It’s been a while since I shared some of where we visited on our trip to Italy’s Gargano Peninsular last year - I know a whole year already! - so I thought it’s about time I shared more. On our first day’s walking we headed along the Vieste coast on a walk that was billed as following ‘the low-lying shoreline for virtually all of its route’. And it was mostly flat, though some walking and in places scrambling across rocks didn’t help my tender ankle, which I’d somehow turned walking on flat ground through the airport somewhere! But it wasn’t until much later in the day that I realised this.

Our walk started by going across the car park at the marina, which is not quite the auspicious start you imagine is it?! But as we headed towards the jetty the view improved, and I was happily snapping the flowering succulents.

Flowering succulents near the jetty at Vieste's marina

It wasn’t long before we got our first view of the beach, and what a beach. Sadly though we had most of a 10.7km and four hour walk ahead of us, so no time to stop.

The path is to the left of the wooden balustrades, with the beach now on our right

At the end of the beach we joined the narrow path just to the right of the wooden balustrades and followed that around the coastline. Then we got our first view of a Trabucchi, or more precisely the Trabucco San Lorenzo.

Trabucco San Lorenzo — TRABUCCO SAN LORENZO

Trabucchi are widespread along this stretch of coast - and our walk would take us up close to three of them. They are fantastic constructions made with Aleppo Pine which is very resistant to salt water. This local tradition dates back to the Phoenicians and consists of wooden poles in the rocks which hold a very large fishing net in the clear coastal waters.

After a brief stop, we were on our way and then we paused and looked back to where we came from - I think this view trumps that of the beach at the start of the walk.

Looking back to the Trabucco San Lorenzo — LOOKING BACK TO TRABUCCO SAN LORENZO

The views ahead of us though were equally spectacular, especially as we walked through this pined section.

A small park/picnic area with a arched tree

Looking over the wooden balustrade to the clear sea

A small sandy bay on the coast of Vieste

At the next sandy bay our route took a turn upwards, and the plants changed too - a particularly dog-earred prickly pear caught my eye.

And with a bit of here and there-ing, and a walk along the road and climbing over the crash barrier the next trabucchi, the Trabucco Punta Lungo, was in sight, looking very similar to the one we’d already passed - but no less amazing.

Again we paused to admire the view, and look to see where we’d been, and where we were heading to. And to breathe in the fresh air, even now these photos bring that right back to me.

The trabucchi are essentially a small pier with a complex architectural structure, anchored to the rock, with arms jutting over the water with ropes attached to huge nets underneath. It usually took a four-person crew to manoeuvre these fishing machines, two to operate the winch, one in charge of the net and one to monitor the shoals of fish.

Looking ahead to the next trebucchi on our route — AND LOOKING AHEAD TO TRABUCCO MOLINELLA

Although we were keen to get on, it was also good to stop and admire the coastal plants, such as this creeping sour fig with its bright flowers. Not that I knew its name at the time, a more recent phone update enables me to look up the names of plants from the photos, and that’s so very welcome.

Having reached halfway - and the final trebucco on our walk - we stopped to eat our picnic lunch; we’d bought rolls, cheese and sliced meat and some fruit in the supermarket near our hotel before we set out. It was quite the lunch with quite the view, but little did we know that there’d be many more lunches with views as special over the next few days on our trip. I mean we hoped, but we didn’t know for sure.

The trabucchi are no longer actively used by the fishing industry, but they are of immense cultural and historical interest and are protected by the Gargano National Park. There are restoration projects in place and some of the trabucchi offer organised visits and fishing experiences, which is a great way to ensure their history is not forgotten.

The return leg of this walk was the same but in reverse, we managed this much more quickly as we were retracing our steps, and because we’d already taken the pictures we’d wanted. But isn’t it strange how walking the same picturesque route can at times look so, so different.

Our incentive to get back was an ice cream and a beer in one of the bars we’d spotted in the town the previous evening, and to suss out a potential restaurant for that evening. As the evening went on though, my ankle started to swell a little which was a little concerning with a week’s walking ahead of me.

Maybe a night’s rest would sort it out…

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. I will share more about the walks, the scenery and more and I’ll aim to link to them from here as I do.

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.

A grey wet landing at Bari airport from the window of our plane

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.

The sofas in the hotel lobby with a large lobster design on its back

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.

Looking through the trees to the lake - laghetto umbra — LAGHETTO D’UMBRA

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 from the bottom of the valley to Monte Sant'Angelo - Gargano's highest village — 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.

A giant fluffy seedhead with the blue skies beyond

And thankfully the views were pretty stunning too, but there was still a lot of up!!

Looking towards the coast with a blue sky and clouds above the yellow flowering broom bushes

Heading up the rocky gravel path edged with wooden ballustrades

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.

Looking across the rocky mule track down to the coast

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.

Emerging from the path to the pebble beach at Mattinata

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!)

The view across the bay to Mount Saraceno from our final hotel

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.

The night time view from our apartment's garden overlooking the sea

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.