Corsica 2012 – TMM: “Bonifatu –> Tuarelli”

According to itinerary on http://corsica.forhikers.com/mare-monti-nord, stage from Bonifatu to Tuarelli was supposed to be longest a probably most difficult of all stages we wanted to pass, which is why we decided to wake up a little earlier than the day before, at 6 a.m. Washing up, having breakfast and packing up all our stuff took us cca. hour and a half and at 7:35 we set out for the track.

Weather wasn’t very good, sky was overcast and it was raining a little bit, but we didn’t mind – in fact I quite liked it, since at the beginning of today’s stage we had to climb to 1200 meters ASL and the rain was quite refreshing. The ascent was very nice, through a beautiful Bonifatu forest. After about kilometer and half (and cca. 200 elevation meters gained), we came to the ruins of chalet of Prince Pierre Bonaparte (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, as I learnt at home on the internet).

Me on Bocca Bonassa

We had a short break at the ruins and then continued in our ascent. It was quite a long one and at least for me quite exhausting (yeah, I wasn’t exactly trained and in shape), but after 2 hours, when we finally got to the highest point (not only of today’s stage, but of the whole Tra Mare e Monti!), we were rewarded more than enough. From the place, there was an amazing view to the northern coast around the city of Calvi (located at the moment cca. 20 km from us) and to the beautiful wooded valley from which we were coming.

We stayed there for a while, taking a lot of photos and then started slowly descending down to Bocca Bonassa, 1153 m ASL. Shortly before the pass, another very nice view opened before us, to quite a deep valley in the south, where we were heading.

Near Bocca Bonassa

From the pass, TMM led us down the hill almost all the way till the end of the stage. Only exception was a very short ascent to Bocca di Lucca, 585 m ASL (yes, another pass), that is located about 7.5 km behind Bocca Bonassa. When we got there after about 3 hours, we could already see the valley of Fango river, where our today’s target, gîte d’étape in Tuarelli, was located. However, at the moment, we (and especially me) were quite exhausted and getting there took us some time – but finally, at 15:30, 8 hours after leaving Bonifatu we were there!

Bonifatu – Tuarelli stage was the longest of all TMM stages we went along, and probably my most favorite of them – especially thanks to views from (around) Bocca Bonassa. I couldn’t believe during the whole day we met only two people, going in the opposite direction than us (and noone in the same)…

Our tent in Tuarelli

Unlike the stage, gîte d’étape in Tuarelli (regular camping actually, most of people there were with their own car or caravan, we were the only hikers there) became my least favorite of all. Price was very expensive, 10 Euros per person (for accommodation in own tent) and mademoiselle in reception gave me no receipt for that. Furthermore, for 3 baguettes and 3 bottles of St. Georges mineral water, we paid unbelievable 19 Euros! With those prices, no wonder, there was Ferrari F355 Berlinetta parked right outside of the reception…

On the other hand, the camping is located near the beautiful Fango river, and swimming in its deep pools was a really great relax after the long and exhausting hike!

Here is the elevation diagram (generated by my GPS altimeter and processed by Garmin BaseCamp application) of the track:

Elevation diagram – from Bonifatu to Tuarelli

The following GPS waypoints might also come in handy. You can download all of them in a single GPX file.