Hey everyone, it’s Chris this time, writing a guest blog today!
Our hike today was the longest (22000 steps) and highest (700 altitude meters) so far. Learning from our experience with the snow 2 days ago, we headed out with lots of warm clothes, because although the sun was shining today, it was only 10 degrees up at the pass where we started our hike. Turns out the sun shone all day long and we needed none of it, but on Friday we were glad to wear every single layer we had brought in the hail and snow, so better safe than sorry!
As we climbed through the forest and up a steep and seemingly neverending incline Wolfram was constantly looking for his nemesis, the Bearded Vulture, (or Wulture?) who didn’t make an appearance, but we did see lots of Corsican Finches and Eurasian Crack Martins/Felsenschwalben above the treeline.
As we reached the ridge of the mountain, we suddenly had a view down to the east coast of the island, in fact we could see the beach and lagoon we were at yesterday! Looking in the other direction we could see Mt Renoso, who we last saw close up shrouded in clouds and hail on our unsuccessful attempt to hike up to the top. Going a little further, we had a view down to the west coast of the island! It was an amazing feeling.
As we often have over the past week, we were following the GR20, a long-distance hiking trail that runs the length of the Corsican mountain range in the center of the island. Lots of people hike it in approximately 15 days, so we encountered many less-than-fresh smelling cross-country backpackers. The scenery is so fantastic I think it would be an amazing adventure, and you don’t need to take a tent because they have stations along the route with tents to stay in, but I’m honestly happy to sleep in a bed at night, personally, so day trips are the way to go for me!
By the way, Wolfram forgot a couple of birds! Even if they aren’t super rare, I think they should be mentioned because we don’t see them that often. Twice now at the river I have spotted a Dipper/Wasseramsel. Around the house we have Long-tailed Tits/Schwanzmeisen. Up in the mountains we have seen Ravens/Kolkraben and Alpine Choughs/Alpendohlen sailing on the updraft. At the beach yesterday we saw Oyster Catchers/Austernfischer. And the first night we heard a Scops Owl/Zwergohreule!
Things I like about Corsica:
- Breakfast of fresh croissants and baguette with salted French butter and Corsican honey
- Driving on the very windy sun-dappled roads
- Beautiful waterfalls, rivers, and of course the azure color of the Mediterranean Sea
- The forest. Reminds me of the Sierras. Whispering pines. But with chestnut and beech and birch trees. And cork trees!!
- The spicy scent of the shrubbery understory called macchia. Wild thyme, marjoram, sage, violets, ferns, hellebore, mushrooms and many other prickly plants I don’t immediately recognize.
- Sheep, pigs, goats, cows, horses roaming free, on the road, everywhere!
- The clear, glittery, starry sky
- Our fireplace!
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