Tuesday, September 28, 2004
more messages...
happy birthday to pete bs (the finest carrington since dynasty) for thursday. and happy 30th to nathan who we forgot last time. happy birthday to lou (muppet) for saturday.
best wishes for saturday to maddie and royston, and of course to will and lucinda. yes, auntie sharon, will is getting married at the weekend, so you'll beat him to the first post almost certainly!
best wishes for saturday to maddie and royston, and of course to will and lucinda. yes, auntie sharon, will is getting married at the weekend, so you'll beat him to the first post almost certainly!
conquering corsica
First let me explain. Pete and I set out last week to walk the Mare a Mare Centre hiking trail from East to West across Corsica. It's a 6 day walk we chose after I rejected Pete's other sggestion (the GR20... 14 days across Corsica North to South... 'hardest trail in Europe' they say - 'no thank you' I said!).
Pre-walk... Nice/Bastia
In anticipation of hiking with our rucksacks for 6 days we whittled the contents down to their minimum weight in London. Then in 2 days of madness we bought up the entire contents of at least 3 shops in Nice and Bastia. T-shirt, socks, a french-english dictionary, a travel guide, 3 maps, a weeks worth of food... what were we thinking?
Day 1... Ghisonaccia to Castagjhu
I realise that I forgot my hiking shorts... perhaps I was taking the packing light thing a little too far. Luckily there is ONE sports shop in town which has ONE pair of admittedly not very stylish shorts. Once on the trail we panic when we realise how heavy our packs have become and eat as much of the food we are carrying as possible.
Day 2... Castagjhu to Cozzano
1000m uphill climb. I was not happy! It was made up for by the BEST views and lots of downhill bits. Art and Andrea (our imaginary Californian friends... it's a long story!) say this was their favourite day - I say it was hard as hell.
Day 3... Cozzano to Guitera-les-Bains
The morning of this day we acquired 4 dogs as we walked out of town. By lunchtime only the slowest, fattest and oldest was still with us - does that say anything about our hiking ability? Although we tried VERY hard to tell her to go home (yes, even in french) she persisted in showing us the way to the next town for 6 hours.
Day 4... Guitera-les-Bains
We woke this morning to a sick Pete and 'our' dog still waiting outside for us. Pete's sickness seemed to be caused by eating 5 rare slabs of beef the night before and was cured by going back to bed for a couple of hours. Meanwhile I phoned the dogs 'real' parents who came to pick her up. In a freakish Basil Fawlty style Pete bounded out of bed at 2:30 and manically insisted he could hike the next 5-hour stage before nightfall. I refused to fall for it. I know Janet, you would have done the same.
Day 5... Guitera-les-Bains to Quasquara
Although not strictly something that happened this day - now seems the time to mention that we were the ONLY hikers EVERYWHERE we went... it was a bit like the Twilight Zone. We also found our Corsican hosts a bit standoffish... it was like they resented our business. The lady who ran this Gite (hiker's shelter in French) was no exception. When we asked about our packed lunch for the next day (included in the price) she looked at us sullenly and said 'but I have no bread'.
Day 6... Quasquara to Col St George
Amazingly this evening we found next to our Gite was a little hotel with restaurant and bar... how fast can you say 'upgrade'? Amazingly Art and Andrea didn't like this days hike. I thought it was much more my style (flatter). We spent most of the evening practising Pete's best-man speech for Will and Lucnda's upcoming nuptials in the bar.
Day 7... Col St George to Ajaccio
Hurray!!!! We made it. This stage was marked by spectacular views of the Med around Ajaccio harbour. After 5 hours of descending 800m we finally finished the hike by dipping our toes in the sea. All the old people on the pier winced when they saw our blisters but it was worth it. Bring on Annapura Base Camp in Nepal!
Pre-walk... Nice/Bastia
In anticipation of hiking with our rucksacks for 6 days we whittled the contents down to their minimum weight in London. Then in 2 days of madness we bought up the entire contents of at least 3 shops in Nice and Bastia. T-shirt, socks, a french-english dictionary, a travel guide, 3 maps, a weeks worth of food... what were we thinking?
Day 1... Ghisonaccia to Castagjhu
I realise that I forgot my hiking shorts... perhaps I was taking the packing light thing a little too far. Luckily there is ONE sports shop in town which has ONE pair of admittedly not very stylish shorts. Once on the trail we panic when we realise how heavy our packs have become and eat as much of the food we are carrying as possible.
Day 2... Castagjhu to Cozzano
1000m uphill climb. I was not happy! It was made up for by the BEST views and lots of downhill bits. Art and Andrea (our imaginary Californian friends... it's a long story!) say this was their favourite day - I say it was hard as hell.
Day 3... Cozzano to Guitera-les-Bains
The morning of this day we acquired 4 dogs as we walked out of town. By lunchtime only the slowest, fattest and oldest was still with us - does that say anything about our hiking ability? Although we tried VERY hard to tell her to go home (yes, even in french) she persisted in showing us the way to the next town for 6 hours.
Day 4... Guitera-les-Bains
We woke this morning to a sick Pete and 'our' dog still waiting outside for us. Pete's sickness seemed to be caused by eating 5 rare slabs of beef the night before and was cured by going back to bed for a couple of hours. Meanwhile I phoned the dogs 'real' parents who came to pick her up. In a freakish Basil Fawlty style Pete bounded out of bed at 2:30 and manically insisted he could hike the next 5-hour stage before nightfall. I refused to fall for it. I know Janet, you would have done the same.
Day 5... Guitera-les-Bains to Quasquara
Although not strictly something that happened this day - now seems the time to mention that we were the ONLY hikers EVERYWHERE we went... it was a bit like the Twilight Zone. We also found our Corsican hosts a bit standoffish... it was like they resented our business. The lady who ran this Gite (hiker's shelter in French) was no exception. When we asked about our packed lunch for the next day (included in the price) she looked at us sullenly and said 'but I have no bread'.
Day 6... Quasquara to Col St George
Amazingly this evening we found next to our Gite was a little hotel with restaurant and bar... how fast can you say 'upgrade'? Amazingly Art and Andrea didn't like this days hike. I thought it was much more my style (flatter). We spent most of the evening practising Pete's best-man speech for Will and Lucnda's upcoming nuptials in the bar.
Day 7... Col St George to Ajaccio
Hurray!!!! We made it. This stage was marked by spectacular views of the Med around Ajaccio harbour. After 5 hours of descending 800m we finally finished the hike by dipping our toes in the sea. All the old people on the pier winced when they saw our blisters but it was worth it. Bring on Annapura Base Camp in Nepal!
this tree was already this big when napoleon lived here.. 
