Traveling while my knees still work

It can be cold in March in Italy, especially in the north. I planned my trip from Milan to start as far south as possible. Then, I continued northward as the weeks unfolded. My last stop was Cinque Terre. I chose to Riomaggiore as it was pre-season and i suspected a few more places would be open. It was not early April. Of course, the move from Lucca to RioM was not to be as expected. I reserved a lovely room overlooking the water which sounded spectacular. Sadly, the day before i was to leave, the booking site informed me my reservation was canceled. They replaced it with a different apartment. Ugh. I checked it out on line and it did not seem unbearable. Plus I had no other choices. I had been preparing for months for the hills and steps of Cinque Terre. But I was not in the shape I had hoped to be in. I was as heavy as I had ever been and not really in a good mood about it. So i got off the train, headed through the tunnel and began the climb through rioM. Ok, the place is beautiful. Really beautiful. But when you are only halfway up the hill to your accommodation and you are in need of oxygen, you sort of forget your surroundings. It gets hot! So you start stripping your clothes off. Then reconfigure how you are dragging your bag which wants to pull you back down the hill. Ya know, gravity. I had struggled to communicate with my host. Thankfully, they assured me that ‘someone’ would meet me at the apartment. I make the turn at the switchback and realize the hill is even steeper! My legs are screaming and my hands hurt from clinging to my bag. Finally I make it. Dripping in sweat. Exhausted and in desperate need of a drink. The very cheerful, very heavy lady waiting for me is cool as can be. She proudly shows me the room. It is a complete shit hole. I am super disappointed and a bit worried. I ask about towels, soap. Si’, si’, si’. She shows me a beach towel and some leftover shampoo from a previous guest. Sigh. Okay, gotta go with the flow. Plus I’m too pooped to care. She smiles expectantly at me as I wait for her to leave so I can strip. Que’? I ask. Then she drops the bombshell. The room is to be paid upfront, IN CASH. Right NOW! I had prepaid my rooms on my credit card and didn’t carry hundreds of euros on me for obvious safety reasons! I asked if I could email my CC information. Nope. Could I drop the money off after I changed and got some cash? Nope. So now, that pit of dread is starting in my stomach. I don’t have the cash, but she cheerfully tells me no problem! There is an ATM! I know its about to happen. My ears are trying to deafen the words that are about to come out of her mouth, NO! DON’T SAY IT! “The ATM is down where you go off the train.” Well, fuck me running. Yup. I stripped off all my top layers while she stood there and then YES MA”AM, down down down we went!!!!! I got the cash, handed it to her and she cheerfully waved good bye and headed to the train. Guess what I had to do? GO RIGHT BACK UP THAT DAMN HILL. Luckily there was a wine shop on the way…