The Wobblin' Sprocket

I made it back late Sunday night. 

I thought Corsica was awesome…..a really good job of planning — nice places to stay and outstanding riding route.  The company was great as well.   I will just have to come back and do  the Beauty.  

I will definitely come back for more “Far and Away ” tours.  Working on scheduling issues right now and trying to cut back on working.   Spain trip is a possibility next spring.  Will keep you informed.

Thanks again for a great trip to Corsica.

Alexandra 

No daily posts for this tour.   I was too tired and so was my computer…it balked and threw some fits.  Suffice it to say that Alexandra, Dan, Graeme and Chantal tackled the challenge in stride.  Upon occasion, The Beast bit back….I mean literally bit back…a resident pig nipped Chantal on the rump!

Those that have done this tour will understand.

Here are a few selected pics.  I have recovered sufficiently to post them.

The Welcoming Committee…..

The riders

The ride up the coast to Bastia:

Stop in St Florent:

The girls:

Me:

The pig, working up to the assault.

Dan taking refuge, after the assault:

Sunset in Zonza:

With Chez Maddy in San Giovanni:

The first of 3 big climbs from Corte to Propriano:

Here are the elevation profiles for “Le Beast”, our Fall tour in Corsica. These are in kilometers and meters. They convert to a total of 450 miles and 48,000 feet (3.28 feet per meter) of climbing. Note the scale is different in all these charts.

The rating is based on the amount of climbing and the distance for each days ride. A 60 mile ride with 3000 feet of climbing would get a score of 2.5 (with both distance and climbing weighted equally). Double both and you have a rating of 5.

We depart from Casamozza and head up the coast to the main Plaza in Bastia for a cup of coffee before climbing Col de Teghime on the way to St Florent on the other side of the Island. After St. Florent, we climb thru the “Desert of Agriates” before descending to I’le Rousse on the coast.

We cut inland from I’le Rousse and visit some of the smaller, more remote towns of the interior before descending to Calvi. Heading south from Calvi there are some scenic rollers along the coast and then we climb the Col de Palmarella and the smaller Col de la Croix on the way to Porto.

From Porto, it’s straight inland past Evisa and up and over the Col de Verghio. Then down thru the very spectacular Golo gorge. There is a small climb on the way into Corte and the heart of the island.

Today is the toughest day. There is a warm up climb, Col de Bellagranajo (760 meters), followed by Col de Sorba (1311 meters) , Col de Verde (1289 meters), and Col de la Vaccia (1193 meters).

We head South from Propriano to Bonifacio, the southern most tip of the island from which you can clearly see Sardinia for lunch. There are no really big climbs until the end of the days ride when we cut inland and take on Col de Bacinu (809 meters) before descending and climbing again to Zonza.

We ride past Col de Bavalla to the coast. Where things are as flat as they get on Corsica and then up to San Nicalao, “the Balcony” of the east coast.

The final day is a short ride. This one can actually be as easy or hard as you like.