After our adventurous trip to Ireland in the summer, we wanted to enjoy the more leisurely side of bike touring in the fall. For this reason, we headed South to Corsica. During the planning stage, we made sure that this time we were more restrained, at least in terms of distance, and planned much less than in the summer. And this time we weren’t alone – Coco, a good friend, was cycling with us.
First of all, it was well worth it.
Shortly beforehand, we weren’t sure whether we would be able to cross from Livorno to Bastia at all. The ferry company staff were on strike in Corsica and there was no ferry service for several days. Unlike in the past, it still worked out and we crossed to Bastia.
We spent the first night at a campsite in the town and headed North the next day. To have some variety and “adventure” we rode a “short” gravel route through the hills. Juli is becoming more and more a fan of gravel, but I’m still not so convinced myself. One reason for this was that it took us almost 2 hours to cover only 6 km…
Phew, luckily it was downhill, but we still sometimes had to push the bike or carry it over small streams. It was fun and, above all, a beautiful route, but I like to move a bit faster. We spent the second night in a secluded spot right by the sea near Cap Corse, so I was prepared to push the bike a bit.
In two more days we reached Calvi, our first vacation spot. A really beautiful town with an interesting old centre built on a hill. During our days in Calvi, we treated ourselves to pizza in the restaurant and, above all, two days of diving. In addition to the relaxed fish watching, my highlight was our first real wreck dive. During the Second World War, an American B17 bomber sank off the coast of Calvi. The crew survived after the emergency landing but the plane could no longer be saved and sank to a depth of around 25 meters. Unfortunately, I don’t own an underwater camera, but there are pictures of it on the internet that still give me goose bumps.
The drivers of the Tour de Corse Historique were in town at the same time as us. They were all taking part in a circular race on the island in their vintage cars. So we were able to marvel at the beautiful vehicles. However, it wasn’t quite enough for me to switch from my bike to a classic car, even though I really liked some of the cars.
The only downside to the whole thing was that they wanted to drive the same route as us on the same day. So we had no choice but to sleep in and start later in the day, as the next section was closed until 2pm.
With a stop and overnight stay in the picturesque Fango Valley, we reached Porto, our last stop on the west coast. We treated ourselves to another “bike-free” day and hiked up the nearby Capu d’Orto instead. We really enjoyed the hike, the route was very varied through the forest and rocky areas and a spectacular view awaited us at the top.
To get back to the east coast, the next stage was a long mountain section. The road leads inland up to the Vergio Pass, which is 1467 meters above sea level. And we had to climb these almost fifteen hundred meters first. The fact that the route had little traffic and, above all, was very pretty, helped to keep our spirits high. But not only that, we also met some cute animal friends along the way. In one place there was a donkey on the road and Coco is a donkey fan. In other places there were very cute little pigs and Sami is a piggy fan (not for eating, although that works too). The stops gave us the energy to reach the top and it was worth it, another cool wild camping spot awaited us.
After the pass, we headed downhill to Corte, another town worth seeing with an exciting topography. There is a citadel at the top of the hill in the town center, which we visited on our day off to learn about its history. Unfortunately, our vacation was slowly coming to an end. With one last stop at a campsite by the sea, we cycled back to Bastia.
But being back in Bastia was also a pleasure because we had already found a cozy bar with excellent hamburgers at the beginning. Juli is a big fan of hamburgers and of course so are the rest of us.
It was a very relaxing two weeks…