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Corsica 2003
At the end of May, Margaret and I headed off for Corsica. She'd lived in Paris and heard about the famous (throughout Europe anyway) GR20 hiking trail on the island, so we packed up our hiking gear and flew across the Atlantic to check it out. We spent the first day in Paris, trying to avoid jet lag by hanging out at sidewalk cafes and museums with our Parisian friends Jonathan and Delphine. After crashing at Jonathan's that night, we flew to Corsica the next day and spent the next week or so on the GR20 trail. The GR20 traverses the island northwest to southeast, crossing dramatic 2000+ meter passes and winding through (and sometimes on and over) gorgeous granitic peaks. A lot of the trail is much more rugged than the North American trails we were used to. Places you'd have to sign a waiver in the States would have no warning signs. They pretty much leave it up to you. :-) Each night you stay at a gite or refuge, a hut with a simple kitchen and beds. If you choose to use a tent, you have to set it up near the hut--you're not supposed to bivouac just anywhere along the trail. During the high season (June-Sept) there is often a hut warden that can provide some sort of meal, from cheese plates to omelettes (definitely try one with the delicious Corsican cheese) and wine and beer. We decided to not do the entire GR20, instead opting to head west towards the coast on the Mare a Mare Nord trail (about halfway down the GR20). We planned to take this trail back up north to our starting point, making a loop. However, it quickly became obvious that we were both feeling a bit tired, and the Mare a Mare Nord trail, while beaufitul, was lower in elevation and therefore very hot. It also had more people on it. And the beach was nearby. All these factors came together and we decided to find a campsite and chill by the beach on the west side of the island. Good choice--we swam in the blue-green water and read on the white beach. Then we took a bus around the island counter-clockwise, and visited several towns: Ajaccio, Bonifacio, and Porto-Vecchio. We finished the trip by taking an overnight ferry to Marseilles and then a train ride up to Toulouse for a night. The transit workers were on strike and the trains were chaotic, so we ended up renting a car in Toulouse and I got to drive the 7 hours back to Paris. All in all it was an amazing trip and highly recommended.
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