ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN
A campsite next to a mountain hut in Corsica on the GR20. In mid August heatstroke is a distinct possibly in Corsica, even in the mountains, with the daytime temperatures nudging 30c or 90f which is why I'm wearing a wet towel here on my head. A few times on the walk after 6 to 8 hour days I felt close to passing out under the intense Mediterranean sunshine. Several people during our stint were helicoptered out, either through over exertion, trips onto rough ground, or heat related. By walking from first light to early afternoon we managed to avoid the hottest hours. Blue skies for the entire trip, no rain, and constant sunshine.
Scott contemplating another hot day traversing the ridge line. There was nothing that hard on the GR20, scrambling wise, but you had to keep concentration levels high as the ground was rough throughout and any stumble might result in a potentially fatal accident.
In places where the GR20 did venture into rock climbing territory metal ladder and wire ropes gave you something to hang on to although it was never exposed enough to warrant via ferrata type kit protection. The only hard part was doing all this with a heavy suitcase strapped to your back, which is essentially what a rucksack is. Going up was not too bad....
but the weird thing was the descents... some of which were pretty steep, climbing down over smooth slabs as here, above, with a huge drop below into a gully and completely unprotected, devoid of wires or ladders. It was easy when we did it in bone dry heat but I'd imagine it would be fairly tricky if the slabs were wet or snow covered, especially with a large pack threatening your balance.
Red and white paint markers were often the only way you knew you were on a path through the mountains as an actual trail was often absent. Just bare slabs of rock, walls, and ledges in places.
Not ground you wanted to slip over on so we were very careful and maintained an alert approach with every step, not easy to maintain for a full day under a blazing sun.
The highlight/crux of the GR20 is the Cirque de la Solitude, a huge steep sided stone bowl which the back packing ants had to negotiate. Although a mere arrow shot across as the raven flies it's so rugged and steep that it takes you several hours effort to crawl across it. Not being a scrambler Shime bailed out before we came to this point, opting to sightsee his way around sea level Corsica instead, meeting up with us later. He may have spent more money than us down in the coastal resorts but he did get a much better idea of tourist Corsica as a holiday island.
This scramble was not part of the route just an added extra, without heavy packs.
One of the huts we stayed at had an interesting feature. You could either stay in the hut.... or sleep in a bivi bag underneath it.... or pitch a tent in little cleared squares. Only about a dozen of these so first come first served.
We camped outside but you can also see the dry space under the hut for bivi folk with communal sinks and washing facilities at a cheaper rate that hut dwellers. A cracking idea.
It meant we could cook and wash under here, socialize with each other, stay dry if raining, and generally relax standing upright rather than lying flat down inside separate tents. My favorite hut of the trip.
It also had the climbing wall to end all climbing walls directly above this hut. An expanse of rock tilted about a 90 degree angle. Not quite vertical, but not far off it. It was even more impressive than an overhanging or vertical wall as crap climbers like us thought 'we might just get up that on a rope.'
It's hard to get a real impression of how amazing this wall was in reality as it doesn't look 1000 foot high here but standing underneath this mighty slab it appeared to soar upwards as a direct conduit straight into heaven. It was that impressive a slope at such an improbable angle, consistently slabby throughout over such a huge upward distance that it played strange tricks on the mind and eyeballs staring at it as the clouds drifted past. Literally pushing the giddy limits of sanity as staring up at it too long made you lose your equilibrium and sense of where you were in relation to yourself and gravity. Truly mind-boggling.
French troops hunting Corsican bandits in the interior. The only sign we observed of any unrest on the island was this single appearance of the military and they waited until the cool of evening before setting off as their packs were double the weight of our own. Scott and Gavin took a further seven long hours here climbing Monte Cinto, the highest peak in Corsica at 2,706 metres or 8,878 feet in height. It looked a very steep tough hill so myself and Julian preferred a more relaxing exploration of the forest in this area as it was picturesque with numerous large fallen trees to play around on. We had a great time crossing small ravines like Tarzan.
This area seemed to be a small ski resort in winter, hence the wide cleared downhill run the troops are walking up.
Gavin coming out of the wilderness like an old testament prophet. It was that kind of landscape.
On the second week of our GR20 trip the landscape opened up into easier but still spectacular territory. Mountains were individual units, spaced apart. We could now stride out on better paths rather than watching every step through boulder fields. It was equally enjoyable to eat up some miles at normal marching pace.
The second highest mountain on Corsica beckoned and this one I did fancy. A different beast entirely from the slender wand of Monte Cinto, Monte Rotondu, 2,622 metres or 8,602 feet, seen here, was a wide sprawling peak with several long ridges. It also held, in a high rock bowl, a substantial body of year round water. This was Lavu Bellebone, frozen solid for six months of the year, but in summer a tranquil deep pool of blue water with an unlikely beach of dazzling white sand,
Gavin on the beach. Hard to believe this is 5000 foot up a mountainside and it's also special as one of the few large bodies of water along the GR20. Another bonus for this hill is a more gentle upward ascent, only four hours round trip as opposed to seven hours, yet it's also a diverse gem of a mountain.
Gavin on an easy but spectacular ridge line on his way to the summit. As he climbed both peaks he should know and he did say Monte Rotondu was the better hill for variety of scenery and ease of ascent. I loved it. Hard enough scrambling to be exciting yet easy enough to just pick any line and go for it ... and have fun.
We also found this unlocked emergency shelter near the summit. A high level bothy in other words, above 8000 feet. What a cracker of a hill. Highly recommended winter or summer.
It was a ten day walking adventure- two weeks in total when you include travel time to get there and back. We stopped at Vizzavona, getting a train to Corte, the interior capital town. To complete the rest of the GR20 takes another full week over Cairngorm plateau type scenery but as usual we did not have enough time off work to do it all, just the most spectacular sections. Backpacking holiday trips were always two or sometimes three weeks long as no-one could face working all year without another shorter break if we used up our full holiday allowance in one go.
On the train back to lower levels we could see where all the grime and dust on the trail came from as several of the hillsides near the coast had extensive fire damage with forest fires still raging either side of the railway line and fire fighting planes dropping massive dumps of water over the burning pine trees. Intense summer heat and a lack of rainfall was bad then in 2001 so I can only assume, with climate change, it's worse now. A great trip and a cracking island.
Found this link to one of the best outdoor documentary films I've seen that shows off the real beauty of the GR 20. Well worth watching in full. Traversed in July these walkers had cooler temperatures, some snow still remaining high up, mountain mists, and plentiful water in the streams and lakes. Even so, anywhere I've backpacked abroad we always put iodine purification tablets in any drinking water, as recommended in the guide books. Does not help the taste, turns the water brown, but keeps you safe and kills any bacteria. Usually essential in hot countries.
http://corsica.forhikers.com/gr20
Continuing the run of astonishing short visual animation gems here's another beauty you should not miss. Imagine if an alien race wanted to visit another planet in their universe. Who is to say it might not look like this? Stunning, fascinating, clever, original, and completely strange. So strange and uniquely different from anything else I've seen it takes several views to really appreciate what's going on here.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5glccl
