Hotel Restaurant Les Roches Propriano

I came up for breakfast this morning to see the coast of Corsica off the starboard beam. The rugged coast is lined with little bays backed by sand beaches and little villages with a scattering of small island thrown into the mix. Bonifacio is an amazing town and cruising along the coast toward Bonifacio is stunning. It's a beautiful city all perched up on the cliffs. It also has ...

... local cats.

Have sampled the infamous sausisson (donkey salami)... yep not really a fan!

June 21 is the festival of music all around France, anyone can play, sing or set up a band in the evening, so walking the streets that night was pretty cool. Doesn't mean people are good tho, but most were!

Left Toulon on the 17th around lunch, went to the markets beforehand... fooooood!!!! All a great idea when you're buying, not so good when you're carting it back to the boat.

Outside the port is the military, all the naval boats are massif. Stopped a few hours out near an island for a swim, then the long and relaxing haul to Corsica.

Ajaccio, Corsica, France mezcnz

... There is one thing though that I kept forgetting to tell you til now. Diane is getting spoiled. Not just by me, but by our Butler Mark too. One of the VIP perks is daily treats delivered to your cabin in the mid afternoon. These treats vary on rotation from canapies, to truffles, to chocolate covered strawberries, to cheeses, etc. Well, on the third day of the cruise Diane mentions to Mark that she really likes the ...

... It was good we got to the airport early because they didn't have my reservation on file! After a lot of worrying, it turns out that I made the reservation with my first name instead of my last name, whoops! Luckily, we got on the plane and it was really quick, only 40 minutes. After we landed, we picked up our rental car because there isn't much public transportation on the island, especially to the tiny town that Ross found our B&B in. Ross thought it would be fun and ...

AJACCIO IS GORGEOUS!! The cliffs along the shoreline with the mountains in the background, the buildings, everything- GORGEOUS! Shame I had some inductions to go to and was kept quite busy so I wasn't able to take any pictures or get off the boat, but that will change next time. One word for this port- stunning!

... After I got back on route I had lunch and waited for the German guy to catch up. He took forever so I ploughed on alone. Along the mountain top I got on to the marked path that would take me all the way to the summit. But there was still very hard climbing to do, navigating round the giant size fingers that from a distance is just a raggered moutain top. Down a bit, then up a lot more, your think your close but there is ...

Day 182. Slack day; Trip to Refuge de Tighjettu 13/10/08 Sleep was difficult for reasons unknown. I got up at what I thought was 6am, but turned out to be 5am. Anyway, I still proceeded to have breakfast and get ready to decend Paglia Orba (2525m), the 3rd highest peak in Corsica. Using my torch I slowly followed the loose stoney path. But after an half an hour I decided I'd lost ...

... This walk had signs about Chestnut farming (in French again) along the way. As the land moved more to pine forest than chestnut farms there was a stop at Cascades d'Aïtone, a cool dip in the pools under the waterfall. Arriving at the Col de Verghio feeling good, 5 hours after setting off, I decided to continue to the refuge instead of the hotel. Ploughing through trees on the rough mountain side I reached a closed ...

... a site. There are certain criteria we look for in a camp site. One, a site with a picnic table is a big plus. Two, proximity to the "sanitaire" or wash facilities is convenient. Three, we try to avoid a site with a large insect population. Four, it is nice to have nearby trees for drying laundry. As soon as we set up the tent, we usually ride into town to shop for dinner and breakfast. When we get back to the campground an explosion typically takes ...