Trails of the Costa della Masseta - Carcarella and Gabbiani Beaches

Premise

This route was walked on March 30, 2024, and all subsequent observations and considerations are fully valid only for that day.

↓

From Scario to Punta Spinosa, Molara Beach, Water Cave and Water Cave Beach

From the parking lot south of Scario (more or less at the beginning of Via Faro) you take the small road with clear directional arrows to various points of interest encountered along the Trails of the Costa della Masseta.

This first part is all very obvious and very well signed – there are also many information panels with maps of the trails and historical-naturalistic notes.

After the initial small road, there is a stretch of wide path up to the signposted junction for Punta Spinosa, which is just below the out-and-back route of this excursion.

Returning to the junction after descending to Punta Spinosa, in just over 300 meters you reach the junction for Molara Beach.

After returning from Molara Beach, you cover about 1.4 km up to the junction for the Water Cave, located about 30 meters above the related beach.

↓

From the junction to the Water Cave and Water Cave Beach to Carcarella Beach

From the junction to the Water Cave and Water Cave Beach, continue for about 1.1 km, ascending in the last part to about 125-130 meters above sea level.

At a sharp right turn, where a continuous direct ascent begins, there is a faint trail (now quite overgrown) that continues straight on: there are no signs.

Take this trail and after a few meters of very slight descent we found the only red dot painted on a small rock on the ground.

From the rock with the red dot, two different paths—both quite faint—lead into a small wooded area.

We tried both, and the right, higher one seemed more correct to us, leading out of the woods at the right elevation where a dry stone wall is encountered.

Continue above the dry stone wall until its end in the middle of a well-inclined grassy slope.

Here you have to descend firmly diagonally to bypass a mountain ridge, losing about 35-40 meters of elevation, and it is perhaps better to “stop the four-legged friends” 🐕 as we did.

At the end of this elevation loss a more regular trail appears continuing across in the same direction: in fact, there is at least another very close and parallel one, which I identified and walked on the way back.

Anyway, continue traversing until entering another wooded area, reaching the key point of crossing the gully just beyond (to the right-west) of the vertical of Carcarella Beach, which is not yet visible.

Here the trail continues marked for a few meters beyond the gully and then fades into dense vegetation, and you have to find a way to descend avoiding some vertical drops that are a bit beyond hiking difficulty.

This side woodland is very steep, but I always found (though not always on the first try) the right passages to avoid the vertical drops.

I naturally returned toward the gully crossed higher up and emerged just below a drop of solid rocks rated about a grade I climb.

From here, I descended the last part of the gully on loose and slippery terrain, manageable by holding onto some rocks.

I thus reached the right side of the beach with a large rock at sea level blocking direct access: with a not difficult grade I move, you climb up and then comfortably descend to Carcarella Beach.

For the return, I took a different path.

More or less from the center of the beach, I noticed a trail (certainly made by animals) that went straight up into the woods, and I followed it up to a band of rocks, then shifted left to find the gully arriving below the solid grade I rock drop mentioned above.

Here I decided to climb directly into the gully, avoiding the confusing stretch of woods followed on the descent.

Above the solid rocks with some grade I steps, there is a mostly stony stretch, still steep but well manageable going up.

Having found the trail at the head of the gully, I returned by a wider loop to minimize climbing effort at the meeting point for recovering the “four-legged girl” 🐕.

↓

From the deviation to Carcarella Beach to “Grotta ru savucu” or “ru savuco”, and to the Ciolandrea Plateau

From the deviation to Carcarella Beach, resume the marked trail where there are also a couple of stretches with ropes stretched between trees.

The junction to “Grotta ru savucu” or “ru savuco” is indicated by an arrow and you quickly and easily reach the double entrance to the cave.

Returning to the junction, you exit into open country for the last long mountain flank to climb to Ciolandrea: the trail is always obvious on the ground and well marked.

↓

From the Ciolandrea Plateau to the Morice Tower or Trarro Tower

This is the last stretch indicated on the information panels of the Trails of the Costa della Masseta.

From Ciolandrea Plateau, take the leftmost small road with (among others) signs for Marcellino Beach and Morice Tower.

