Today would have been very difficult, if not impossible, without all the training that we’ve put in since January. The route from Ajaccio to where we finished (Propriana) took us over a really tough mountain pass thar, at 3,400ft, was just a shade less than the climb of L’Alpe d’Huez. It was hot (30) and sticky with full sun and very little breeze. The climb took the best part of two hours and varied from around 6% to 13%. (The beer was really needed at the end).

Corsica’s not the easiest of places to cycle around because there aren’t many roads. The scenery is certainly spectacular but that fact has inhibited the building of ‘small country lanes’. That means that it can be difficult to find roads where you’re not sharing it with cars. Today we were lucky, the road we chose was very quiet and we only saw a handful of cars all day. We’d like to go to the southernmost town of Bonifacio but it looks like we’d have to use a main road, which won’t be pleasant. On the other hand, the island is very well suited to motorcycles, and there are plenty of those buzzing around (mostly French and Germans).

Like a lot of regions, there’s evidence of a separatist pressure group here. Various slogans are daubed around (in Corsican) and often, where place-names are in both French and Corsican, the French one has been painted over. Also, lots of signposts show signs of having been blasted with shotgun rounds.

Propriana looks good. A coastal town with plenty of life.