Corsica - made for GS's

Deleted account 211025001 · Nov 2, 2009

Feck Morocco, who'd want to go there when you've got Corsica :nenau

Wild and remote when you want it to be, more piste than tarmac (or so it seemed), roads where you literally didn't see another vehicle for ages and an old skool Mediterranean culture that meant croissants, decent coffee, fantastic food and good, cheap wine. Why, why, why would you want to go anywhere else on a GS :nenau

Well, plenty of reasons, of course. But, sat here in our apartment after a day of riding tracks and more twisty bits than you could shake a stick at my wine addled brain couldn't think of any at the time................

Now I'm not much good at this ride report malarkey but, in this case have really felt moved to try and explain in pictures and words why, after all the different places I have been to on my GS (including Morocco) I think I have found my bike's and my own perfect destination - I fell in love with the place :rose

Packed the bike and off on a Saturday morning ferry Amanda and I hit Calais around mid day. We always knew it would be a bit of a gamble weather wise at this time of year but were plesently surprised to get no more than the odd shower on our way south.

The plan was to shoot down the Autoroutes to get a mid day crossing to Corsica on the Monday, spend a week in Corsica and then a weeks bimble back up through France.

Anyway, we stopped just below Rheims, had the first of many authentic French pizzas (the joys of being veggie in France

) and hit the sack
When we awoke, bright and early, we were greeted by frosted window panes and a very heavy frost - winter riding gear had not been packed :eek

So, off onto the Autoroute and we hit very picturesque misty bits, very pretty as the sun came up but very cold

it then became less picturesque as it turned to freezing fog, for pretty much the rest of the day - not much fun when you're on a motorway trying to get south as quick as pos - ho hum

Deleted account 211025001 · Nov 2, 2009

We spent the next night in lovely family run Logis.
The owner had more awards for his cooking than you could shake a stick at.................he looked somewhat disappointed as we headed off to find a traditional French Pizza emporium ........

After a few too many pitches of vin rouge we retired to our room, looked out over the river and saw this strange floating house. Strangely, when we awoke it had moved and was now sitting on top of a hill - how did that happen :eek

Deleted account 211025001 · Nov 2, 2009

So, onward to Nice and our ferry. Finally it was getting warmer and we had started to mellow into that holiday 'vibe'. Before too long it was proper sunny and hot (too hot in all our bike gear) and we were looking up at a big feck off boat in Nice harbour

then up onto the sun deck

get some beers in and settle in for a four hour crossing

Deleted account 211025001 · Nov 2, 2009

It was dark when we arrived in Calvi (NW Corsica) and I set the Quest to take us to our rented apartment, some 30 minutes inland form there. About half way there we saw a sign to Calanzona (where we were staying) saying straight ahead, however the GPS said turn right. Having learnt to trust my little Quest we ignored the sign.
The road got smaller and smaller and eventually turned into a track. We went down the track for a while but it got worse as it progressed, it was dark, we were tired and sense pervailed. Back to the sign in the road, found the apartment, dumped the gear and crashed out exhausted.

Roads turning into tracks was to become the norm.....................

The following morning we were rudely awoken by the sound of church bells, I went to the bedroom window, looked out and found the source of the noise

oh well, it was only 8am......this also becam the norm (as in every morning

).

Popped out to find a bread shop and suitably armed with a baguette and croissants returned to the apartment for breakfast. We had the top floor and below was the local bar - perfect :bounce1

Deleted account 211025001 · Nov 2, 2009

Amanda elected to stay in and chill as the ride down had been pretty tiring.........I elected to go back out on the bike :bounce1

Within minutes of leaving the village I saw what we had missed in the dark of the night before

This is looking back on Calanzana

and looking out to Calvi (the far peninsular)

everywhere were rickety little villages precariously perched on the hill sides

I sat at the side of the road, blown away by the views, plugged my iPod in and just sat there taking it all in

looking down, something caught my eye on the plain below :bounce1

cookie · Nov 2, 2009

corsica. good, innit? :bounce1

enjoying the report. keep it coming

Deleted account 211025001 · Nov 2, 2009

Now I'd had a chat with the apartments owner that morning about the track we had hit the previous night. She said many of the 'roads' in that area were in fact tracks, from good quality graded to what we would think of as a green lane. Many were private but people respected them, kept gates open/closed and that basically there was no issue over using them - sounded too good to be true

So, track in sight, I headed down the hill side. In my excitement c0cking up a switchback and nearly hitting a startled looking local coming the other way

And here was the track - perfect for a big lardy GS on road tyres

it took me all the way back to Calanzona, a good 15 miles or so :clap

This was to be repeated again and again, all over the part of Corsica we were in (Balagne region) much to my joy and not always Amanda's :augie

Oh look Amanda, there's a sign to a bar, shall we go and investigate?
Oops, looks like it at the end of another dirt road................

