tim
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Reged: 06/18/03
Posts: 5995
Loc: Vélo, Virginia, Vitet
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After three airplanes, a bus trip through Paris, and 24 tiring hours, I arrived in Porticcio, Corsica from Richmond, Va. Consuming a fine dinner and some Corsican wine helped me sleep almost 12 hours to rejuvenate somewhat. The five star hotel where we're starting our trip is several stars above our normal habitations. Here some of the guest arrive in helicopters and motorcades, but usually we're staying at places where folks arrive by bike or normal auto.
Today was a rest day, but after assembling my bike and repairing minor equipment issues with duct tape, I took off up the mountain to Bastilica. One of the things one quickly notices is that the village signs all have the names written two ways, and often one way has been crossed out by the island's purists as in the photo below -
I passed this beautiful lake and was struck by its unusual color -
A little later I began to think I was in a WW II movie as I encountered dozens of vintage U. S. military vehicles filled with folks in old military garb, all of which flew American flags. When I found a restaurant jammed with these"soldiers," I stopped to see what was the occasion. I was told that 66 years ago today the American army liberated Corsica, the first part of France to be freed from the German occupation. It's apparently a big day on the island that is celebrated with much fanfare every year. Just maintaining those vehicles in mint condition is a huge chore, and I was significantly impressed by their appreciation of the American war effort even after so many years.
 
Today's pedalling - 42 miles with 4,000 feet of vertical.
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tim
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Reged: 06/18/03
Posts: 5995
Loc: Vélo, Virginia, Vitet
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Today we rode north along the coast a bit before turning inland and quickly were treated to this view of the deck(right of photo) of our previous hotel with Ajaccio in the background -
A similar view as we pedalled higher up the mountain -
Heading ENE up through an amazing stand of eucalyptus trees lining both sides of the road, I've never seen such amazing bark on a tree, but my camera couldn't do it justice. There were also cork trees whose valuable bark had been harvested, giving them a naked appearance. Our ride today took us through the fabulous views in the mountains of central Corsica to the tiny village of Zicavo -
Mountain switchbacks are our bread and butter -
Just as I feared, our hotel this night deserved barely one star. Even though all bathrooms had bidets, some of us had to endure a communal toilet at the end of the hall. Go figure.... At least the food at dinner was delicious as it was plentiful.
49 miles with 5,000 feet of vertical.
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Mike R
Reged: 05/26/03
Posts: 15730
Loc: Stinson Lake - New Hampshire
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good stuff Tim...keep on rockin mon ami
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karma is a beautiful thing at times
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JEK
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Reged: 01/20/04
Posts: 10719
Loc: Northern Virginia
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Tim,
Thanks for the travelogue! Looks like beautiful countryside, but too many hills :-)
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Carnaval 2009: Mardi 24 Février 2009!!!!
JEK
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andynap
Reged: 10/24/02
Posts: 12135
Loc: Philadelphia
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Nice Tim. And here I thought Corsica was Italian. :)
The picture of the jeep has a car in it that I remember from many movies about WW II in France.
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purplejeep
Reged: 10/17/04
Posts: 104
Loc: Quebec, SBH
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Great photos Tim. Wish I could say that I envy you, but 42 miles in 4000 vertical feet? Maybe another time.
Look forward to the rest of the trip!
PJ in Q
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JEK
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Reged: 01/20/04
Posts: 10719
Loc: Northern Virginia
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Quote:
Great photos Tim. Wish I could say that I envy you, but 42 miles in 4000 vertical feet? Maybe another time.
Look forward to the rest of the trip!
PJ in Q
This is one tough island. Home to Napoleon and the 4th largest island in the Med.
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Carnaval 2009: Mardi 24 Février 2009!!!!
JEK
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purplejeep
Reged: 10/17/04
Posts: 104
Loc: Quebec, SBH
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Oops, missed that last bit with 49 miles and 5000 vertical...still, maybe another day, but not any day soon!!
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tim
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Reged: 06/18/03
Posts: 5995
Loc: Vélo, Virginia, Vitet
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Today's ride took us due north through the center of Corsica along a mountain ridge covered with gorgeous, huge pines in a protected forest. The bad news was that one of my riding pals went down hard on a rapid downhill descent leaving a lot of skin on the road and collecting some of the most amazing, purply bruises I've ever seen. Luckily our tour van was right behind him when he crashed and was able to give immediate medical attention. My brave friend got back on the "horse" to ride the final two hours with us to our next hotel in Corte. This night's lodging was a much nicer hotel with plenty of porcelain for everyone. Also tonight's dinner of trout was the best fresh water fish I've ever eaten. Before the main dish we enjoyed huge salads and pasta to fuel tomorrow's ride.
Forest critters roaming wild -
Typical Corsican mountain village -
Solitude -
52 miles, 5,300 feet of up.
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tim
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Reged: 06/18/03
Posts: 5995
Loc: Vélo, Virginia, Vitet
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We rode some more through the forests today, and I witnessed a stupid tourist feeding some of the many feral pigs that we encounter along the roads. The pigs were almost in full attack mode as the tourists retreated rapidly towards their car.
Peacefully roaming pigs without tourists' influence -
Bustling tourist village of Porto -
Porto's streets were jammed with tourists on a Wednesday in September. The Corsican economy seems to be thriving. One in our party has read that only 3,000 Americans come here annually, so we've added .3% to that statistic. With so few American visitors, we're rather an oddity on Corsica. Sometimes we're stopped in restaurants by local folks who want to talk about our country, its culture, politics, etc. I have to admit to really enjoying being in a place where almost no English is spoken anywhere. Practically all the other tourists here are French with a few Germans sprinkled into the mix. We've encountered a lot of young folks hiking the island and some other bike groups.
57 miles, 5,100 feet of vertical
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tim
Moderator
Reged: 06/18/03
Posts: 5995
Loc: Vélo, Virginia, Vitet
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Andy,
You're right about Corsica's being Italian, but that was back even before your time, the Genoan period several centuries ago when thousands of towers like the one pictured below were built to guard the island's ports -
Even though today was billed as a rest day, some of us did a short ride up to Piana and back. Scenery was magnificent along the coast, but the tour busses were disgorging hundreds of tourists, so I didn't tarry. One of the busses is shown in the below photo to give a reference to the enormous scale of the rock formations -
13 miles with 1,400 feet of vertical
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Toni
Reged: 01/05/04
Posts: 149
Loc: Louisville,KY
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Tim, Great reporting and photos, as usual... Thanks for sharing with us!
By the way, Gary wants to know if one of those goats is named, "Thunder".
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