Mare e Monti Hike - Part 2

Day 6 - Curzu to Serrriera 

Fall colours on the trees.

Another "off trail" campsite. This one with a view down the valley and to the sun setting on the ocean.

 Day 7 - Serriera to Ota

The route took us down a deep ravine with high cliff walls on either side. 

Arbousier, also known as the strawberry tree, grows prolific along the trail.
The reddest of the berries are ripe and the birds love them! When cooked, they're used to make jam, liquer, etc.

Most of the villages along the route are very similar. One main road going through them, with businesses situated along the main road, and "residents only" roads going up or down the hillsides to homes. 

And a cemetery on a hillside somewhere nearby.

Evening light on the village of Ota.

Day 8 - Ota to Marignana

Nets to catch the olives falling off the trees.

There were lots of different kinds of mushrooms along the way.

This solid bridge was more than 500 years old. The Genoese knew how to build things!

It was chestnut picking season.
We saw several bags full of them along the trail and could hear people in the bushes busy picking.

Another narrow winding Corsican road.

In contrast to the solid 500 year old bridge, this modern hanging bridge was rickety and falling apart. 

Another big, very old tree.

Abandoned but still standing.

A spot of colour in the dark forest.

Day 10 - E Case to Cargese

Our final day on the trail had only a bit of uphill to get up onto the ridges and the rest was down, down, down to the ocean and the village of Cargese.

More farmland with cows, sheep and goats as we got into the lowlands and closer to the ocean.

Our final destination of Cargese.
 A very nice and busy little town with several hotels and restaurants open, even in the off season.

Bus and Train Journey Back to Calvi

After 10 days of quite good weather (mostly sun, a bit of cloud, one overnight rain shower and one day with a few spits of rain) it was definitely changing!

Big black clouds cover the sky in the morning as we wait to catch the bus to Ajaccio.
It started raining about 2 minutes after we got on the bus.

On the train from Ajaccio to Calvi. Spectacular scenery even in the rain.
The clouds, deep valleys and high peaks through the middle of the island made it very dramatic.

Morning light on the citadel after a night of torrential downpour and massive thunder and lightening storm.

We had a great hike! The off season meant we almost had the trails completely to ourselves and we were just fine without all the gites/hostels being open. We'd definitely think about coming here again. There are many hikes to choose from!

Maps and guidebook: The trail was mostly well marked and easy to follow. We made a couple minor mistakes but were able to get quickly back on track. We both use the Gaia GPS app and downloaded the trail map onto our phones. We also had paper maps via a French guidebook (pictured below) and Andrew had a book with written description in English on his Kindle. We also both carried inReach devices with the Earthmate app.

See also:
Mare e Monti Hike - Part 1
Corsica Sunsets

Mare e Monti Hike - Part 1

The Mare e Monti hike in Corsica, as its' namesake would suggest, covers a wide variety of terrain from the sea up to the mountains. While there are not really huge elevation gains and losses (high point was 1200m), the trail is often covered in loose rock of varying sizes which does not make for easy, casual hiking. Thankfully it didn't rain too much during our time on the trail as wet rock would have been treacherous! We were extremely fortunate to have quite good weather throughout.

We did the full 10-day hike but it could easily be done in shorter sections or even as a series of day hikes. The majority of the stages start and finish in villages or places that are accessible by vehicle. In the summer there is a Gite d'Etape (hostel/accommodation for walkers/hikers) at each location that provides a variety of services (dorm rooms, camping, showers, kitchen facilities, restaurant, groceries, etc.). However, most of them close by mid-September or early October. We really enjoyed the quiet of the off-season (we saw very few other hikers on the trail) even though we seldom knew what we would find at the end of the day in terms of sleeping/camping accommodation.

Day 1 - Calenzana to Bonifattu

Our starting point in the village of Calenzana, about a 20 minute taxi ride from Calvi.

A cloudy first day, just above Calenzana. 

Unique rock formations.

Tree bark and woodpecker holes.

Bright red shutters on a lovely old stone building.

Day 2 - Bonifattu to Tuarelli

Bright green moss covering rocks and trees. Very moist conditions near Bonifattu.

A view back to Calvi and the ocean.

Another cloudy day.

Enjoying the view.

With a couple hours left in our second hiking day, we saw a dog coming towards us on the trail. He stopped to look at us and wagged his tail enthusiastically. We expected to see his human soon after. But he started following us and no human appeared. He was just a puppy, very quiet and well behaved, still growing into large paws and ears. He was obviously well taken care of and we couldn't figure out where he would have come from. His collar had a phone number so when we got to our location at the end of the day (the gite was closed but owner let us camp) we managed to convey, in our limited French and charade-type actions, that a phone call should be made to his owner. A message was left and we hope the puppy made it safely home. 

The puppy who adopted us for a day.

Day 3 - Tuarelli to Galeria

We followed this river most of the way to the ocean and the village of Galeria.

Beautiful clear river water.

The ocean-side village of Galeria -- where we found a closed gite but an open campground with showers, a grocery store to pick up some fruit and veg, and a boulangerie/patisserie where we had breakfast and re-stocked our bread supply.

Colourful kayaks on the beach and evening light.

Day 4 - Galeria to Giroleta

Trail maintenance required!

Looking back at Galeria

Finishing the laundry drying process during our lunch break. What a view!

Curvy Corsica roads.

The ridge walk to Girolata.

Looking into the sun, down to Girolata.

Girolata is a small fishing village accessible only by boat or by foot. A bustling place in the summer, the guidebook indicated the population varies between 1-10 in the off season. But as we approached, loud music was playing and it seem to be a "happening" place. But it was Saturday night, lots of boats were in the harbour and a couple was celebrating their wedding with family and friends. No camping is allowed here but luckily the gite was open and we didn't have to go any further. 

Panorama of the Girolata harbour.

Day 5 - Girolata to Curzu

I really liked Girolata, located in a secluded bay and the Genoese tower overlooking the ocean. As we left in the morning I took even more photos than Andrew! 

Another ridge hike.

Looking back towards Girolata.

There are lots of very old trees!

There was no place to stay in Curzu so we continued on and cleared a flat spot beside the trail to set up our tent.

Day 6-10 to be continued in next blog post!