Unlike yesterday there was no religious inspiration from a Bhudda statue trackside.

The next 45 minutes were spent winding through forest trails before a tarmac walk towards town. Couldn’t resist a stop at the spring fountain to slake the thirst.

With town in sight the track veered up into the hills again and 2 kilometres later we ended up in town to sit in a bar with the locals and enjoy a beer and pizza. It was an eclectic bunch of patrons ranging from 18-80 most simply sitting around chewing the fat. We managed to grab an outside table after the 80 year old left only for him to return and give us the evil eye before disappearing into the back blocks.

Fed, watered and heartened by a supposed downhill run to home for just over an hour, we headed uphill for about 20 minutes ( go figure) before wandering through kilometres of hazelnut groves for about 30 minutes, excluding a 500 metre backtrack to retrieve my lost hat, before catching sight of town- yep high on a hill.

A couple of hundred metres out a local farmer was bucking the trend putting in a small vineyard. Completed the uphill route to reach our hotel and head straight for a refreshing swim – oh didn’t the aching muscles enjoy that 20 minutes.

Wandered around town which was deathly quiet except for the 6 year old birthday party across the road, then sat in the courtyard taking in the sun over a couple of Aperol’s.

A bit of housekeeping and then a 730 dinner appointment in another restaurant with a great food and wine offering where Jane continued her penchant to eat her way through the Pet Shop menu. Day 1 Pidgeon Day 2 Rabbit and Day 3 Guinea Fowl.
It was a great way to finish an arduous day made even better by the taxi ride.