1800km by car and a few hours on the ferry – that's how far we had to travel from Poland to get to the island of Corsica, where the average annual temperature is above 20 degrees Celsius and the topography makes driving feel like an arcade racing game.
Our main goal for the trip was a photo shoot and a test of our new Enduro prototypes. When choosing a place, we were mostly looking for big mountains and good weather. Daily checking of various weather forecasts had given us a clear answer – the Alps and the Dolomites are simply not the best places in Europe to ride bikes in mid-October, and certainly not suitable for a successful photo shoot.
Two days before the trip we decided to take the risk and to go to a place where none of us had ever been, a place with tall mountains and temperatures similar to a warm, Polish summer. Corsica, which we knew from school as the birthplace of Napoleon, has much more to offer than just the memories of the "great" leader. More than 200 peaks, rising to over 2000 meters above sea level can be found on this one island. The place was beyond our expectations.
Not bothered by the fact that most of us hadn't gotten a wink of sleep for more than 24 hours, we only wanted to do one thing – to finally ride and capture it in pictures. We left the ferry, headed to the capital of Corsica, Bastia. After a quick check-in at a hotel with a view of the harbor, we grabbed breakfast and headed off.
We spent the night in the capital of Corsica enjoying local food, local beer and planning for the next day of shooting. Riding outside the town of Calacuccia awaited us the following day.
The next day our journey reminded us of National Geographic movies - high, "naked" mountains surrounded us on both sides. We parked at an elevation of over 1700m; there was no forest, and the walking trail heads up to the lake Lac de Mel.
Climbing even higher, in an remote area we stumbled upon a hut that turned out to be a paliaghju. Local shepherds use this type of building to make cheese and keep hay for sheep.
After two hours of climbing we found the place we were searching for - green grass, huge flat stones, and, of course, our constant companion - one of the hundreds of streams. This is where we spent a couple of hours and then had an epic descent back to the car. This path was like an Enduro race segment from our dreams.
The last day of our stay on the island came. Sunset did not make such an impression on us as the sunrise, so we decided to go back over the previous 200km, to the spot from the first day. We don't need to write once again how many hours the journey took, but what we will write is that it was definitely worth it. In Corsica, 200km is enough to go through the whole of Europe, Canada and some of Utah. Along the way, it even seemed as if we were were in the Polish Beskids for a brief moment. We liked the canyon (where we stopped several times to admire the views) the most.
And so we did! Our only regret is that we couldn't stay longer because Corsica is the perfect place for a winter bike trip in Europe.
Photos by
www.wolisphoto.com
Time to show the world that Polacks can make some sick! enduro bikes!
We do not have a lot of trails.
Check on Endomondo for southern corsica or on www.utagawavtt.com/randonnee-vtt-gps-search
I am quite surprised you said you parked at 1700m+. It seemed that you parked at Grotelle (around 1350m) and the lake of Melo is 1711m. Then you followed the restonica down to Corte...
Such question to understand where you rode and manage some new challenges in Corsica.
Great Pics and Great Trip !!
I'd love to have been able to view some of them in better quality.
On a side note... does anybody need a second photographer on the next trip? I'll work for plane ticket and food! (at cost!)
an issue in corsica is the corsican mafia, one of france's biggest crime organisations.
while I was there (about 10 years ago) I also witnessed violence between the mafia and police (maybe even between mafia groups?)
some corsican's also want to be independet from france, a few militant groups are fighting for this (for example they seized ferries), but I don't know if they are a part of the mafia / connected with them or not...
seemed to be rather quiet the last few years though...
See m'y vidéo from Corsica
I ride in santacruz nomad carbon ;-)