It’s Saturday night in Sorrento, I ran in Le Marche in the morning so the above pic was my well-earned reward looking out over the Bay of Naples.
Sunday – rest day
Monday – Naples and double pizza – don’t ask…
Tuesday – run, Herculaneum & Pompeii
Wednesday – Drive the Amalfi Coast, watch Liverpool against Chelsea – not good
Thursday – Capri and home
Friday – comatose, unpacking, shopping
I had planned on running twice whilst we were away, I’d figured that with the amount of sightseeing we wanted to get in, that 2 runs would be all I’d manage, given limitations on ticketing for ferries, weather uncertainties and the uppy/downy nature of Sorrento and this part of Italy.
2 turned out to be optimistic, given the need to be catching early trains and my by now famous aversion to getting up early. In fairness to me the weather was substantially cooler in the mornings and my running kit, didn’t reflect that need.
Tuesday’s run, I was out early just after 7.30am, and I’d decided to take a straight line route out of town and back again, thinking that the tourist traffic on pavements/on road would arrive after breakfast. I didn’t bump into many tourists that much is true, what I did bump into was the veritable army of workers who keep Sorrento going. The road out was chock full of mopeds, motorbikes, buses, Apés, mini electric delivery vehicles, dustbin lorries. All in all interesting to see, not so nice to run through though.
The pollution levels are quite high, and there is a traffic management scheme in place, but I can understand to service the tourists, of which I was one, normal day to day stuff has to happen. I ran through the main road Corso Italia and did receive some bemused looks from the locals, I’m guessing they don’t get many running tourists in Sorrento. There’s not much pavement around, and quite a bit of re-development work going on, making it necessary for me to run on the road quite a bit too. I got hooted at a few times and I’m guessing it wasn’t to compliment me on my running style/speed.
After about 4kms of steady pootling, I decided to see if I could find a non-touristy bit of Sorrento and took a loop towards a rail station Sant’ Agnello. Here was an Italy I recognised, lots of children carrying outsized back packs to school, locals drinking coffee at the bar to save paying for the ‘privilege’ of a seat outside. Local shops, slightly rundown garages and a multitude of small businesses. Although it was quite scruffy in parts, I much preferred it to the tinsel town of Sorrento for tourists.
Being mindful of the gradient and ascents, I took a shortcut back to the apartment and had managed just over 8km. It was a ‘so so’ run, because I was not so sure of my bearings and didn’t want to get lost, nor did I fancy running back up from the port which was quite a way downhill and as a consequence I did spend a bit of time stopping and re-starting to work out where to run.
Would I recommend running in Sorrento? – maybe, if you don’t mind getting up very early, and layering clothing accordingly. I had seriously underestimated just how busy this place gets, and of course because of the topology, all the people and traffic are constrained into a small area. If you love hills, then Sorrento is definitely a place to aim for. Me, I was happy to have done just a bit of uppy and downy and got back in time for the day’s sightseeing.
Playlist
Purple Rain – His Purple Highness
Common People, Disco 2000 – Pulp
By The Way – Red Hot Chilis
Tracy Jacks – Blur
Unbelievable – EMF
Boombastic – Shaggy
Let’s Spend The Night Together – David Bowie
World In Motion – New Order
Chelsea Dagger – The Fratellis
Temptation – Heaven 17
Glory Days – The Boss
Help Me Rhonda – The Beach Boys
Avalon – Roxy Music
Blasphemous Rumours – Depeche Mode
Stats
Distance 8.16km
Time 57:32
Average Pace 7:02
Elevation Gain 94 metres
Alzheimer’s Challenge
Kms Run 1563.55
Kms To Do 454.45
