Corsica - an amazing place for walking
Corsica is an amazing place for walking. Although the island is known for its beautiful beaches, the main tourist attractions are the walking trails that intersect it.
There are five main routes. Two sixday walks lead from coast to coast; one in the north and one south. Another two lead from mountains to the sea, taking higher paths in both north and south. The 14 day GR20 running in a S.E. direction down the spine of Corsica is perhaps the most challenging long distance path in Europe.
Not only is the weather extremely changeable in the high mountains, but the craggy route has a series of ropes, chains, hooks and ladders to assist negotiating sheer rock faces - not for the faint hearted.
The northern sections are more rugged and difficult, but the scenery is magnificent, so we opted to combine a few days of each trail in the north sector, making a seven day walk.
There was huge variation in‘Refugios’ or ‘Gites’- the standard accommodation along the way. Some were tiny dark shacks with 10 bunks, others large and light, with good cooking facitities. Some had rooms of four beds, and served an enormous four course evening meal.
In some villages a little family run hotel took in trekkers, and in others the friary offered beds. The accommodation became as much of an adventure as the days walk, because each night was so different. But all offered blankets and food, a great advantage when carrying supplies.
To reach Corsica, we flew to Nice, explored the south coast of France, and travelled by ferry from Marseille to Ille Rousse on the N.W coast of Corsica.
A 45 minute train ride south, took us along a dramatic coast to Calvi with its old town perched high above a beautiful beach.
We then travelled inland to Corte,
a centre for walking, with many trails leaving from here to explore gorges,mountains, forests and the three northern routes. It is a fascinating old town where people have lived for 1000’s of years with little change to structures. The streets are still narrow and cobbled with lots of steps.
Our first day was spent exploring Restonica Gorge, with its glacial lakes, Melo and Capitello. The rocky track was easy to follow and crowded with families. Little cascades ran into crystal clear pools all along the way, and although the water was cold, we all had a dip because the air temperature was 30 degrees.
Hundreds of tiny lizards lay on the hot rocks, barely moving as we walked past.
The following day we headed up the Tavignano Gorge to Sega Refugio. This section is well used, because it is both part of the ‘Mare a Mare Nord’ (sea to sea), and an alternative route to join the GR20. The trail lead uphill over rocks all the way, and after a couple of swim stops, we were relieved to reach Sega by 6pm and very happy to be served a four course meal.
The next stage took us steeply up through forest to open farmland, then down a forested path to Calacuccia, and around the lake edge to Albertacce, both tiny villages.
While searching for the ‘Gite’, we were ‘adopted’ by three local children, who found us a place to stay in the friary, then took us to their favourite rock slide
and swimming hole in the Golo River, where we spent the afternoon chatting to locals with Lou and Rose acting as interpreters.
We continued another day on the Mare a Mare trail, to Vergio. That night foxes attacked a tent to get food, ripping it apart and injuring two hikers, so we were woken early by police and ambulance sirens.
We spent a day trekking up a rocky trail beside the Golo River to ‘Ciottulu di Mori’ a refuge on the GR 20. Half way up, was a little shack selling feta cheese from sheeps milk.
The river was incredibly beautiful - a series of waterfalls and clear pools all the way.
Back to Vergio, we followed the track downhill through Chestnut Forest, and past free roaming pigs, to Evisa. The industry in this village revolves around chestnut products, flour, cakes, honey and pork.
At Evisa we joined the ‘Mountains to Sea’ Trail, heading down the Spilunca
Gorge. Massive orange granite walls towered above us. The gorge was one km deep in places, created by the confluence of the Tavulella, Onca and Porto Rivers.
On the way to Ota we passed two high arched genoise stone bridges built in the 15th and 18th centuries and continued on to Porto on the west coast.
The coastline south, between Porto and Piana is stunning, and the road goes through Les Calanques’, an area of huge red gold boulders. The Gite in Piana has park like grounds with awesome views of deep blue water and ‘les Calanques’, for which Piana is famous.
Travelling south, our next stop was Ajaccio, a pretty town, where Napolean was born, then Propriano, a trail head for the southern walks.
Our last night in Corsica was spent in Bonifacio on the southern tip of the island. This town incorporating both old and new centres has an extraordinarily beautiful coastline, with little coves with crystal clear water, cliff top walks, a big marina and the busy ferry port with boats leaving for Italy, mainland France and Sardinia.
I would highly recommend Corsica as the perfect place for a walking holiday. May, June or September are probably the best months to go. July and Aug can be excessively hot, and by October there can be snow on the high tracks.