At the next junction, turn left always following signs for Morice Tower, and continue for a long stretch descending.

Towards the end of this small road, an olive grove appears on the left with various dry stone walls supporting terraces, and shortly after you have to turn left to descend the slope that leads directly to Morice Tower.

I did not understand the exact turning point, but shortly after starting the descent it appeared a series of small CAI-style trail markers painted on the ground: white-red markers but much smaller.

Following the markers, the descent is a bit easier, but once the tower is spotted you can also descend “by eye”.

↓

From Morice Tower or Trarro Tower to Gabbiani Beach or Omo Beach

This is the most complicated part of the excursion, and by far the most tiring: you need to have good athletic ability to face it at the end of the day.

This part should also be avoided with “four-legged friends” 🐕.

The only reference I had was map no. 9 of the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park.

In this map there is a dashed red line descending to Gabbiani Beach starting from above Morice Tower, and deviating from the tower’s trail roughly from the olive grove area.

So, I went back up and took the line shown on the map, arriving above a steep funnel-slide slope, mostly grassy, descending into the impluvium of the Trarro Gully.

From here, looking down towards the sea, a small beach is visible: according to the book “Beaches, Coves and Villages of the Cilento Coast” it is called Valloncello or Sciabichedda, and it is also well visible from Morice Tower along with the nearby larger Sciabica.

Following the map lines, you should descend a good stretch and then go left to climb the coast where the profile softens beneath rocky drops: after the left climb, there is the final gully leading to Gabbiani Beach.

The descent, in today’s conditions, is “a bit tricky” due to steepness and loose stones among tall, “prickly” grass.

Going slowly, there are no major problems but progress is cautious and even descending is tiring.

I did not climb left at the point recommended by the map because you cannot always stay high in that flank, and it was necessary to climb back a good stretch.

So, I continued descending toward Sciabichedda Beach approaching the Trarro Gully impluvium, hoping to find lower down a convenient bypass-crossing to the left toward the final gully to Gabbiani Beach.

In the end, I descended a bit too far (very near Sciabichedda) before turning left, and had to climb some meters before starting to traverse.

The traverse from this point can be defined as exposed as all traverses on such steep slopes, but footholds were always present: there were also similar conditions of stones “submerged” in tall, “prickly” grass.

My only concern upon reaching here was the length and difficulty of the climb due to the basic terrain, but I saw a good alternative from the first direct viewpoint on Gabbiani Beach.

From this final viewpoint, Morice Tower and the entire descent indicated on map no. 9 of the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park can be very well seen.

Already from this “lookout”, I decided I would ascend directly towards Morice Tower.

To finish the descent, I continued the long traverse up to the west side of Gabbiani Beach where I did not see easy points of access to the sea from above the rocky band surrounding the beach.

However, there was a not prohibitive small gully on the opposite east side, I reached it and descended to the beach by it: the most beautiful of the day❗

For the ascent, as already said, after climbing the short gully access to the beach, I moved more or less vertically above the center of the beach and went straight up towards Morice Tower.

After the first meters—as I had identified earlier—the line is steeper but with less annoying ground than that indicated on map no. 9 of the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park.

With some adaptation to avoid clusters of rocks, and a couple of solid passages around grade I, you reach below the landslide-prone rock band that supports Morice Tower.

Here you turn right to bypass it, and on “definitely more reasonable slopes” return to the tower.

In summary: 1) the descent I took may be fine but is longer than the optimized one; 2) the one indicated by map no. 9 of the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park is optimized but, as I saw it from below, perhaps with more delicate sections; 3) for the ascent I definitely recommend the direct line to Morice Tower; 4) the direct line to Morice Tower may not be the best choice for a “first descent,” because from below I found it very intuitive but from above it could—if not already known—lead to delicate lines from which it is difficult to extricate oneself; 5) if I had to return, I would try the descent traced on the map and climb back by the same route as today.

↓

Return to Scario from Ciolandrea Plateau

Here we simply followed the standard CAI trail indicated on the information panels of the Trails of the Costa della Masseta.

We were a bit late and arrived at Torre Spinosa at dusk with a beautiful view of the Gulf of Policastro with evening lights on in the various locations on the border between Campania and Basilicata.