Oh look..............shall wee just pop over the valley and investigate..........

Investigating the headlands around Calvi a nice little ride out to the lighthouse and beach front bar

On the way back from the shops

Any way, I think you get the picture. Eventually the GS got almost as bored of it all as had Amanda

and decided to tell me to feck off and have a little lie down.............

Richie3264 · Nov 2, 2009

more please :drool

jolyon_russ · Nov 2, 2009

Hehe, we have the same problems with eating out in Europe.

A recent 12 day trip around Northern Spain had us relying on bread/cheese/tomato for lunch and emergency dinner. But have found where ever you are you can always rely on the Italians to save the day, Pizza or Pasta are always safe.

So the next european trip is pencilled in for Italy, though Corsica looks like another alternative and a quick look at google maps shows it's covered with the kinda roads we found in Spain, wiggly

Would love to know more info:
Where did you stay?
How much was the ferry?
Was the food italian-ish and vege friendly (as vege friendly as you can get)?
Did you do the big hit from Reims to Nice is one day? :eek

How did you go about finding safe piste and did you ride it 2up? We found some in Spain but there were no signs, luckily a dude on a Trials bike came past and we had a "we don't speak a common language" conversation and figured out it was safe for about 2k's.

I think that's plenty of questions for now, keep up with the ride report if you can be bothered ;-)

Jolyon

Deleted account 211025001 · Nov 2, 2009

So, next few days were spent exploring the 'proper' roads and sights of the Balagne region.

I use the term road loosely as apart from a couple of main roads all others were pretty poorly surfaced (classic Chausee Deforme you'd have seen twenty years ago) and as twisty as feck. You got absolutely nowhere quick as there really was no such thing as a straight section of road - like I said, perfect for a GS :thumb2

So, a few 'holiday snaps' to give you a flavour of the place:

Calvi (the main NW city and ferry port)

Corte, the heart of the Corsican independence movement

..........flying Corsican flags from every building

wild cherries (at least that's what they call them in Spain :nenau

)

Deleted account 211025001 · Nov 2, 2009

Following Dens recommendation we set out on a day trip to visit the 'Calanches de Piana' - strange rock formations on the west coast road that due to the way they weathered resembled all sorts of weird animals and shapes. Also, due to the red colour of the rocks, had a reputation of looking stunning during sun sets.

The whole round trip, via Corte (inland mountain region) was only about a hundred miles but, as we were running on Crorsican wiggly road time it was a full on 'day trip'.

The road out of Corte and precursor to the Spelunca Gorge

Once up into the mountains we passed through what seemed like a ancient, almost primeveil forest full of boar.........hard to explain, something to do with the light and the way the trees were so tall but with no branches 'till the very top. Very weird and something we both commented on. Very beautiful though :thumb2

Climbing out of the forest, the view behind us

Deleted account 211025001 · Nov 2, 2009

As an aside; we passed plenty of Army outposts in the mountains here (French Para regiment) and later, when they paid us a visit in Calanzana, learnt that 700 of them were on exercise there before shipping out to Afghanistan - here they are coming out of the mountains viewed from the kitchen window

and providing a guard of honour to the GS whilst they had a fag break

anyhow I digress, back to the day trip..................

Climbing further into the mountains and towards the coast we arrived at the start of the beautiful Spelunca Gorge

sadly I have no piccies as Amanda was co-opted into shooting some vid from the back of the bike but you can see that at the end of the report. Suffice to say that it was, yet again, another stunning twisty mountain road with drops below into the gorge of nearly 1000m in places.

