The day we walk Sentiero Degli Dei ( the Path of the Gods)

After a nice relaxing day trying to get my cold to get better and soaking up the view from the balcony, we decide that we will walk The Path of the Gods. This is rated as a moderate walk and we can catch it here from Praiano by scaling the odd step or two. The day begins with a cool , sunny morning. We are stocked up with sandwiches and emergency food, only here in Italy could you get stuffed figs with almonds as a little treat for energy . There is also of course  the most effective emergency food of chocolate / peanut clusters.

We plan our gradual ascent and truely appreciate our hiking poles. These have been mentioned as a must have to do this walk. As we make our way through the narrow “streets” of Praiano my All trails app keeps us selecting the right set of stairs to get us to the start of the walk.

The walk will take us up a vertical gain of 600m in a relatively short distance of 5.6km. The relief of the walk shows a steep ascent , then a bit of up and down and a finish of 1000 steps back down to Positano.We feel that by just taking our time this will be a lovely top to bottom perspective.

As we get to the top end of town the panorama on this sunny day is gorgeous. Little white lines of the speed boats cutting through the coastal waters. Once on the trail out of town the steps change character and become quite uneven and what is more challenging quite deep in height, some reach Tanya’s knees. This is a real challenge as she literally has to hoist herself up each step ( poles invaluable) !!

It is spring on the Amalfi Coast and so the path is strewn with all kinds of spring flowers, yellows, pinks, purples in various shapes and sizes.

Despite the challenges Tanya is still smiling , although I do see her stopping periodically documenting the next elevations of steps to send back home. Running parallel to the trail is a single gauge train line with frequent warning messages along the path making tourists aware that the train can come flying by.

I check on my All trails map to see our progress but the inbuilt GPS is having trouble finding us. Eventually it locates us and I have good news and bad news. I give Tanya the option to pick which one she wants to hear first but at this point any news that does not convey “ we are nearly there” is not welcome, so we keep walking. The bad news was, we had not made it a third of the way yet. At this point Tanya is sure there has been an error made in the guide books as this clearly should be called “ The path to Hell”.

As we reach the pass level , we get a glimpse back over to Amalfi and can now see the thin thread of path that will take us over towards Nocelle a small town above Positano where the 1000 step descent starts. I gradually dispense chocolate clusters and figs to keep things on an even keel and once at the top we decide an early lunch  is all the go.

A friendly Canadian couple captures us enjoying our snacks. Scattered on the hillsides is the odd farm house  literally stuck on little terraces and surrounded by lemon groves.

From here it is still quite a lot of up and down and because it is a sheer cliff face there is no room for switch backs, it’s stairs whether it’s up or down on the trail. The temperature remains really comfortable and we have sunny periods with a bit of cloud here and there.

It is clear now that we will opt for the bus option out of Nocelle and not the 1000 step descent. I am strategizing how to get on the small bus to Positano as we have heard it gets very busy. In the end no need for that as we are able to get on and get a seat and I am so impressed how Tanya has improved the technique of elbowing her way in as third on the bus 🙂

There is time for a gelato in Positano before we call for our water taxi transfer back home.

The view is breathtaking and a very quick ride home brings us in front of our place for a well deserved rest pre dinner.

We are the apartment in the middle with the wooden shutters. Tanya has been an amazing trooper on what was a really challenging day even when she whacks her knee hard against the centre console in the zodiac. We feel that dinner at our favourite restaurant “Il Pirata”  is the go and we know we can have whatever we want on the menu after a day like today. Lightly battered veggies made by Nona for me and a beautiful ravioli with red prawn sauce for a Tanya.

The evening ends with a chef’s surprise for dessert for Tanya and my now favourite semifreddo nougat magic.