We started shortly after nine this morning: to Bonifacio via Sartène. May the Corsicans forgive me for using the French spelling. Incidentally, I am in favour of small systems and de-centralization.
It was one of the most beautiful tours I ever travelled. The rain had ceased, the sun had come out this morning. If you are riding a bike, this is quite important.
All day long, the sun accompanied us, joined by a few clouds here and there.
First, we went a few kilometres back in the direction we had come from. Then we turned south to cross a small bridge. In order to save time, we decided to let Filitosa rest in peace, which basically is something that should not happen. We will stop there on our way back, and then I will report on it.
In Sartène, there is a restaurant called Santa Barbara. We were going to stop there, firstly because my wife and travelling companion is named Barbara, secondly because Karin and Manfred Broy had recommended it to us most warmly.
Unfortunately, we arrived in Sartène too early, which meant we had to give the nice pub a pass.
However, this is not a tragedy, since we are certainly coming back some day. The round trip of Sartène was something we were most enthusiastic about. From Sartène, we went on for another roughly 50 kilometres towards Bonifacio.
On the way there, we ate a nice snack on a small market square under the sun. A huge salad “composida”, along with a Corsican farmer’s breakfast. We shared it in a brotherly fashion (or rather, in a spousal fashion). In the afternoon, we stopped for coffee and sweets. That was all the breaks we had. All the rest of the time, our bikes rolled south meditatively.
Most of the inclines were before Sartène, from then on, you went up and down in a leisurely fashion. 10 km off Bonifacio, you need to climb again.
But here, too, the height indicator remains this side of 150 km. So it is not all that bad, either.
Around 6 p.m., we rode down into Bonifacio. And Bonifacio really beats all the records. You simply must have seen it. It is in one category with Mont St. Michel: A +.
We climb up to “haute ville” and the hill on the opposite side.
Dinner in the harbour is again a Corsican menu. It is truly a dream. Eating fish and boar is our reward for more than 80 kilometres and considerably more than 1,000 height metres we rode on our bikes.
I wonder why so many people drive their cars in Corsica in this stupid fashion. Some carry their bikes on their cars, others their boats. It would be interesting to see how many of those actually are put into the water or how often the bikes are taken down from the roofs of the cars during the family vacation. My estimate is rather on the pessimistic side. I suspect that most of the stuff will be transported back home without ever having been used …
In the evening, we read the island paper. The weather forecast is for sun on Wednesday and rain on Thursday, with partly cloudy skies and occasional rain on Friday. So what? We continue by bike. On Sunday, we will be taking the ferry back to Livorno, anyway. After all, we want to occupy our luxury sleeping compartment to Munich on Sunday night at Florence in order to be back at work on Monday.
Consequently, we proudly look back on the stretch of more than 80 km with (naturally) more than 1,000 height metres. What a life!
RMD
(Translated by EG)
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