Tour of Corsica (2006) Part I

The Gruppo 1 week long club ride last year was in Corsica 4 to 10 June. 17 club members made the trip.

We departed Verona on Sunday, June 4th at 0700 for Livorno. The caravan included the Gruppo 1 club van, and personal cars. The cars were left in Livorno at a long term parking lot near the ferry while the club van was driven onto the ferry. We departed Livorno at 1330 and arrived on the east coast of Corsica, at the port of Bastia, at 1730. We had a fabulous sunny day crossing the Canale di Corsica which connects the Mar Ligure and Mar Tirreno. We checked into our hotel and prepared the bikes for departure the next morning before heading off to a seaside restaurant for dinner.

Our tour consisted on 5 consecutive days of riding in a counter clockwise direction around the coast of Corsica:

Stage 1: Bastia to Ile Rousse (around Cap Corse)

Stage 2: Ile Rousse to Galeria

Stage 3: Galeria to Porticcio

Stage 4: Porticcio to Porto Vecchio

Stage 5: Porto Vecchio to Bastia

Total: approximately 450 miles

June 10th we returned on the ferry to Livorno and then onto Verona.

If I were a good writer I could perhaps capture what a fabulous trip this was. The riding was great, we had great fun every night at dinner and the lunches were out of this world. The real purpose of the van was to have a sumptuous lunch every day. It was quite an operation: we would find a delightful place to stop, we would set up tables and benches, the pots would come out along with propane burners and fresh pasta would be made. And we would have vegetables, bread (good French bread), cakes, wine, cheeses, salami, and on and on. It was a feast.

Photos: Corsica map, steaming towards Bastia, Bastia in the evening, 2 views of Corsica (there was a lot of climbing!)