The beauty of this road was, like pretty much all the roads, that there was no other traffic to speak of. Really, really quiet. I don't know what the place is like at the height of the summer season but for now it was just sooooooo quiet

Once through the gorge we hit the coast road, and very beautiful it was too! TBH though, I'm glad it was so quiet, I'd hate to meet anything bigger than a Fiat 500 coming the other way on this road

every corner revealed another stunning view and another deserted beach below

Deleted account 211025001 · Nov 2, 2009

and then we were upon the Calanches, sadly my pictures don't do the area justice, suffice to say they are really otherworldly and, yet again, very beautiful. We would love to have hung around until sunset but as we were on Corsican wiggly road time wanted to be home before the next day

Deleted account 211025001 · Nov 2, 2009

There were some concessions made to those that had interests other than riding bikes (I know, hard to believe isn't it :eek

) so essential supplies were gathered (assorted alcohol and vegetable :augie

)

meals cooked and eaten

and romantic fires lit and sat in front of

I was also made to visit this place

and made to lie still for at least 30 mins :eek

Deleted account 211025001 · Nov 2, 2009

So there you have it, Corsica; unspoilt, quiet, truly stunning and made for GS's

When I was younger my parents and I used to drive through France every year to visit family in Spain and since then I have had an image of France based on those trips. Of course, as much as I love France it never lives up to those memories (how could it). In Corsica I found a place that does, it's very much how I remember the France of my youth but with an interesting dolop of Italian to spice it up. A really beutiful place and one that I will be returning to without a doubt.

Oh, and did I mention it was made for GS's :beerjug:

A few more random holiday piccies:

The scary bedroom window

The house behind the apartment that I'll be buying when my numbers come in

The mountain behind the house I'll be buying...........

The bells, the bells................

Pretty autumn leaves

Even Corsica has hippies

One of my fav bikes

That beautiful coast again

And, almost forgot...........Corsica is big, VERY big on hunting and we kept coming across these. Wild Boar skins with the fleshy skulls rotting away and stick up on fenses :confused:

A bit grim TBH, couldn't quite work out what was going on - trophies maybe :nenau

Also found a few of these, helmet rests

Oh, and one of these, one of the very few bikes we actually saw out there :confused:

(RIP) Kaister · Nov 2, 2009

very nice hols

this reminds me of cinema paradiso.

Deleted account 211025001 · Nov 2, 2009

And finally, a very brave Amanda sat balanced on the bike shooting some of the roads above where we were staying as well as part of the Spelunca Gorge. No knee down action as low speed and smoothness was to order of the day in order to preserve any semblance of my bits.
Hope it's not toooo boring (I often find on-bike footage a bit tedious) but it does give a flavour of the roads and the scenery.

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Andres

Deleted account 211025001 · Nov 2, 2009

cookie said:
corsica. good, innit?

And some

jolyon_russ said:
Hehe, we have the same problems with eating out in Europe.

A recent 12 day trip around Northern Spain had us relying on bread/cheese/tomato for lunch and emergency dinner. But have found where ever you are you can always rely on the Italians to save the day, Pizza or Pasta are always safe.

So the next european trip is pencilled in for Italy, though Corsica looks like another alternative and a quick look at google maps shows it's covered with the kinda roads we found in Spain, wiggly

Would love to know more info:
Where did you stay?
How much was the ferry?
Was the food italian-ish and vege friendly (as vege friendly as you can get)?
Did you do the big hit from Reims to Nice is one day?
How did you go about finding safe piste and did you ride it 2up? We found some in Spain but there were no signs, luckily a dude on a Trials bike came past and we had a "we don't speak a common language" conversation and figured out it was safe for about 2k's.

I think that's plenty of questions for now, keep up with the ride report if you can be bothered ;-)

Jolyon

Spain's a nightmare and France not much better is it

but actually Corsica has some veggie stuff (much better than France), partly from the Italian influence and partly because a lot of their food is dairy based, most meat is game or boar, neither of which is as plentiful as milk

Of course, as we had an apartment we mostly cooked in any way.

We stayed in Calanzana (near Calvi) - if you want details of the apartment PM me as it's highly recommend

We stopped near Lyon on the 2nd night as we had to be in Nice for a 1pm ferry. Essentially got to Nice in two half days and one full day.
Ferry was approx £60 each way (2 peeps and bike) with Corsica Ferries.

Basically rode a piste that started off ok. If it got too bad I didn't keep going as I was on my tod and it really is quite remote out there. As I said, it was explained to me that the locals were cool about using the pistes, private or public :thumb2

Most were doable two up - really depends on how confident/good your pillion is. Amanda was fine on the smooth ones but did actually get off and walk back from the lighthouse one as it was rocky and steep in places and had freaked her out a bit..............it was a long walk

HTH
Andres

Deleted account 211025001 · Nov 2, 2009

motomartin said:
this reminds me of cinema paradiso.

Yeah................the whole island had that 'Paradiso' vibe.............nice way of putting it :thumb2

Andres

Gundog · Nov 2, 2009

Excellent Andres.
I was there in september and loved the place.
Will definatly be going back :thumb2

Corsica - made for GS's

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