I flew into Rome where I met up with the rest of the group. There were 14 in the group mainly from Victoria and we traveled in two small buses. Our first stop was Giglio Island We caught a ferry from Porto San Stefano drove across the island and stayed at Campese on the west side of the island. Our hotel was right on the water front so it was easy to walk out and have a swim. We were there for three nights and three days of walking around the island and visiting the small villages.

On day 5 we were on the ferry again to the mainland and drove north to Moneglia which is the most northern town in the Cinque Terre. Once again our hotel was right beside the water (by now you have probably realized that I love the sea) and it was a great relief to cool off in the sea after a very hot days walk. The railway station was close to the hotel and each morning we caught a train to one of the towns, walked to another and trained home again. We had 5 days walking to Monterosso, Portovenere, Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, and Vernazza. These are all little villages on the sides of the steep hills dropping down to the sea. Some are not accessible by road so it is either by boat or train. I looked at some of the elderly Italians and thought how fit they must be to be walking up and down the hills each day. The walks were rated by their difficulty, easy, medium or hard -the terrain or the surface were taken into consideration.

The last day was one of the hardest when we had a steady walk up 1065 steps where we were met by a lovely picnic lunch under some shady trees. From there the walk back was along the contours through vineyards on both sides of the track. In places the track was very narrow with a steep drop down to the next cultivated area. Not good if you didn't have a good head for heights

On day 11 we set off over the Apuana Alps to Lucca. We had a free day in Lucca to have a look around or have a rest. The hotel that we stayed at had bikes that we could use so a friend and I spent some time riding around the outer wall which surrounds the city as well as negotiating the small streets. While looking around we found that there was to be a Puccini and Mozart concert that night so a group of us got some tickets and went along to hear a soprano and tenor singing in one of the churches Next day we were off to Tuscany, staying outside a small town called Trequanda at a working farm where they had a winery as well as crops.

From here we walked again as well as having an afternoon in Siena. It was very different to the coast as here the autumn had set in and the paddocks were all yellow with the grapes ripening and the silver of the olive trees. I realized I was in Tuscany when I saw all the lines of the pencil pines in the paddocks. We had a beautiful room at the Ville Colle which looked out on to the rolling hills. After 4 days unfortunately our time was up and we had to head back to Rome where we left the group.

I had some friends in Switzerland so decided that while I was so close I would visit them before I came home, so I had 3 days in Lausanne and then caught the Glacier Express to St Moritz and then on to a little village in the Alps called Sils. I had 5 days here and walked again using the cable cars and the chair lifts to get up to the walks in the mountains It's hard to believe in such a small area like Europe that 2 countries so close to one another can be so different. The architecture, the people some talk French and some Swiss German and very different in their out look on life to the Italians. I had a wonderful trip, loved the country side, the Italian people, the food and even the wine (I don't usually drink very much but was told that I had to experience it as well) and would recommend the tour to anyone that enjoys walking

Liz Walpole