For our first trip abroad since the pandemic - I know, how did we manage to leave it so long?! - we spent 8 nights exploring Italy’s Gargano Peninsular, a relatively unknown part of Italy for many in the UK. We booked an self-guided walking holiday with Inntravel, who we’ve used before for both walking and cycling holidays, all of which we’ve enjoyed. They aren’t budget holidays by any means, and it’s not a carry your bags while you walk type of holiday either. The accommodation, transfers and walks (and walking notes) are tried and tested and therefore you can be pretty certain of what you’ll get. We’ve had some great holidays, and I in particular like to walk their ‘new routes’ - and this was one of those.
In this post my plan is to share an overview of a trip where we saw and experienced so much, but it will only be the tip of the iceberg. Over the next few weeks (and realistically months!) I’ll share more about the walks, the scenery and more and I’ll aim to link to them from here as I go.
Where is the Gargano Peninsular?
The easiest way to describe its location is as the spur to Italy’s heel - and as we discovered it’s an area that is both remote yet has vibrant towns, is full of stunning views and there’s plenty of wildlife to admire too (though I exclude the guard dogs on the walk as we left Monte Sant’Angelo here - they were high up above us, behind a tall wire fence and yet we still crossed the road to avoid being directly in the eyeline!)
Where did we walk?
The walks were a mixture of circular routes which gave a flavour of the town we stayed in and ‘moving on’ walks, where we walked to the next hotel. Our bags were transferred by taxi throughout the holiday, and on a couple of occasions we were dropped further along, so saving even more walking.
In total we walked about 57 miles during our trip, and this was the planned walks as well as one walk into the town in Mattinata, our final destination. The longest walk was about 10.5 miles, which is completely doable, especially as you have all day to do it.
So what about the holiday?
MOH isn’t much of a sit in the sun holidayer, and while he has done that - we’ve been to Barbados, we much prefer to be out and about doing and seeing things if we can.
That said, in Italy we were expecting temperatures warmer than the UK, and so when we landed at Bari airport we weren’t quite expecting this. Thankfully though, despite a few heavy downpours, the weather was mostly good and warm and sunny. Definitely warm enough for the Factor 50 we’d brought along with us.
Arriving in Vieste
We arrived at our hotel in the rain and hungry! Our first mission once the bags were in the room was to find food, and well, when in Rome - or rather Vieste, it was pizza that was on our minds.
It was only the next morning as we headed out for our first walk along the coast that I really noticed the hotel’s decor, and quickly fell in love with these lobster sofas. Our walk took us out of Vieste and to a series of coastal headlands where we could marvel at the Trabucchi or ancient fishing traps.
Moving into the Foresta Umbra
Unbelievably I’d managed to turn my ankle at the airport on Saturday - walking in normal shoes, on flat ground. This wasn’t ideal timing. Thinking it would ‘walk off’ I didn’t think anything more of it but it was a bit more tender than I hoped it would be. Sleeping on it, it wasn’t any better, and so before we left Vieste I headed into the local pharmacy for an ankle support. Only me!
Our next walk was a ‘moving on’ walk, and we were dropped off by the taxi at a remote path leading into the forest, and with an almost 10.5 mile walk ahead of us that ankle support earned its keep. Walking into the forest and heading towards its centre was amazing; so peaceful but full of nature, calming yet exhilarating.
We made it to our next hotel and over the next couple of nights had food that wouldn’t look out of place in the highest rated restaurants - it was simply stunning. The hotel didn’t appear to have that many guests either, and this made it even more special - I’m sure that once the season really gets going it is likely to have a buzz of energy and vibrancy, but the relaxed atmosphere worked well for us.
In the heart of the Foresta Umbra
The next morning our planned walk was to take in more of the forest, and my ankle wasn’t so sure. The first 30 minutes or so of our walk were touch and go, but thankfully it warmed up and we notched up another 10 miler - this walk was probably the one I enjoyed the most and while we thankfully didn’t see any of the wildlife - roe deer, boar or foxes - it was great to walk the web of trails, and it seems seek out its lake and temporary waterhole.
