The flowering thorn

A circular hill walk from Vedriano via Castiglioncello

The terrain and scenery gets a little more rugged on this walk, which circumnavigates one of the Aulella river’s tributaries. The first section of the route uses the Via del Volto Santo to get from the start and finish point in Vedriano to the hilltop village of Castiglioncello. From there, a good forest track will take you up through the forest to a high point where the valley rises to meet the path. The way back also makes use of forest tracks and is a little more tricky because, unlike the outward path, there are several side tracks to watch out for. Oh, and if you’re wondering why this walk has been called “The flowering thorn,” it’s because of the agriturismo that you’ll pass on the way. Il Spino Fiorito does the most wonderful pranzo di lavoro (workers’ lunch) so it’s well worth timing your walk accordingly!

Walk summary

Grade: ModerateLength: 6.4km
Circular? YesDuration: 2h
Start: N44.22393º E10.17811ºFinish: Same
Max elevation: 661mMin elevation: 459m
Total ascent: 299mTotal descent: 299m

Equivalent flat distance: 8.768km — multiply this number by the flat distance walking pace (min./km) of the slowest walker for a better estimate of walk duration. NB: see my article on estimating walk durations.

Route map with elevation profile and downloadable GPS track

Download a GPX track for this walk: Download GPX track

Detailed description

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Gallery

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Nigel Fawcett

One of the many benefits of being retired is that I get to spend so much more time in the great outdoors, not only as a photographer but in exercising one of my other great passions — hill walking. This is a particularly good fit when one’s photography centres around nature and the landscape. There can be few better places to do that than here in the beautiful mountains of Tuscany.