Sentiero Naturale - Hiking on the Island

I hate snakes. They scare the shit out of me.

Rome was too hot this weekend, and so I went to Isola del Giglio, an island off the south west of Tuscany. From Rome, it's 2hrs by train, a short bus, and an hour ferry, with some waiting in the middle. All told I was on the beach there by 3pm on Saturday. As the sun waned, however, I wanted to go hiking inland.
The island is set out as follows: The port is on the eastern coast with a neaby beach; there is a castle, Castello Giglio, commanding a peak dead centre, and there is the town of Campese, with its own beach on the west coast A mountain range runs north.south for more than 10kms, the full stretch of the island. It was too late to march 4kms steeply uphill from the east to the castle, so I took a bus that far, and decided to descend the 4 kms to the west during sunset.


Having arrived without any accommodation, I easily settled for the night on the beach at Campese. It was certainly much fresher than a night spent in Rome. Waking with the sun the next morning, I set off on my trek uphill, back towards the castle. About 2kms across, and 300 metres higher, I encountered my foe. The path was mainly rocks, and I'd seen so many lizards along the way, that I tried to quell my cumbersome footsteps so as to avoid scaring them. From the right darts a shiny black snake, and it's coming in my direction. As far as I'm concerned, every snake is highly venomous until proven otherwise. I jumped backwards, downhill, my backpack propelling me faster. It darted even closer, then between my legs. I almost died. I don't know how I avoided touching it, but it slithered off the path to the left. Gone. Well, it was gone, but I couldn't move for a few moments. Should I sprint past the spot to avoid it? Or will it want to attack me if I do? Should I go slowly and carefully, I will that give it a better chance to come back and eat me whole? All these thoughts rushed through my mind as a butterfly settled on my shoulder. That sensation was enough to start me running, and I avoided having to make a voluntary choice!