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After such an idyllic first day, we could probably be excused for thinking we would enjoy similar splendor on each subsequent day in "The Cinq". Unfortunately, though, our luck was about to run out. We woke the next day to a grey sky, a light, constant drizzle, and the discovery that there really isn't all that much to do in the Cinque Terre when it rains. There's eating, of course, but believe it or not, there is actually a limit to how many trattorias, ristorantes and pizzerias you can handle in one day!

We decided to take the train to Monterosso, the northern-most of the five lands and the one we had yet to explore. While it wasn't looking its best in the dreary conditions, we managed to amuse ourselves in the many "crapola" shops until the weather cleared enough for us to tackle the walk back to Vernazza. This turned out to be the most challenging section of the CT trail, with a seemingly endless series of steps, especially tricky to negotiate in the slippery conditions. We were rewarded with some pretty special views though.

Faced with more rain the following day, we bid a fond farewell to Vernazza and made our way to Genova. An important port town with not much else to recommend it, this was fine by us as we were just passing through on our way south to Sardinia. We did manage to see quite a lot of the place, however, courtesy of the boys' poor navigational abilities. "How about we head up here?" soon led to "I'm not sure how we get back down...", which in turn led to a manic taxi ride back to the station for our bags. (Mis)adventures out of the way, we were soon tucked safely away in a surprisingly comfortable 4 person sleeper cabin on a southbound ferry.

We had sensibly stocked up on plenty of Italian wine, bread, salami, cheese and biscotti for the voyage. This feast, combined with a marathon Uno session which saw Mandy the unlucky loser (punishable by being made to eat "floormaggio", i.e. cheese that fell on the floor), made for a very enjoyable night.

On arrival in Sardinia, at a tiny backwater of a port town that made Genova seem like the centre of the universe, we quickly realised that this leg of the holiday had been somewhat overlooked in our trip planning (i.e. it had been left to the boys). We had no idea where we were exactly, or even where we wanted to go on this deceptively large island. It also quickly became clear that this place wasn't exactly set up for tourists, at least not to the extent we've become accustomed to. Hence we spent a good half a day getting our bearings and tracking down a car hire place that was actually open within its stated opening hours.

Equipped with wheels, we were off and running. From the tiny paragraph our guide book had to say on Sardinia, it seemed that the best thing to do was find a lovely, white, sandy beach and just relax. Easy, right? After all, this is an island surrounded by beaches! In reality, this proved somewhat difficult due to the size of the island, the quality of the roads, the questionable weather conditions and our general lack of specific direction. Nevertheless, we dedicated our entire three days in Sardinia to "The Search for the perfect Spiaggia" (taking only a little time out to taste yet more delicious pasta and seafood combinations).

The boys got a little side-tracked at times...