Unexpected Trip to Cinque Terre

I had never intended to go to Cinque Terre as it seemed to be too far from our bases. However, one of the people at the conference told us that they were going to take a day trip on the Thursday. When I went to investigate, it looked like the trip would take 2 1/2 - 2 3/4 hours each way, which seemed reasonable.
So, on Thursday morning, we started out at 9.15. At Lucca, the train stopped and everyone got off. We didn't realise till about 10 minutes later. It turned out that even though the train said it was going to Viareggio, it was actually just going to Lucca. There was a replacement bus service to Viareggio. My theory (as we couldn't get a straight answer from anyone) is that the Lucca/Viareggio line was the one where the train carrying fuel left the tracks and slammed into a residential area, killing a whole bunch of people a week earlier. None of the other lines through Viareggio seemed to be affected.
Because of this change, we missed the next connection from Viareggio to La Spezia. We ended up taking a slow regional train instead. There was then another connection from La Spezia to the 5 villages of Cinque Terre. We finally arrived at Corniglia, the middle village at 1.15pm.
It is a spectacular coastline, with the villages perched on rocks. Corniglia is at the top of a 382 step flight of stairs.
After lunch (mmm, mixed seafood fry), we walked from Corniglia to Manarola, which is right at sea level.
From Manarola to Riomaggiore, there is a walkway called Via Dell'Amore (Lovers' Walk). It's a nice, easy walk, perfect for couples to walk together while fused at the hip.
We just missed the 16.52 train from Riomaggiore and had to wait an hour for the next one. On arriving at La Spezia, we found that the train we wanted to take was cancelled. On inquiry, we found a train going to Sarzana, from where we could catch another train to Viareggio, then the bus to Lucca and then the train to Prato. We finally got back at 9.35pm.
8 1/2 hours of waiting, travel and stress vs 3 1/2 hours of sightseeing...At least it was good sightseeing!