Another high speed motorway journey, through the ,many tunnels past Nice and on to Savona in Italy again for the ferry to Bastia on Corsica.The ferry passengers thronged the decks as land appeared, me especially as I wanted to see if the mountains were as big as they say. They were, indeed the whole island was a little bigger than I was expecting and I wondered how long it would take to cross to the other side.....one woman advised 3-4 hours !
Not much time before dusk and we raced across the island through some very rocky gorges and possibly the windiest (that's windy as in lots of bends, is that spelt windyest ?) roads in the world to the hills above Porto, there we set up camp.Next day (always sun here it seems) a 60 mile loop through the Spelunca gorge to Porto, then along the spectacular coast and back up through the mountains. The final climb was 1100 metres and quite tough.
The scenery is pretty awesome, rocky coves, crystal clear seas and towering mountains almost 3000 metres high. You can go skiing in the winter. The other thing is there are pigs and cows wandering everywhere.....sometimes you have come round a bendto be confronted with half a farmyard, they seem to wander
where they please. Some of the pigs seem more wild boar than domestic pig too, but clearly they make good eating as the hams are very tasty here.
where they please. Some of the pigs seem more wild boar than domestic pig too, but clearly they make good eating as the hams are very tasty here.
Next day we drove to south of Ajaccio and stopped at a campsite on the beach. No longer did we have the cooler mountain air and perishable food started to suffer in the 30 degrees (oh dear, starting to sound like Alan Partridge !).
I spent the day on the beach getting sunburnt and swimming in the very salty and buyoant water (forgot how little you need to swim here), Amy went riding along the coast. I saw some fish, but
I would be lying if I said a school of dolphins turned up and somehow we connected through thought and swam together etc etc. There were definitely no sharks.One more day here and then back to France and Mont Ventoux for the Dauphine Libere stage that has a summit finish on the Geant of Provence.
Then, that enormo bridge at Millau needs a visit I think : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viaduc_de_Millau
1 comment:
Do watch out for the boars! I was camping there when I was younger and we were on a 4 day trek through the mountains. It was quite strange in the night to hear the boars coming snuffling round the tent...stay safe!
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