Bought some stuff for breakfast this morning from a nearby mini market (we’d been getting a little tired of the 2* hotel’s version of petit dejeuner, where the only surprise is what flavour jam they give you to spread on your crusty white pain). Talking of ‘pain’ - Spent the morning on the beach at Propriana. That, combined with a good dollop of strategically-applied Savlon, should help relieve some of the trauma that has arisen, ‘down there’, over ...

Cycled from Piana to the capital, Ajaccio via just one mountain pass (1,300ft). A rather hot and sticky day. Ajaccio is the birthplace of Corsica’s most famous enfant, Napoleon Bonaparte. It’s interesting that we thought that all the major climbs would be on the interior of the island. The reality is that the mountains rise out of the seas and that many of the more serious climbs are encountered by following the coastline.