The ferry for Corsica left at 8am, so it was a super early start for us that day. There was none of the palaver that surrounded the Dubrovnik embarkation! It was all very simple except I had to get off and walk on! It was a four hour crossing and quite uneventful so not much to tell you aside from being thankful that the water was as still as a millpond which meant Iain didn’t throw up – hurrah!
Arriving in Corsica we just rolled off the ferry and headed for the hills…literally!
I have three words to describe our ride today;
Absolutely. Bloody. Amazing!
Seriously, quite simply the best. As I described it to Beth; like the Pacific Coast Highway…on steroids!
The road was awesome and, unlike Italy, in good condition! It was wider and had longer more sweeping curves with far less traffic which meant that Iain could step up the speed and really dig into those bends! It wasn’t as high of an elevation either, which meant that the scenery was easier to see which was wonderful. It was simply a stunning coast line 
For four hours we swept, up, down, over and round. I couldn’t see Iains face but I know he was grinning like the proverbial Cheshire Cat and enjoying himself immensely. That is, until we turned off for our next AirBnB. The road went a bit steep and a bit (a lot) narrow = serious sense of humor failure! Didn’t help when I had to admit that I had directed him the wrong way and we had to go back down again!
All was well when we finally reached our destination. Another AirBnB win. Quite literally, a cave. Wonderful!
Maybe not so wonderful when having to walk back up again after dinner but hey, after La Spezia, our poor old calves and quads are used to it now (and it’s a good excuse to eat more carbs!).
Plus we had a wonderful view from our little terrace and you can’t get the view without the climb!
The next day dawned hot already at 7am so we figured that getting up and out asap, to enjoy the day before it got too stifling was the best plan!
On the road by 8.30am, we hugged the twisty, turny coast road again stopping here and there to take some posey pics and just really enjoying the roads and the rides.
Now, these roads are narrow, there are even narrower bridges and some tight bends – great fun as we’re whizzing along, but imagine our dismay at coming around a bend and being face on with a bloody great coach!
Thankfully it was stopped as it was already trying to negotiate it’s way, round a bend and over a bridge with a van coming the opposite way. It was entertaining but eventually they worked out a compromise, there was some shunting back and forth and we went on our merry way again!
I just don’t see why the coach would be on that road anyway. I mean, yes, it’s beautifully scenic and all but the poor folks sitting on the right side wouldn’t be able to see a bloody thing…sucks to be them!
After enjoying a delicious lunch at a little place right on the water in a small village called Galéria, we started back towards “home”, this time though, we headed for the hills and enjoyed some equally amazing roads, bends and climbs with different but still awesome scenery.
Two wonderful days riding in a row. We were really loving Corsica. It’s the first time this whole trip that I’ve questioned whether or not we should have stayed here longer 
That evening was the England game. What fun we had watching that in the tiny village! Well…once Iain had gotten over being caught up in the ‘running of the sheep’!!
We didn’t realize that the other folks there were all supporting Colombia until they scored. They all sat quietly before that while we whooped and cheered away! What a tense end though. Great result and now we look forward to the quarter final when we’re on Sardinia
We may have celebrated a tad too well! I wish I wouldn’t over indulge the night before transition day! Never mind, a couple of paracetamol with some tea and toast and I was feeling quite chipper again and ready to roll.
Good thing too, we had a four ride ahead of us!
The ride today took us north and east, across the island and then south to the port town of Porto Vecchio. It was a hot ride and feeling a little ‘delicate’ we had a couple of stops on the way to cool down and carb up!
As we reached the coast again, it was time for the boots to come off and a little ocean splash to freshen the toes!
Porto Vecchio was an interesting little maze of a town. We just wandered down the road from our hotel expecting to find maybe a couple of streets with a few restaurants but we turned a corner to be met with a bustling square full of bars, cafés, restaurants and little souvenier stores. Branching off in all sorts of directions were at least ten more little side streets, all jam packed with stores and bars. What a little hive of tourism industry we’d come across.
We strolled around, enjoyed a few beers, before choosing a nice place for our last dinner on Corsica. I was truly sad to be leaving this place.
We rose early the next day, to fit in a couple of sightseeing/photo-ops before being at the ferry port for 10am.
As it turned out, it wasn’t really worth the early rise but it was nice to be up, out and riding before the heat got up there again!
The first stop was at Palombaggio Beach. Pinterest had shown me some beautiful views and I wanted to capture them for myself. It wasn’t to be. The early morning haze hadn’t properly lifted so it was all a bit overcast and despite the early hour, there was a number of Austrialians milling around and getting in my pictures!
We jumped back on to the bike and headed for the ferry port in the town of Bonifacio where I wanted to go to a place called “King Aragons Staircase”. A steep line of steps, quite literally carved into the cliffside and descending down to the sea. Well, we never managed to actually get there and time was getting on, so feeling just a tad disappointed, we head to the port. According to legend, the staircase was dug by the troops of the King of Aragon Alfonso V in the course of a single night during the unsuccessful siege of Bonifacio in 1420. In reality, the staircase descends to a natural spring and a cave located at the bottom of the stairway, and is believed to have been dug by the Franciscan monks long before the troops of Alfonso V set their feet on Bonifacio.
As we headed out of the harbor and were waving our final farewell to wonderful Corsica, we rounded the bay and were rewarded with this stunning view of the “staircase”…all I can say is, I’m secretly happy we didn’t find them! So steep! I’d have got down OK but I’m not sure I wouldn’t have had to set up camp half way back up again!
The views from the ship as we left the port and Corsica behind us, impressed us just as much as Corsica had during our quick three day visit.
Spectacular place that I would highly recommend to anybody to go explore and discover, regardless of how you choose to travel.
Europe 2018
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Follow our posts as we prepare for our 13 week tour of Europe that starts in May 2018!
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