An interesting walk

Rapallo is at the ‘base’ on the eastern shore of the Portofino promontory - about 5km by 5km as the crow flies with some hills (610m at highest point ) in the middle.
There is a good network of walking trails so I thought today I’d try some out. I walked from Rapallo, mostly along the coast to Santa Margheurita Ligure and then after a stroll around ( too many people – there was a swimming race starting for all ages) set off into the centre of the promontory. The path followed a ridge up providing magnificent views of the towns below. For about 1 ½ hours I saw no one else – made up for the Cinque Terre crowds. However at 1 point it crossed my mind (only fleetingly) to be slightly worried. Noone knew where I was and the path was quite steep / narrow/ washed away etc in parts. I came across a notice saying from Wednesday to Sunday from September to December it was boar shooting time in this area. Soon after, I heard 3 sounds that sounded like gun shots – Oh good, I thought , as I came across a particularly steep part that required hands as well as feet to climb up , I wonder what wild boars look like from a distance., maybe a person with a backpack scrambling up a steep path could be mistaken for one? I was not going back, so I just scrambled faster. At the top – about 470 m - several paths from other parts converged. I spent a while ‘talking’ to a Swiss lady who was also out walking in a very funny mixture of Italian, English and French. From there it took me an hour to get down to San Fruttuosa which is only accessible by foot or water. There is a very old little church, a few fisherpeople’s cottages, a few restaurants and a very stoney beach that , when I was there, was filled with Italians sunning themselves. The stones were difficult to walk on they were so large, I can’t imagine how tortuous they must have been to lie on. After a nice lunch I caught a ferry back to Rapallo. It stopped at Portofino and Santa Marghuerita on the way. I thought the quick look at Portofino from the boat would be enough. One of my books says that Portofino ‘is full of the glitterati, attracted to Liguria’s most chic spot where Europe’s movers and shakers come to wheel, deal and play’. Although my clothes and I had started the day clean, by that stage, both them and me were badly in need of a wash. It is still quite hot here – mid to high 20’s.