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Day 1: Monterosso 10 Punta Mesco 1 Soviore 9 Monterosso (477m)
This is one of the walks that is described in the text supplied by Sherpa Holidays. So route finding was easy. There were only a few places where the notes were necessary as the waymarking was reasonably good.
The first part of the walk involves a climb of 319m using route 10 from the Northern end of Monterosso to the junction of routes 10 and 1. This junction is close to the remains of a 13th century church called the Eremo di Sant Antonio which is on a headland called Punta Mesco. So having got to the top of the climb, you walk a short way to this church; it's a nice place to rest as it provides a viewpoint looking towards Monterosso and the coast beyond.
Route 10 from Monterosso up to Punta Mesco and then continuing along route 1 to Levanto is a popular seaside footpath. However, the other part of route 1 from its junction with route 10 to the abbey at Santuario Madonna di Soviore had few people.
At Punta Mesco you are at 319m. Although the footpath along route 1 (to Santuario Madonna di Soviore) eventually gets up to 477m, most of the walk is undulating. At the Colle di Gritta, there is bar-restaurant that provides a welcome relief but after this there is a short section of tarmac.
There's also a bar near to Santuario Madonna di Soviore and this provides another useful place to rest. At this point, I left route 1 and returned back to Monterosso using route 9. Once again, I met few people on this route.