Last night was a bit of a rough one for us.  Nick had come down with a slight cold.  Enough to have left him sniffling and unable to breath properly at night despite the meds we picked up for him yesterday.

So sleep was a little elusive for both of us as Nick was feeling so poorly and couldn’t sleep and I couldn’t sleep with his extreme restlessness.  It was also once again a rather warm night which compounded the issue.

None-the-less, we managed to get some sleep from about 1 or 2am though it wasn’t completely unbroken. The good old church bells rang at 7am as they do each morning here but we decided to lie in a bit longer in spite of them.

It was around 9am that we dragged ourselves up but breakfast at the B&B was quite restoring and we felt immediately better after some coffee, juice and other delicious food.

Originally, we had planned to complete the local hike Sentiero degli dei (Path of the Gods) which lead from Nocelle, the town we were staying in, to Bomerano.  However with Nick feeling so congested, we weren’t sure if it was a good idea.

We reasoned that we could start the walk and turn back if we felt too tired/sick to continue so off we set.

Sentiero degli dei is approximately 6-7km in length from Nocelle to Bomerano.  While it was a steep trail, it wasn’t particularly difficult (even in my hiking sandals) and after a while, Nick’s congestion cleared right up.  We got to a point where we thought “We’ve come this far, we might as well see this through” and decided to continue on to Bomerano. We reasoned that we could catch a bus back from there, either directly to Positano or to Amalfi and then get a bus back from there.

The trail itself was splendid with spectacular views of the ocean and sweet, lush sub-alpine forestry surrounding us in some places.  It was a rocky path, but clearly marked out and we had no difficulty getting to Bomerano.

On the way, we ran into the couple from Toronto who we had met whilst doing our tour to Pompeii while we were staying in Naples – they were coming from the opposite direction.  That was quite funny and they advised us that we had actually tackled the trail from the far more difficult ‘uphill’ side.  Typical.

They were just starting their walk and we were almost at Bomerano at this point so we pushed on.  The trip took us a total of 2.5 hours.

Once in Bomerano, it became clear that the bus schedules were not going to work out particularly well for us. We got some drinks, some more water and a bag of crisps to share while we mulled out what we should do.

In the end… we just decided to walk back exactly the way we had come.  It was going to be quicker then trying to catch buses which would involve us waiting for hours to change routes whichever option we chose.

My one non-negotiable before we started back was that we find a decent bathroom. Nick obliged me in this and found us a cafe at the trail head.  It cost €1 to use but we didn’t have to buy anything from the cafe at least.  Though there was a loooong line.

But bladder emptied, it was actually MUCH easier on the walk back, only taking us 1.5 hours to get back to Nocelle.  We didn’t even need to take a single rest break while in the opposite direction we had had many.

One thing we did stop and take pictures of was a herd of mountain goats that were being shepherded  by a very diligent herd dog. Honestly, I don’t like goats. I was petrified that they would try to head butt me off the very steep trail or give me a good kicking off the path.  Nick though, weirdo that he is was snapping pictures happily.

Once back in Nocelle, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice, cold drink and bought some at Lemon Point.  Nick had the drink I had had previously, which was the Positano Lover – lemon and orange juice with cherry, and I had a Capri Light which was lemon juice and mint.

Now, while we felt like absolute champions for tackling the path in both directions (the owner of the B&B was suitably impressed when we told her!) we were very tired! Considering the previous night’s sleep and Nick’s illness, this wasn’t unexpected. So we both showered off and then had a rest (Nick getting a cheeky nap in) before venturing out again for dinner at Ristorante Santa Croce.

This time, we shared an entree of grilled octopus which was delicious and I had the fish of the day while Nick had a tortelli stuffed with sea bass for his main.  Sadly, I didn’t love my dish as much as I had enjoyed other meals we had had at this restaurant.  Perhaps the cooking class yesterday had spoiled me for normal food?

I DID enjoy Nick’s dish and was happy when we swapped plates.  We decided against getting a dessert and headed back to the hotel to pack and prepare for our move the next day.

Tomorrow would be a straight up transit day, but when it was over, we would arrive in Barcelona, Spain!

Km’s walked: 16.3 – but some of these were practically vertical

Flights complete: 5/10

Tomorrow: Transit to Barcelona, Spain!