LAGHETTO D’UMBRA
CUTINO D’OTRI
On the Pilgrim Trail to Monte Sant’Angelo
After a day exploring the forest, it was time to move on again. Once again we were dropped by taxi at the start of the path, with a 6 miler ahead of us. From the walk information we knew this would be a lot of downhill, with even more uphill as the village was Gargano’s highest.
And boy, there was a lot of up!
LOOKING UP TO MONTE SANT’ANGELO
I took this photo from almost the bottom of the valley, and I wasn’t looking forward to the ascent. We made it though, not after some moaning from me I’m sure - thankfully the flora on this walk was mesmerising and I stopped many, many times to take goodness knows how many pictures along the way.
And thankfully the views were pretty stunning too, but there was still a lot of up!!
Did I mention there was a lot of up?!
As well as being Gargano’s highest village Monte Sant’Angelo is also famous for its cave church built into the rock - so when we had done all the up, we went down 86 steps to see this UNESCO World Heritage site. It was worth it though, as we headed out to find our hotel, we realised there was more up though at a much gentler incline.
Down to the coast at Mattinata
One thing we were pretty certain of though was that our walk to the last hotel at Mattinata would be mostly downhill - as there was nowhere else to go up! And we were mostly right for the 10 miler ahead of us, where we spent a lot of the day cutting the corners off hairpin bends and then following an old mule track.
As we approached Mattinata, and the ground levelled out, the scenery changed and we walked through many olive groves, one literally as an approved cut off for a corner. We’ve seen olive trees before, but many of these looked especially gnarly and characterful - expect to see more photos like this.
The beach was a welcome sight, though we were less pleased that walking across the pebbles was part of the route to the hotel. Our plan was to stop and get refreshments at one of the beach bars before heading uphill to the hotel.
After being completely ignored for a good twenty minutes at one beach bar we moved to another necked a beer, and a water (for balance) and set off again. Uphill.
Thankfully after reaching reception we were taken to our apartment in a golf buggy - I nominated MOH to sit in the front, opting for the rear facing seat on the back. This turned out to be a bad move, and I was getting those vibes when the receptionist gave me a cushion to sit on. It was only a short way - well it was actually 875 steps, we did it many times over the next few days - but it was relatively steep and I spent that first journey hanging on desperately trying not to slip off the back of the buggy (obviously this was never going to happen, but knowing my luck I’d be the exception!)
It was a great hotel and I was glad we’d booked an extra night here. We’d both walked a lot further than we had for a while, and though my ankle had held up the thought of putting on walking shoes again the next day wasn’t the most favourable thought I’d had, and so we opted for a rest day.
Exploring Mattinata
Our rest day plans were to walk into Mattinata and get supplies for our walk the following day. It was a simple and pretty dull 5 miler, but the town was full of little shops and bars, and we were able to buy food for a picnic or two most likely amusing the local population at the same time.
Across the bay and up Monte Saraceno
Feeling much better for a day not wearing our walking shoes our plan was to complete the final walk of the holiday, though we already knew a detour was on the cards as one of the paths was shut. The bonus for us was that it cut out walking across the pebble beach, and the double bonus for me was that it took a much less steep route up Monte Saraceno!
After being in the town and encountering cyclists and motorcyclists along the way reaching the top we were on our own again, and we weren’t quite sure how as there had been some other walkers dash past us on their way up. They hadn’t come past us on their way down, which we fully expected, so maybe they took another route down, who knows?
This was the only planned walk where we needed to backtrack and retrace our steps to get back onto the route of the walking notes, and that was because we’d assumed we were following one of the signs and had misinterpreted that, as we discovered when we got back there.
It was a great trip, the walks were good and the scenery and views were amazing. I’m not sure we expecting to tot up over 57 miles of walking though - even though we knew the km of each of the walks, I think there was a bit of denial going on! But as I said before, and as MOH said to me most days - it’s not a race, and we have all day to get there, which as it turns out was just perfect.
