An absolute corker of a day and a really unbelievable drive as we start the day with a brief walk down to the main beach at San Bartolomeo…

We then continue our journey along the SS1 coastal route heading north stopping for a shortish walk in Andora the next village along – beautiful sands with many private sections of beach and some public areas….

Continuing along the way we are afforded specatular views down onto Laigueglia and it’s sandy foreshore, though we are unable to get down any closer and safely leave the van…

Likewise in the beautiful resort of Alassio there was no way of getting the van down to the seafront due to height restrictors but we did manage a quick pull in…

Our next stop was Ceriale (Albenga was too busy and chaotic!) where we were a little bit cheeky, in so far as we pulled into an out of town supermarket, did some much needed shopping and then left the van for an hour or so to wander down to the coast. We took a quick look at a campsite that we were contemplating for a few days – no chance as the only access was via a railway bridge with a height restriction of 2.3m – a fairly typical issue along this stretch of coast as the SS1 coastal road and the railway vying for pole position next to the sea. Also disappointingly the railway runs right next to the beach and so access and views are restricted for much of this section (glad we didn’t opt to stay here). When we did get into Ceriale and to the beach the views were non existent from their nice new (still under construction) promenade by private bars and changing sheds etc….

What a shame – bearing in mind this would seem to be a developing area with several apartment / hotel complexes under construction – I think they might have missed a trick – still we did manage to get a look at a couple of the beaches – Spiaggia di Pippo and Spiaggia di Ceriale…

The road from here to Spotorno turns out to be the most scenic section I have ever had the pleasure of driving, as it meanders its way hugging the rugged white cliffs just above the sea, unfortunately stopping places were few and far between so the sheer beauty will remain as a private memory, though I did take the odd pic whilst waiting at traffic lights….

And a cheeky snap of Spiaggia di Casteletto, where visitors were parked on a little widened area at the roadside, with a fair few steps down to the beach…

We soon arrived down into the resort of Spotorno where we found space (just) in a very basic Aire at the northern end of the beach….

We soon parked up, the marked spaces are just wide enough to leave about a metre between vans – not ideal but the location less than 50 metres from the fabulous long sandy beach of Spiaggia nel Blu – well stunning….

Rather than walk along the sea front which we shall do tomorrow, we opted to follow the footpath at the side of the SS1 as it continues it’s journey along the coast to get some aerial views of the stunning sea – makes all the difference in the world in bright sunshine and sandy base and also a closer look at Bergeggi Island….

A little further on were two pretty and tricky to get to coves – Lido del Serene and Spiaggia de Punto Prodani…

Just around the bend and we get views down onto the next resort along – Bergeggi and glimpses of it’s beach….

Wow what a day – we can easily cope with a crowded Aire after a day like today…

And our evening stroll was pretty magical too – we do love an Island…

Thoughts of the day:

• This is more like the coastline that I was expecting, I can’t help having felt a bit disappointed with the coastline since joining the Riviera in France apart from the odd little pocket here and there.
• There must be 50 or so vans parked up here – is it surprising that the only other non Italian plate is an Austrian – so far on this journey there have been a good smattering of French and German plates….

Today’s stats:

• Miles driven – 36
• Miles walked – 6
• Groceries – £60.66
• O/N – £13.87