Last Day.....a bit of a bust...until!

Our last day of hiking today and we fueled up with a good breakfast from our Agriturismo and headed out for what promised to be a long final stretch.  We set out on the trails through the town of Torca towards the coast and climbed to the first ridges to view the coast again.  After climbing up and down with reasonably marked paths, but terrible path guidance we took a minor detour but quickly got back on the right path.  We were supposed to drop down into a small inlet called Recommone, then around a point to Marina del Cantone but the path down to Recommone was so overgrown with vegetation and so steep, we could not safely pass through.  We tried finding different ways down for over an hour but the trails simply did not seem passable.  After looking for another way around, the paths just fizzled out and we were forced to take an seldom used local path up to the villages of Campi and Caprile and then made our way back to St. Agata via local roads.  The heat was quite and intense this morning and with the exertion of climbing up and down steep overgrown trails, we were exhausted.  We found a bar and Gelato shop in St. Agata and flopped down for water, Gelato and beer.  We then made our way back to our Agriturismo in order to be rested for a special finale dinner tonight in St. Agata at Ristorante Don Alfonso, a 2 star Michelin.

Yep, first stop Crapolla!  Was kind of an omen for our walk today!

More beautiful views from the ridge.  Even a Prickly Pear cactus in the foreground.


Don, before he was covered head to toe in sweat!


A view to the inlets below.



A steep climb up a street, appropriately named Mt. Arso



After a hot sweaty day on the trails, our group cleaned up pretty good for our final dinner.  Here we are still at our Agriturismo enjoying a pre-dinner Aperitivo.


Check out some of the courses we had tonight.




















Is that just me or is my limoncello glass tipsy!




The cellars of the restaurant at Don Alfonso are famous.  In addition to holding a massive quantity of vintage wines and cheese, they date back to the 5th century BC when they were used as escape tunnels to the Sea.


So, no hiking tomorrow so we didn't arrive home from our fantastic, multi-course dinner until after midnight.  A great night to celebrate a great hike and the best friends!

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