Electric Fences and Wild Boars

After our time in Rome, Beth and I took the train to the Northwestern coast of Tuscany ... to visit 5 small fishing villages directly on the coast called Cinque Terre (meaning "five lands" in Italian.) This spot was a new one for me, and let me just say, it should be on everyone's bucket list. One of the most gorgeous places I have ever visited!

First I'll share some of the more breathtaking shots ...

We sat at the bar on the lower left corner to enjoy some local wine. Spoiled rotten, I know.

I mean, the scenery is like a painting ... I practically look superimposed! Wouldn't happen, I don't have the Photo Shop skills. :)

We even gave it our best shot to blend in with the locals and hung our laundry out to dry!

Next we move on to the story of our marathon hike, the inspiration for the strange title of this blog. It'll all make sense in just a minute.

This spot in Italy is known for it's hiking trails, but due to all the rain before we arrived, the most famous coastal trails between all the towns were closed. There were several winding trails up in the mountains, but we were not sure we wanted to attempt those, so we picked another town about halfway up the mountain that had an olive press and winery we wanted to explore.

Enter the very vague sign posted for what we thought was the trail to the little town. The trail was called Groppo, which was the name of the town, so we assumed it would stop there before continuing on up the mountain. Our first mistake.

Here I am enjoying the view. We are literally up in the vineyards that cascade down the mountains with a gorgeous view of the sea in the background. Notice the smile. At this point, we clearly do not realize what we've gotten ourselves into.

Literally over 3 grueling hours later ... we have made it to the top of the mountain (after realizing our blunder, it was easier to keep going up then to try and retrace our difficult steps) ... only to find a fence ... with a sign ...

You read correctly ... our path ran us right into an electric fence! Seriously?! Beth started throwing things at it to see if it was active. No sparks. We finally noticed a gate that we carefully stepped through. Not sure if we were now on the inside or outside of whatever the fence was surrounding, but we were thankfully not electrocuted in the process.

Here was our next view ... over the side of the mountain next to our path ... encouraging ...

At this point ... we realize that we got on the wrong path and based on our sketchy map, estimated that if we stayed the course, we would loop back around to the starting point after a good 6 hours or so. Given that the sky was full of dark looming clouds, we figured that was not our best approach. But again, retracing our steps was not an option since we were practically climbing straight up the whole way.

Now on the "other" side of the fence ... I notice this sign on another gate ...

Are you kidding me?!?!? It now appears that we are on the wrong side of the fence and it is Wild Boar territory!! We are both freaking out on the inside but keeping our composure on the outside so as not to further freak out the other person. I seriously have visions of Man vs. Wild episodes in my head ... what would Bear Grylls do? Can wild boars climb trees? Will they be attracted to my bright white rain coat? We even argued about whose idea it was to go on this stupid hike. Dear God ... we are going to be eaten alive and no one will even know we're gone.

Now on the opposite side of the "wild boar gate" ... we notice a dirt road and decide it has to take us somewhere. We swear that God dropped it there for us right at that moment ... I mean, we're honest, hard-working, nice girls ... worthy of being saved, right? We followed the dirt road for another hour or so as it criss crossed halfway back down the mountain and we spotted civilization! Amen!

We make our way to this small town atop a hill and sit at the bus stop for the tourist shuttle that will take us back down to the coast. Ironically, there was a picture map of the area hanging by the bus stop with a picture of a wild boar amidst the forest on the mountain top. He looks a lot cuter than the one I was picturing in my head ...

Needless to say, we made it out alive and treated ourselves to a huge pasta dinner and a bottle of wine that night. Nothing like making memories in the boar-infested mountains of Tuscany!