12-07-2015     Ota → Ota   96 km       for route click here

Nice view to start the day

Good breakfast to start the day

Breakfast (a little) before seven − our 'Corsican friends' told us Félix is not so strict. Fresh croissants, baguette from yesterday, quite good coffee, and 'interesting' jams: tomate-citron and clementine. The view to the other side of the valley is great. The stage starts with (quite) a descent, over a small, deserted road to a bridge over the river Porto. Later on we read it is in fact a double bridge. The streams it spans have eroded deep gorges into the mountains, one of which the 'famous' Gorges de Spelunca. On this "Pont Génois de Pianella" we have descended to an altitude of 200 m, some 900 m below today's 'roof': the Col de Sevi, 1101 m.

	Descent to the		bridge over the Porto
	And going up again		View to 'Ota' from the other side

A ride of twenty-one (or so) breathtakingly beautiful (not breathtakingly hard) kilometers will bring us there. First we have to regain the altitude lost, i.e. get back to the level of our start, now on the south side of the valley, with great views to the west (the Golfe de Porto) and the north (Ota). Time to get rid of our t-shirts! What a blissful morning, again. Absolutely wonderful too are the 6.5 km along the D94 (the 'main' road to the Col de Vergio, tomorrow's goal/col), with a widening green valley around us and the vague feeling of a deep, deep gorge below us. "Did you see the pigs", the people we met Chez Félix asked us. Well, today for the first time we do, in fact, several times. We take the 'shortcut' via Marignana, which implies a stretch with a slightly steeper grade, and with great views (and anticipated pleasure) onto the road to Evisa that will be our route tomorrow. At the end this 'shortcut' brings us down to the D70, the 'main' road to Sagone. In six km we climb the last 300 m to the Col de Sevi, topping by 2 m our highest point so far.

	Gorges gorges		Into the great wide open
	Characteric Corsican safety barrier		First pigs

Characterics of the climb

From Sagone it's quite a different matter!

Close to the col

Close to the col at the other side

Long, long descent

Full speed ahead

FULL SPEED

AHEAD

Follows a long descent to sea level. The highest part, some 10 km of a regular 6%, is fast; there aren't many sharp, dangerous bends. I set my speed record to 69 km/h, a speed I will not surpass during the whole trip. Most of the last 500 m decrease in altitude takes place during the following 8.5 km, and the last 5 km to Sagone are warm and not very noteworthy. Moreover, after 55 km we definitely need a break. Shortly before Sagone we notice a big (cool!) Super-U, open on Sunday (!?), where we find almost all the 'fuel' we need − instead of cold coca cola we buy a 2 litre packet of apricot/peach juice. Two km further we find a suitable place to sit, eat and drink, in the shade of a tree, on a wall overlooking a small beach two meters below, the marina, and further away a large beach. Only disadvantage: the wall is a bit hard to sit on. There are lots of water sports and other tourist facilities in and around the town, but for cyclists like us Sagone has not so much to offer. The first 13 km, to Sargèse, terre-mer, are as good as flat; we have the wind against us, but that is warm too. Also the road is quite busy. In Sargèse again the supermarkets are open, so we score a can of coke, until we'll find our way through the canicule again. With the wind from behind it feels even warmer, and slowly but regularly we go up (400 m in 10 km) to the Bocca San Martinu.

Hard bench in Sagone

Lunch in Sagone

Cargèse

	Our 'companion'		from China/Japan
	Wide and		warm

The scenery is open, with low vegetation mostly, and it's hot, hot, hot. Enya uses a scarf to protect her right thigh because she's afraid the sun oil with factor 25 is not strong enough. Before us we notice what looks like a cyclist. It is! With two back panniers, a backpack, a helmet, jeans!?! When I pass him I see the sweat pouring down from his cheeks. He appears to be Chinese or Japanese, unfortunately not very advanced in French or English, in fact he can't say much more than "Is beautiful" and "I'm okay". As we take some short breaks for photographs or a bit of shade we ride up with him for a while, until we come to a fontaine. We suggest to soak his t-shirt (well, at least he's not wearing a long-sleeved shirt too ;-), and he follows our example. Enya is a bit disappointed the Bocca San Martinu is followed by yet another, slightly higher bocca, but those last 60 m up we hardly notice. The descent starts after Piana, where we have a sandwich with delicious fromage à tartiner (with noyer) on a bench on Piana's busy central square. Shortly after Piana we arrive at the Calanche, one of Corsica's top ten of highlights: jagged, reddish rock formations directly above a clear blue sea.

	Les Calanche		Les Calanche
	Les Calanche		Les Calanche
	Les Calanche		Les Calanche
	Bay of Porto		Spooky
	More of   . . . .		. . . .   Bay of Porto

Wonderful, as is experienced by many others (but it's not half as bad in this respect as for instance the Gorges de l'Ardêche or the Gorges du Tarn). The ever-changing rocks, cliffs, views to the sea, view onto Porto (and yesterday's road along the cliff to the north!): it's all WONDERFUL. In Porto it's time for cooling down, with ice-cream and beer. Slightly earlier than yesterday, with many kilograms less, we ride at an easy pace up to Ota. At the end, the view to the road we climbed in the morning is beautiful. Dinner is delicious again: farmers' soup (with big pieces of beans, carrots and other vegetables), frittered zucchini flowers with boiled potatoes and paprika chutney, and mousse au chocolat as dessert. We don't miss the music terribly.

Last view of Bay of Porto

Refreshments in Porto

Evening view from Ota to the morning road

Delicious dish Chez Félix