Day 87 – EU – Italy [Ventimiglia to Imperia]

01/03/20

44km

  From Ventimiglia (Italy) to Imperia (Italy)

Europe

Beautiful first day on the Italian Riviera, albeit on a cloudy, grey, rainy day

Interesting start today. I headed out towards the heart of Ventimiglia. I arrived from the top and had to go all the way down to meet with the main road. This meant running through a maze of tiny and steep alleys. The historical medieval city of Ventimiglia is literally built vertically, quite a sight and I was certainly happy to go down today – the uphill way would have been a sheer challenge!

I then ran for a while along the Strada Statale 1 (National Rd 1) which mostly – and conveniently – had a wide shoulder or sidewalk. And as I reached San Remo, I came across the cycling path that took me almost all the way to Imperia. A great and wide path, exclusively for walkers and cyclists, sheltered from traffic and running by the side of SS1, seaside.

Beautiful.

I am sure all of today’s pictures would have looked a lot better on a blue sky and sunny background. But today was cold, grey and rainy! Garmin records the run started at below 3 degrees (Celsius) – and it was below 10 Celsius as I reached my destination in Imperia. There was a constant drizzle throughout the run.

On this first day in Italy, I am impressed by how drastically different everything looks from yesterday in France. The architecture. The mountainside. The seaside. Feeling the crisp fresh air from the Lower Alps, the smell from the trees… Positively surprised by the sudden change!

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: