A first-time bike trip: Corsica in August
My partner and I went on a biking trip for the first time this year. We had so many doubts and worries before leaving, but in the end we enjoyed it so much, that I decided to write a report out of the trip.
This experience opened my mind to how versatile bike tourism can be. Before I thought it was a very rough kind of vacation, either for bike nerds or very adventurous people. I’ve understood that it can be approached in so many ways that anyone could do it. For example, you could always sleep in the same BnB for a whole week and make daily rides from there. This way you can bring anything you want and leave everything at your base. Or you can push your limits on the distances and sleep in hotels, so you can only focus on riding. Or also, as we did, you can go camping and try to see as many different places as you can. This last option requires bringing the camping equipment, but nowadays it is not hard to find very compact tents, sleeping bags, and anything else you will need for a reasonable price.
Any way you take it though, it is a kind of traveling that forces you to change perspective about life’s priorities and necessities, but it doesn’t mean it has to be extreme by any means. It’s a great way of rethinking habits and commodities we usually take for granted, which can improve the way we live. In my case, when I got back home I was overwhelmed by the size of my wardrobe. Having lived for 10 days with a single spare change of clothes and having appreciated that simplicity (without much discomfort), now I feel the urge to give away all things that I don’t use anymore.
Traveling with a simpler vehicle also improves a lot the possibilities of exploration. Imagine that you have reached a very touristic town on the coast in Corsica in August. You can just go anywhere, lock your bike, and do whatever you want. With a car, there are so many complications that are probably going to prevent you from doing it: parking, traffic, pedestrian areas, etc…
Hoping to convince more people that this is an enjoyable and doable vacation, this is also meant as a practical example. You can easily take this trip and modulate it as you wish. I will share our experience, from planning, the day-by-day report, and finally some consideration about our equipment. This will be especially useful for those who want to do something similar and have no idea about where to start.
the planning
As written above, I was a bit stressed by the organization of the trip. I didn’t know what to expect from the road, the weather, the infrastructure. I will address each of these aspects one by one. Spoiler: I have been way too pessimistic in the planning for any of these.
I have been quite conservative in the planning of the route. We bought our ferry tickets in advance and we decided to arrive and leave from the same port, which is Ile Rousse. In terms of time, we opted for 9 days from arrival to departure. This gave us the flexibility to adapt our route without committing to a distant destination. This way we had the choice between going through a longer tour or staying close by for multiple days if we didn’t feel like riding too much. Or even, we could cut back to the destination and shorten the trip at any moment of the tour. The reasons that justified this conservative approach were the fact that it was the first time we did such a long trip. Also, my partner has diabetes, which is not always easy to deal with, especially while doing intense physical activity. Another aspect that made us uncomfortable was the constant ups and downs of the roads in Corsica. We were aware of that, but we couldn’t predict how hard would that be, given the weight of the bags and the fact that we were not very used to looking at the elevation profile. One final preoccupation about roads was traffic. Given the high season period we chose for our trip, we feared high-intensity traffic, which could make the ride unpleasant. We decided that in the best scenario, we could do a ring tour of the north of the island, following the GT20 route for most of the way, except for the section from Corte to Bastia, which is also the start of the GT20.
The GT20 route.
Weather was another worrying factor since in August temperatures can be too high to use the bike. We didn’t have many solutions except for avoiding the central hours of the day. We even thought about riding during the night… We were also worried about rain or storms, but we had our tend and our waterproof bags, we couldn’t do much more about that.
Infrastructures were also a concern. In this category, I put camping sites, water access, restaurants, and grocery stores. We could see all the camping sites on the map, but we feared that they could be full in that period of the year. We also knew that most of them didn’t accept reservations, so we decided to take the risk and deal with that in the place. We also considered the possibility of wild camping, in case we couldn’t find any place where to stay. Next, we had no idea how hard would it be to find water sources, given also that we expected the possibility of wild camping we got some equipment to face that: a filter straw and a 10L water bag. Food was also a big question, so we decided to bring a lot of stuff, just in case we didn’t find any restaurant or grocery.
For the preliminary planning, I used a few useful resources, which helped me imagine what to expect, but they were not great and I couldn’t find better. Of course, the GT20 tour map was a great help. Then I found some reports with the description of each single stage, which I can’t find anymore, unfortunately. Komoot was also a help, but I didn’t trust it since it had previously failed me in other bike tours, so I paired it with Google Maps.
the actual route we ended up doing, day by day
The ferry was at night and we arrived soon in the morning at Ile-Rousse. We didn’t know if the heat would allow us to ride during the whole day and we were excited to test ourselves, so we left straight away after the docking. In the end, it went quite smoothly, despite some technical issues on my bike. The front shift lever broke irreparably and I had to remove the whole front derailleur. We arrived at our first campsite in the seaside village of Galeria around 1 p.m., but it was clear that the central hours of the day were off-limits for biking. That day we rode for around 60 km and 1000 m of elevation gain. It felt pretty good for both of us, we were tired but not exhausted. The road always went up and down, but never too steeply (~5-6% max) and it was very calm and isolated. We spent the rest of the day swimming and sunbathing, which was about everything we could do in that area. We gained some confidence about our possibilities and started thinking about the next stops. We decided to take advantage of the next morning and to leave at dawn.
This is pretty much been our routine for every day of the vacation. Camping sites were so calm that it was natural for us to go to sleep right after sunset and get up early the next day. Quick breakfast, dismantling the tent, and filling the bags, and then we were ready to ride to the next destination. This gave us the possibility to visit around and have a swim during the afternoon in every place where we stopped. The distances were always similar or less than what we did on the first day and it felt effortless and relaxed.
Day by day we moved towards Porto, then towards the interior through the Verghju pass. That was the highest elevation point we reached with 1467 m. Then we moved to Corte and enjoyed a quick visit to the city. Up to that point, everything was perfect: the weather, the views, very few cars. We managed to always find cheap and good places to eat. The only issue we had was that while we were at the river close to Evisa, my partner was stung by a hornet on her hand, and riding the bike was a bit painful. For this reason, we considered taking the train to the next destination, Bastia. Unfortunately, the bikes are not allowed, not even disassembled (which sounds a bit strange though). At that point, we were a bit discouraged, also because that road didn’t look very beautiful and it was mostly motorway. So we spent the evening eating local food and considering all our alternatives for the next day.
At the Verghju pass.
Somehow we woke up both very early in the morning, with an energy that came out of nowhere. My partner’s hand was better and we decided to go to Bastia. We were in a sort of trance, we had breakfast and prepared to leave very quickly, and before sunrise, we were already on the road. We went for the motorway because there was not much traffic and it was all downhill. We wanted to be as fast as we could to get it done quickly. Those 70 km went very smoothly in the end. We managed to exploit the slipstream despite the bags and it has been really exciting in the end. We stopped before entering Bastia, to cool down in the sea and have lunch. We got so excited that we continued riding in the afternoon and went up the tip of Cap Corse. That day we rode for 115 km and it was the most intense one in the whole trip.
Me cooling down after the chrono stage from Corte to Bastia.
Up to that point, we had been blessed by gorgeous campsites. Each night we slept in beautiful and calm places, with cheap and good services. From that point on we didn’t get that lucky anymore. Each one of the following nights went badly for different reasons, but the main one was that we wanted to go to Saleccia and the Agriates desert. They are considered one of the most beautiful places in Corsica. Many people, especially those who visited many years ago, suggested it as an unmissable destination. In our experience we can say that it is beautiful indeed, we enjoyed the stay, but we invested too much effort and time in it. It is very touristy, especially in August, which spoils the beauty of the place. Getting there by bike, especially with bags, is not a simple task. The road is very steep bumpy and dusty gravel, which is also run continuously by big taxi trucks full of tourists. Going there by bike during peak hours is hell, but we got warned so we managed to avoid it by going there very early in the morning. The place is gorgeous and wild, especially if you move away from the most crowded areas, like the beach. If you like snorkeling you will find yourself in a place nearly untouched by human presence, by far the wildest sea I have ever seen. This alone could have been worth the whole trip, but we stayed there for just a couple of hours. In the end, I felt like we invested too much in getting there since we planned the whole journey around that place.
My bike during the Saleccia dusty madness trail.
The last 2 days have been resting days, we didn’t have much distance left from the final destination, so we decided to just enjoy the seaside at the Ostriconi beach. We were satisfied with our effort and a bit exhausted by the Saleccia adventure. It’s been a pleasant ride and except for a few days where we pushed a bit more, it felt effortless.
Our itinerary throught Northern Corsica. GT20 in red.
Considerations about the equipment
Starting with the bikes, I had a vintage mountain bike converted to a hybrid road bike, while Maria had a good touring bike - Fuji touring - that we found 2nd hand almost new. Mine was not very reliable the shift broke the first day. Luckily it was not an essential component, since I could change gear by hand when it was necessary, otherwise, it could stay on the second gear most of the time. It is not very fast or efficient, since it has very large tires (2.2’‘) and small rims (24’’), but my priorities were robustness and comfort. These 2 aspects were on point, thanks to the old-school MTB frame and the drop-down handlebars. Maria’s bike proved to be very reliable and also adaptable. It never gave any issue during the whole trip. It gave us the confidence to go even off-road to Saleccia. The bags were classic Ortlieb side bags. They were very practical, also because we didn’t have too many small bags spread all over the bikes and they could be easily detached. This let us pack them more comfortably than fixed bags and also we could do lighter day trips by leaving them in the tent.
For camping we had a very compact set of equipment: tent, mats, pillow, and sleeping bags weighed no more than 4 kg together and they weren’t even closely filling a single bag. The tens is a Camp minima for 2, which is very small. I am 1.85 m and I barely fit in it. Moreover, it is not very suitable for rainy conditions and doesn’t have any spare space for keeping any material inside. For this trip conditions, it was perfect, though. The mats and pillows are inflatable and lightweight, we were extremely satisfied with them. Sleeping bags were cheap Decathlon summer models. We decided to stay on the safe side, but sheet bags would have been enough, given the high temperatures.
Our camping gear.
Clothing was the part of the equipment that we had fewer issues with. We didn’t use everything we brought, but the excess was not a problem, since it didn’t take up too much space. We never felt we missed anything because we could wash dirty clothes any day and they dried quickly. In the end, we did it always by hand, every 2 days. Of course, in colder and wetter conditions it would have been more complicated. In general, we brought:
- a spare change for biking
- a change of comfortable clothes
- one pair of long trousers and a warm sweater
- a rain jacket
- a couple of spare underwear
In terms of food we brought too much stuff. We packed like we had to go in a desert and it was the heaviest part of our equipment. Our main food was Huel, something that we were trying for the first time, but we thought it was very suitable for camping. It was a delusion. Despite its ease of preparation, it failed in its claims of containing slow-release carbohydrates. We had both instant meals and powder and both of these gave Maria big glucose peaks, followed by lows, which had to be treated with more insulin and then with sugars. I could also feel the effects of this. During cycling in the morning, 1-2 hours after having eaten the powder shake, I felt weakness and tiredness that went away by eating something. Considering this issue, we used it only when we didn’t have any other options. For the rest of time, we could easily find groceries, boulangeries, and restaurants, where we could eat without the burden of cooking on the camping stove. We also brought ingredients to make couscous, like oil, salt, and pepper. We never used them and we brought them back home untouched. The 10 L water bag has been very useful, for keeping a safety margin of water, since we only carried 1.5 L in our flasks. We never filled it up, since it would have been too heavy and we didn’t need so much water anyways.
For electronics we just tried to consume as much as we needed. We used our phones mainly for navigation and for taking some pictures here and then. We brought a small solar panel to charge the electronics, but it didn’t work very well, since it overheated our devices. In the end, we managed to use the electricity when available in campsites and a battery pack. This has been more than enough to keep our phones functional when needed.
Last but not least we had the issue that insulin can’t be stored at high temperatures for long times and we feared that it could get ineffective after a while. For this, we found a great solution that defies thermodynamic laws. It is called Frio and it is made exactly for this purpose. Very useful.
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