08-07-2015     l'Île Rousse → Calenzana   40 + 24 km       for route click here

Half past five (!!) comes the first announcement for the passengers: breakfast is being served. Bye bye sleep. The next one hour and a half: annoying 'background' music interrupted every ten minutes (at least) by intercom messages. I suggest we wait as long as possible before going downstairs to the suffocating car deck. We wait almost too long: car deck 3 is almost empty when we arrive, and two minutes after we have set foot on Corsica the passengers for Toulon already start embarking. Slightly disoriented we ride into town and find ourselves a table on a tree-topped terrace with sea-view. It really feels like holiday! We have coffee and juice (and some leftovers from Nootdorp) and notice that around 7:30 the temperature given by the pharmacie rises above 30 degrees C!

Setting foot   . . . .

. . . .   on the island

In t-shirts under a clear blue sky we start our three weeks' randonnée de Corse. For a while we follow the N197 to Calvi, one of the many roads terre-mer as someone we meet later describes them: on one side the sea, on the other side land, in general: hills. The thermometer on my handle bars soon indicates 35 °C, and we get rid of our t-shirts for half an hour (the longest the skin of our pure white backs can stand). The N197 is relatively even. We do pass our first pass − Bocca di Carbonaja (bocca is Corsican for col) − without noticing. It's not so terribly busy, we skip the first opportunity to leave it, but at Algajola we turn inland. Our first climb!

Terre-mer

For a while we follow the N197

And . . . it's not easy: the road goes up irregularly, with some steep sections (8-12%?) as well, and most of all: we are not used to the HEAT. A few days later Enya tells me she's having serious doubts whether she will be up to this expedition. We pass some small villages with − apart from water − no facilities (not that we need those already), but with a lot of colourful bushes − bougainvillea, I guess. The views down are great! After Aregno the road goes up more easily/regularly (to my relief too!), and we ride up to the Col de Salvi, the highest point of today (all in all a noticeable 500 m up from the start), without getting out of breath. No col sign though.

The first climb   . . . .

. . . .   is quite a climb!

	Bougainvillea (?)		Aregno (?)
	Quite a bit above sea level		View from the Col de Salvi
	Unspoiled view onto the Golfe de Calvi		Descent from the Col de Salvi

We descend to Montegrosso, a picturesque village with hardly any facilities, apart from "Chez Vincent", a bar, where we have our first cokes and play our first game of 'toepen'. A couple of two pretty English cyclists also take place on the tiny terrace, and we exchange some first experiences. From Montegrosso it's mostly downhill, via Zilia, which is famous (on Corsica) because of its sources. We notice many memorial points for traffic victims. Shortly after noon we reach Calenzana, the local "Spar" is still open, and 200 m further we get to the gîte. It appears to be 'staffed' most of the day, and we check in for three nights. We can choose to be in the same room during the whole stay, but in the evening decide to move to a room for ourselves the next day. Not that we mind roommates (today they are expected around 10 p.m.), but with all our separate panniers (and with the typical randonneur à pied in the mountains getting up before 6 a.m.!) it's just as convenient to make a shift.

Shortly before Montegrosso

12:35 o'clock, early arrival!

It is really warm! We have some sort of lunch before we set off for the afternoon program: a ride up to the "Chaos de Bocca-Rezza". I misread the map, which makes us descend too much, and when we turn around and feels so incredibly hot, we decide to change our plan: go back to the gîte to get our swimming attire, and cycle to the beach around Calvi for our first Mediterranean dip. It's warm! We have pity on the walkers that follow the D15, for us slightly downhill. It takes some asking − and the N197 at this time of the day is right down horrible − to get to the sea, but eventually we get there, and find some shade even.

Uneventful road to Calvi

Our first swim

By turns we take swims and read. The way back/up is no real fun: the first half is spoiled by cars and all the way it is hot (even at 10 p.m. it is hot for us); luckily we have the wind from behind, AND there are plane trees! In the meantime the gîte is flooded with walkers; Calenzana is a natural starting point for the GR20. The gîte is fully booked, and we also notice several tents. We do shopping for two days (a.o. a sixpack Kronenbourg and four Magnum icecreams), and prepare one of our very few own meals: pasta with salad. Even with so many people the use of the kitchen (2×4 electric hobs) goes rather smoothly.

The warm way back to Calenzana

First self-made dinner

After dinner we sit outside watching the map, looking for the best route(s) to take tomorrow. When finally our roommates arrive (after a four hour drive from Ajaccio) we're already in bed.   No blankets needed today!