Quite a bit of rain overnight and light rain throughout the morning and some pretty torrential downpours, however, we have a plan and so late morning we made our way the short distance to the train station just as the heavens opened….
and caught a very busy (standing room only) clanky old train into the heart of the gentile town of Sorrento….
A gap in the rain allowed us to wander the busy streets lined with eateries and soak up the the atmosphere….
Find a little respite from the crowds in the Cloisters of San Fransisco….
And walk down the quieter back alleys…
The sun came out right on cue for us to enjoy the amazing coastal views, spot the crusie ships in the bay, accounting for at least some of the visitors and the turquoise seas and the smidge of sand that is Spiaggia de San Fransisco…
After a bit of ferritting around we did also find the forgotten ‘Valley of the Ferns’ with its derelict old Mills which were cut off from the sea in 1866 when the main Piazza Tasso (first photo above) was built and closed down by the 1940’s because of rising humidity and industrial obsolescence….
Having had our fill of wandering around the town we headed back to the station and is still relatively early bought bus tickets to visit Positano. However at this point our luck ran out as the queue was quite shambolic with people jumping in where ever they felt like it, no actual pavement to stand out of the the way of arriving and reversing buses, Tilly having to be carried to prevent her getting trodden on or run over, no indication of when the next bus would arrive and to crown it all, a half and hour in the rain came – seriously!
We gave it another 15 minutes by which time it was nearly 4pm and we were both soaked and there was a return train just after four, so we hurried back to the station and luckily managed to get a seat on said train.
Slightly disappointed to have not made it to Positano but thankful to be out of the rain and in the warmth of the van by 5, we settled down for a nice cosy evening.
Today’s stats:
- Miles walked – 7
- Train / bus tickets (which I did get to use in Amalfi) – £8.99
- O/N – £20
