The bedroom curtain does not close properly. I would have slept more today, but the first ray of sunshine hits me in the eye, it’s 6:20 am and I get up. Today I got dressed almost reluctantly and went out for a walk, Calvi did not impress me very much, although sometimes I struggle to admit it. I wander around the old city and photograph some glimpses. The breakfast does not disappoint, it is good and plentiful.
Photo 2: The route D81 bis
Photo 3: along the D81 bis road
Photo 4:along the D81 bis road
Photo 5: along the D81 bis road
Photo 6: along the D81 bis road
Photo 7: along the D81 bis road
We take our bikes and leave and here is the biggest surprise: we leave the T30 state road to take a coastal road called D81 bis, and I recommend it, which climbs the cliffs of the Corsican coast. Incredible views of beaches, rocks, chasms, hills and even mountains. It is very difficult to give a name to all the coves that we find on our road, but for sure there is one thing, we stop every 20-30 meters to take pictures and to admire the landscape. We are in the midst of traffic that is sometimes absent, sometimes quite intense, almost in waves. The road is a snake in continuous ups and downs that completely follows the morphological profile of the coast. At a certain point the asphalt degrades and is no longer there, it is completely eroded, leaving the ancient paved road below emerge, which was probably used for the passage of carts pulled by animals. The bicycles keep hopping making strange noises that we had never heard before and that we cannot understand where they come from, let’s hope for the best.
Photo 8: along the D81 bis road
Photo 9: along the D81 bis road
Photo 10: along the D81 bis road
Photo 11: along the D81 bis road
Photo 12: along the D81 bis road
Photo 13: along the D81 bis road
Photo 14: along the D81 bis road
A wave of the scent of Mediterranean scrub hits our nostrils much more intensely than usual because some workers are mowing the grass on the roadside by cutting the plants that release their aromatic substance. I pass by the workers and with my perfect French, but they understood me, I tell them that they have perfumed in a magnificent way all the way and the day, I seem to have made them happy. I have placed the lunch stop in a place that, according to information from Google, should be exactly halfway open. And in fact, leaving the most panoramic part of the route, we enter an internal valley that has some houses and is actively cultivated, so much so that we also find the first rows of grapes, which until now we had never seen despite the indications of the road of the wine. The place is closed, and we have to continue, but Crì warns that his brakes, especially the front one, no longer brake. We continue a little longer and hoping to find another place we do another ten km passing through an old mine. We see an indication of a restaurant and cross our fingers hoping it will be open. Yes, I see the cars in the parking lot! It is open, in fact, it is also a hotel, scattered in the middle of Corsican vegetation. The point is panoramic and we like it very much, also because they will give us food and drink. They only have Corsican specialities and some salads, but that’s okay, so much so that I order a dish without even knowing what will be brought to me, it is written porcu, so I think it will be pork. Roast pork stuffed inside with an unidentified Corsican lucanica, baked potatoes and the inevitable “peperonata” that will make me a nice ups and downs in my stomach. Still with my perfect and smiling French, I remind the waitress that my doctor will tell him his opinion on the amount of saturated fat I will swallow today, but laughing he keeps repeating “il est tous natural”.
Photo 15: along the D81 bis road
Photo 16: along the D81 bis road
Photo 17: along the D81 bis road
Photo 18: along the D81 bis road
Photo 19: along the D81 bis road
Photo 20: along the D81 bis road
Then I look great in front of all the restaurant and hotel guests when they see that I can successfully repair Cri’s brakes, now the bike is safe. Another stretch of panoramic road up to the edge from which you can see the town of Galeria, our today’s point of arrival. But before arriving there are about 10 km. First, you have to walk along the Fangu River, cross it on a bridge, from which you can enjoy a view of the peaks of the Great Barrier, all over 2500 meters, which still have tongues of snow even to the south, and from here, past the other bank, along the river that flows into the sea with a large reed bed and a very wide beach.
Photo 21: along the D81 bis road
Photo 22: “porcu”
Shortly after we arrive at the hotel from which I leave almost immediately with my camera with the destination of a promontory on which I saw a house. I pass near some beaches and also near the cemetery, where I realize that all the names of the inhabitants of Galeria are Italian, Mattei, Spinosi and others. I reach the house and discover that it is a Genoese watchtower built in the mid 1500s, and practically destroyed in the late 1700s due to an explosion in the ammunition depot. The most surprising thing about this tower, built with granite blocks, is the colouring of these blocks, it almost looks like a LEGO construction made by a child with many blocks of different colours. From the tower, you can enjoy a view of Fangu beach and the delta of the river itself. I go down a few steps towards the beach but I cannot reach it because the river prevents me from crossing, I should be able to swim but unfortunately, I am not! I must say that this day has given me all those emotions I was looking for from this trip, and I hope these can continue in the next few days. Certainly, Corsica does not have great cultural implications, there are only some Genoese military constructions and little else. The beauty of the road has made today, with incredible visions, the arrival in this town of Galeria, where life is extremely serene, calm, on a human scale, cows and bulls roam the street, some people on the beaches, some boats heading towards the Scandola park. We are indeed out of season, but the out of season that we found in Calvi already full of tourists was quite different. Today 38 km for 400 meters of altitude. Until tomorrow.
Photo 23: Fangu River and the beach
Photo 24: Fangu River and the beach
Photo 25: the Fangu river
Photo 26: Fangu River and the beach
Photo 27: The tower of Galeria XVI century Photo 28: The tower of Galeria XVI century
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