September 17
September 17: Porto - Corte
This is the big day!! The challenge, as we tackle the Col de Vergio, Corsica’s highest paved road, starts almost as soon as we leave Porto. At 1,471m it may not be the highest mountain summit in the world but we must remember that we will be riding from sea level. Thankfully the vast majority of the climb is gentle so we can enjoy the awesome views of the Spelunca Gorge and savour the experience as we go.
A coffee stop in Evisa, two thirds of the way up, is possible (probable!) and will allow us to re-group before tackling the final and more challenging stage through the often-misty pine forest. A descent through the pines takes us to lunch after which we will continue downwards through the Scale de Santa Regina. If nothing else will make you want to return to Corsica, the descent through this magnificent gorge which runs alongside the Golo River, Corsica’s longest, will do so! As exciting as it is beautiful it’s the most fun you can have with your pants on! One final re-grouping at the bottom of the gorge before the last 11km (approximately 6 uphill and 5 downhill) sees us arriving in Corte, Corsica’s fantastically rustic ancient capital city.
Well, that was a memorable way to spend the last day of my 60s! My GPS was alerting me to the climb before I was even on the bike!! I'm still learning to use the new toy, so I missed recording the first km or so as it was beeping at me to make a u-turn or something. Got it back on track soon enough and onwards & upwards we went!
It looked like another nice day, although the waves were crashing on the rocks as we pulled away. A few clouds in the sky for a change, but that is certainly not a bad thing when you're climbing a hill. As the notes above say - the climb was long (35 km and about 1500 m), but not overly steep. I saw 10% once momentarily, but mostly in the range of 4 - 7%. The road was pretty good and the traffic light, so really not much to complain about. While there wasn't too much human traffic, we did see all manner of barnyard animals - pigs & piglets (they appeared to be very well trained to keep to the shoulder of the road), goats (not so well trained), and cows.
I didn't stop for an abundance of pics today. No coastline scenery, and I'm less inclined to stop on big climbs and big downhills. But - the first pics are of the town of Ota across the gorge from where we were riding. Apparently some folks went there yesterday and reported it to be a really pretty little town. This also happened to be just about our last view of the sea for the day.
You may notice from the pics that we were in the shade. Thankfully! We managed to have shade more than we didn't on the way up. I was sweating enough as it was; I was soooo happy it wasn't any warmer. I don't recall what the temp was when we started, but it was down to about 21C at the top but back up to 34C on our second and final climb of the day.
Once again the road was an engineering marvel. Built into the edge of the mountain with marvelous views out over the valleys and out to the mountains all around. The roads are certainly not very wide, but I actually feel safer that way. I figure the drivers have to be paying attention at all times; their minds won't be wandering when they find us in a patch of shade or around a blind corner.
We did stop at the town of Evisa at about 23 km. A relatively quick snack and liquid top-up and we were off again. This is a look back to the village.
No more pics until I hit the top - Col de Verghju. Not sure who this is a statue of, but we called it our "coming to Jesus" moment. It was good to be done.............
Shortly after the descent started we crossed the GR20 hiking route. There was a huge campground on the side of the road. I wonder if this is used by hikers.
The last part of the ascent and the first part of the descent were through pine forests that kind of reminded me of some rides in Oregon. Really, really pretty. But - particularly on the way up (at slower speed), the bugs were really irritating. And you can't go fast enough to get away from them! The road surface through this part was really silky smooth.
Lunch at a pullout with a spring and some stone benches to sit on. It was still a bit cool, and I was chilled from coasting downhill in sweaty clothes so the sun actually felt good.
Then - the downhill continued. At the end of the forested section was a bridge that looked down onto a really tiny, really old bridge over a bit of a stream. Very pretty, and worth the stop. On the other side of the new bridge was a view down to some really interesting-looking rocks in the riverbed.
At this point we followed a gorge for many km. Very interesting rock formations. Reminded me, in places, of our hikes through the Caminito del Rey in Spain last year. Again, amazing road engineering; can you see the cars in this pic?
Right after I took that photo (at about 65 km), I noticed a bit of a noise coming from the back of my bike. Oh no; a flat tire! They hadn't equipped us with any spare tubes so I had to wait for Massimo to arrive with the van. At least I had a scenic spot to wait. Man, it was really starting to heat up! You really notice it even more when you're not moving. Well, he tried to fix it, but couldn't get any air in the replacement tube. So - he finally swapped out the rear wheel from his bike which was in the van and put it on my bike. Earlier in the day, Cath had a tire blowout and Andrew put his front wheel on her bike and then caught a ride in the van until he got his fixed. Anyway, I lost about 45 minutes before I was underway again. I'm glad I like riding on my own............
We had one final climb of about 7 km at about 75 km. This is an old building at the top of that climb.
Then the town of Corte (our day's destination) came into view.
It certainly was a day of contrasts - long ups and long downs. Pretty much nothing on the flats. It was another outstanding day, though. The scenery has been magnificent, but we are certainly earning it! Another late (7:30 reservation) dinner tonight. Then just one more day............
Stats for the day:
Garmin: 85.5 km. 1850 m up. 1424 m down.
RWGPS: 85.9 km. 2567 m up. 2149 m down.
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