From Calvi to Bonifacio and on to Sardinia

The Phoenicians and other invaders

The underlying theme for our bike tour of the three islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily is "The Phoenicians" and the influence they had on this part of the world. We've been lucky enough to have the company of Ben Kane, sometime veterinarian and now full-time author of historical fiction, on this tour.
Ben has brought us up to speed every day on the historical influences that have tugged the three islands of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily in different directions over millennia starting with the Phoenicians, who had a massive influence around the south coast of the Mediterranean and also these three islands. Of course their explorations and invasions of these islands were only the beginning of so many waves of outsiders trying to wrest control of these islands and establish strategic bases hereabouts. In Corsica at least, the most visible remnant of all those invasions are the many Genoan towers situated at strategic places to warn locals of ships approaching so they could flee for the hills, thus avoiding capture and enslavement. But of course, what we are here for more than anything else is ...

The Riding!

Since my last post we've had four sublime days of cycling, mostly along the west coast of Corsica and finishing yesterday in gorgeous little port of Bonifacio which is right at the southern tip of the island. Here is a graphic that shows my particular peregrinations whilst on Corsica ...

All of the six days of riding we've done together as a group moving from place to place have been fantastic and it's very hard to separate them for memorability. However, the prolonged ride along the many kilometres of elevated roadway the day we left Calvi and then the descent into Porto were pretty special. Along with a few others, Dianne and I did the extra loop up past Ota into the edge of the mountains, which added another wonderful dimension to the day. I made a little (fairly raw) video of the riding along the coast which might be fun for readers to view ...

If you just want to see a few photos, here are some from that day ...

Autumn colours but it's still lovely and balmy

An open vista from one of our two deviations from the coast today

Our lunch hosts, who make their own charcuterie and cheese

A pause to enjoy the view

... and what views there were!

A peak across the valley from Ota

The beautiful village of Ota

A bridge built (apparently) by the Pisans

The heart of Corsica is granite: you get a hint of the interior here

Goats on the move

The second day we rode from Porto to Porticcio. More great riding, sometimes along the coast, sometimes inland. From then, it was on to Propriano before we finished up in Bonifacio yesterday. Here are some images from along the way ...

Lew and Steve arrive for a much deserved lunch after some steep climbing ...

A cute little stone cottage in a small village ...

Di, Bernadette and Sharon enjoying lunch ...

Bernie, Marilyn and Jeremy chatting about the ride up to lunch ...

Most of the way down a long steep descent was this memorial where a number of partisans had died fighting the Germans in World War II ...

On our third last day of riding in Corsica we stopped off the famous megalithic site of Filitosa to look at the menhirs and some remains of the dwellings that had been built by the prehistoric people who lived on the site. Being the philistine that I am, I was as much taken with this bit of weathered granite as anything ...

... but there were indeed some interesting looking bits of carved rock ...

On the day we rode to Propriano there was an opportunity to do an extra loop up into the hills, which seemed like a good idea to me. I set off and was on track when somehow I missed a turn. By the time I realised I was off course, I thought I might as well keep going towards Sartène, another town in the hills and one that Dianne and I had visited on our previous visit to L'Ile de Beauté. We'd had a wonderful few days based in Sartène so I was not at all nonplussed to ride my bike up to the old town square, take a picture of my bike in front of the war memorial ...

... and have a quiet beer ...

Beer gone; time to move on

Above the town I came across this big old float from some past festivity that must have taken a lot of work to put together ...

When I finally got down to Propriano I found myself at the old lighthouse ...

On to Bonifacio and Farewell to Corsica

Our ride into Bonifacio was exciting because it completed our traverse of the island from north to south. And the last bit of the route reminded us a bit of the east coast of Tasmania: rugged rolling hills with granite poking up in places. Not far from the end of the day we passed this rocky outcrop which I am sure must be home to numerous multi-pitch rock climbs ...

(You probably can't quite make it out, but on top of the left-most pinnacle a large cross has been placed, a practice that the French and, in particular the  Italians, are fond of.)

Our guides had one last little treat in store for us: there was a short pinch in excess of 20% to get us to the top of the old city and our hotel. The next photo shows where our hotel is located, and I've put a small red circle to show exactly the room that Di and I were lucky enough to occupy ...

... and here is the view from that room ...

This morning we had a leisurely start before wandering down to the harbour to catch the ferry to Sardegna. Di took this photo of the lighthouse as we said our goodbyes to that wonderful island ...

So we are now in Santa Teresa on the northern end of the middle island of our three islands tour. We set off tomorrow for another six days of cycling before we catch an overnight ferry to Sicily. I plan to do another post in three days' time. Hopefully I will have some good photos to share again then.