Finale Ligure - Base Nato - sentieri madre natura, ingegnere e crestino
Today, November 10, we start from Finalborgo, one of the three medieval hamlets of Finale, owned by the Marquisate of the Cart for 4 centuries, then the Habsburgs, Republic of Genoa and finally Napoleonic until the Unification of Italy.
The area as well as important evidence of medieval Liguria has become a center for outdoor sports enthusiasts, from climbing to mtb.
Finale's nato base was decommissioned 30 years ago and not converted despite renewable energy projects given the proximity of wind power centers.
The 18 km climb is 2/3 on asphalt and 1/3 on easy dirt road: first 9 km on asphalt to gain 350 meters of elevation gain, another 5 km to get to total 800 meters of elevation gain, finally last 4 km to get to total 1050 meters of elevation gain.
Scenically, the villages crossed on the ascent such as Calice Ligure and hamlets such as Vene the bee-friendly village and Berea with 2 ancient churches are pleasant, while the dirt road and subsequent asphalt sections are in dense forests mainly of beech trees.
The descents from the Nato base are multiple and very well known, Ivano, bubetta and I launch on the nature trail, to follow engineer and finally the crestino, for a total of 800 meters of descent.
The trails are mostly flow, entirely in the forest excellently maintained with little foliage (unlike what is found in autumn in our areas, particularly in the Lanzo Valleys), several steep passages with excellent grip, leaning turns, some trialistic sections - at the beginning and at the end of the trail, some climbs.
Once at the bottom of the valley, we continue on dirt road until we reach Orco Feglino and continue on asphalt for 6 km and arrive in Finalborgo.
Vene
Berea
Nato Base
Engineer trail
Engineer Trail
Finalborgo