Bonjour,
On Sunday 12/07/09 we travelled on another ferry to Corscia, this time it was only an hour, but it is a great way to enter the island, as you approach Bonifacio the southern port, you see high limestone cliffs with tall houses teetering on the edge, and high ramparts on the land side with a huge cave eroded by the sea just outside the harbour (its well impressive). As we travelled to Porto vecchio, which has a huge white beach (very busy), we could immediately tell the difference from Italy, Here the driving is more sedate, people even waved us out at junctions, and supermarkets with a choice of food are plentyful, Porto vecchio was the first place where we were turned away from our camp of choice, (full up, not because it was us), We still found a small friendly site about a mile inland, amonst the olive tree's, that night we went to sleep to the sound of a the owners playing classic guitars and singing folk songs from the bar, performed really well. (Major diasarter strikes,) Dale's saddle brakes on his bike, we were in the hills quite away from town as we toured the area (now he has a permanent grin).

Tuesday
we moved onto Aleria on the east coast, looking for a bike shop (in the middle of the tour de france and can't find one anywhere) Our new site is large, spread around big fishing lakes and along the coast, our pitch is literally on the beach, which would rival a caribbean beach anyday, the forest land surrounding us has 200 wild lamas that eat the grass and anything they can reach, this is the local method for controlling forest fire's, We started to try running again, this is the first time since Oonagh's pre marathon injury, The site has some prelayed out 5k routes, that have obstacle's set in, a bit like an assault course with curciuts, its hilly, but fun, then straight in the sea to cool off. On Thursday Dale had cuttle fish and scampi risotto at the local restaurant for dinner, (not bad for someone that hates fish). On Friday night we had gales, so everyone was up at 2.30am, strapping down everything that moved, some even lost awnings,
Saturday,
On to a town called Bravone for 2 nights, a busy camp site with many nationalities present, with a Danish couple who are on their 31st visit, the highlight was seeing 8 portly elderly gentlemen play boule.
Monday
we stayed at St Flourent on the Northwest side of the island, we crossed the mountains with great views to either coast, a small town but very full of french tourists,
Tuesday
, Bastia back on the east coast, a town like Marseille with old ramshackled tenements that give it character and rustic charm, ready for our ferry to Nice tomorrow at 7.00am, the campsite is only 3 miles from the harbour, set on a beach and at 15 euros a night with electric we are not complaining, even if has a hostel feeling.
Corsica is great, really different from Sicily and Sardina, greener on the east, rocky on the west, The islanders are nice even if they don't want to be part of mother France, they spray paint the french out of road signs leaving only the Corsican name, a bit like the Welsh, We would definitely come back
Scrabble score 37-24 to her
Au revoir the Chaffers