25-07-2015     Burgo → Coti-Chiavari   52 km
      for route click here

Bye bye

gîte "U Fracintu"

A short étape, not easy, with only one woww-moment, which comes after dinner.
We are again the first to have breakfast, to be followed by others not much later. Some of them 'overtake' us in that they leave earlier than we do. Enya always does a thorough last check of our room, and indeed this tour, quite exceptionally, I do not unintentionally get rid of garments, towels or other things. On the way down through the valley we pass several backpackers, and later we see some them again at the bus stop at the junction with the N196; they 'cheated' (hitch-hiked). Fortunately we only have to follow this road for 3 km, but as we go up at least 100 m it takes a while before we can exchange it for the 'yellow' D157 to Olmeto-Plage.

	Down to the sea		Commercial activities :-(
	For the rest, all day:		terre-mer

This sinuous coastal road is far from flat, and indeed the stage will become less easy than intended, much less. It is also rather busy, as was to be expected when we saw all the signs with tourist information at the start: Résidence this, locations that. We cross the river Taravu, our trail for tomorrow, close to its estuary. From there it's 200 m up, quite irregularly, after which we insert a break in Tassinca. From the circumstance that in such a small village there is a restaurant one may conclude that this is quite a tourist area. The bar does not serve pastry, but they have some 'interesting' (and expensive) desserts (something with châtaigne, among other things), and well, what the hack!

Seldom seen in Corsica: meadow with cows

The Taravu

Coti-Chiavari lies at an altitude of 450-500 m, but before we start the final climb we go up and down several times, and the percentages certainly do not stay below 5 per cent! The D155 is quite a hard road, not exactly something we like on what is supposed to be an easy day. After we've turned right (north) above the capo di Muro − almost all day it's terre-mer − the two km along the busy road (to Ajaccio, eventually) seem to take ages until we can finally leave it for the last 4 km or so up to Coti-C. Actually, there's a sign for Hôtel Belvedère which tells us it's only 2.5 km. It's warm, it's a stiff 6-7%, I guess, Enya still suffers from saddle troubles, so we're glad when we reach our destination, some time between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

	Going up and down all the time		Another bay
	Another cape		View down during the last km up

The hotel looks deserted, apart from a stubborn (at first sight only) hotel owner. There's no tv, (nor wifi? I'm not sure about that), which is a good policy! Coti-Chiavari has no shops, and there's no real need to go down to the shop we noticed down at the junction with the D155. We have a shower and a sleep! And later on a beer, and a great view over the Golfe d'Ajaccio, with Ajaccio airport (our final destination in four days) clearly visible. We decide that we won't explore the area around Ajaccio further (and in Bonifacio had already decided we wouldn't spend our last night in Ajaccio). Instead I book two beds for two nights in Zicavo, in the mountains! Dinner is good, the waitress is friendly and considerate: compared to the carnivores our meal does look less nutritious, and several times she asks whether we are well satisfied with the things we get served. The views over the Golfe d'Ajaccio − also from our little balcony − with the sinking sun offer a spectacular dessert.

	Shadow selfie		Dessert
	Another dessert		Woww!
	Coast by		night