Tag Archives: GPS traces

Corsica 2012 – Calanche

By Ondra OK1CLD | Published: September 28, 2012

Since we originally supposed getting from Curzu to Porto would take us 2 days, not just one, we had a free day in Porto. Of course we didn’t want to just spend it on the beach, so I made an improvised plan for a trip to Calanche, probably the most well-known natural sight of Corsica.

Start Finish Distance Max. elevation Min. elevation Track record
Piana Porto 15.3 km 744 m 0 m GPX file

Unfortunately, when we woke up on Saturday morning it was raining:-( Lukáš decided to stay in the camp and I set out for the trip alone.

Near Châtaigneraie de Palani

Near Châtaigneraie de Palani

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Corsica 2012 – TMM: “Curzu –> Porto”

By Ondra OK1CLD | Published: August 19, 2012

On Friday, just like on the two previous days, we set out on the track shortly after half past six. Our plan was a shorter stage from Curzu to village of Serriera – however, things turned out a little differently at the end.

Start Finish Distance Max. elevation Min. elevation Track record
Curzu Porto 18 km 414 m 0 m GPX file

Our hike started by 100 meters ascent from gîte to the upper part of village, from where the Tra Mare e Monti continued its way to the west. For the kilometer and half, the path kept going up, until it reached the highest point of the today’s stage – 414 m ASL. From this part of the track, there was a beautiful view to the Golfe de Porto bay.

Serriera

Serriera

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Corsica 2012 – TMM: “Girolata –> Curzu”

By Ondra OK1CLD | Published: August 19, 2012

Waking up early really paid off the day before, so we decided to do the same on Thursday and set out for a track at half past six. Our target for the day was village of Curzu located  above the Golfe de Porto bay.

Start Finish Distance Max. elevation Min. elevation Track record
Girolata Curzu 11.3 km 696 m 0 m GPX file

First part of the trail led us from Girolata up to Bocca Ghjianibarellu pass, located at 182 m ASL. The ascent wasn’t very steep and soon, after a little more than 30 minutes, we were on the top. From the place, there was an amazing view down to Girolata village and to red rocks behind it, beautifully lit by morning sun.

Girolata (from Bocca Ghjianibarellu)

Girolata (from Bocca Ghjianibarellu)

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Corsica 2012 – TMM: “Galéria –> Girolata”

By Ondra OK1CLD | Published: August 18, 2012

On Wednesday we woke up very early, at 5 o’clock. The reason was the fourth stage was supposed to be quite difficult and we wanted to try to avoid the heat. As usually, our morning preparation took us a little more than hour and a half and at 6:40 we were on our track.

Start Finish Distance Max. elevation Min. elevation Track record
Galéria Girolata 14 km 768 m 0 m GPX file

At the beginning, the hike was quite easy, there was some ascent, but only very mild. After a little more than 1.5 kilometers, we came to a small water reservoir – it quite surprised me, somehow I thought the area was completely dry in summer…

Galéria (from path to Punta di a Literniccia)

Galéria (from path to Punta di a Literniccia)

Near the reservoir we also missed one marking and went along a wrong path for a while… So here’s a warning: if going from Galéria to Girolata, you have to see the water reservoir on the right side of you – if it’s on the left side, turn around and look for the orange markings more carefullly…

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Corsica 2012 – TMM: “Tuarelli –> Galéria”

By Ondra OK1CLD | Published: August 13, 2012

Even though the third stage should’ve been much easier than the previous one, we decided to wake up at the same time as the day before, at 6 o’clock. Once again, packing took us about 90 minutes and shortly before 7:40 we left Tuarelli and set out to the west, along the river Fango.

Start Finish Distance Max. elevation Min. elevation Track record
Tuarelli Galéria 12.9 km 180 m 22 m GPX file

The first part of the hike was quite easy and very nice, with the beautiful views to the river and red rocks around it. After an hour and twenty minutes, we came to the place I’ve already been to – Ponte Vecchiu bridge over Fango. It’s really great spot (especially for swimming/bathing in river), worth even a bigger detour (e.g. from D 81 between Calvi and Porto).

Ponte Vecchiu bridge over Fango

Ponte Vecchiu bridge over Fango

After Tra Mare e Monti crosses the bridge, it goes for a while along the road (D 351 and then D 81) to Galéria. I didn’t like that part very much, luckily after just about 2 km long it ends in the lowest elevation point of Tuarelli – Galéria stage, at cca. 22 meters ASL. We got there at about 9:20, an hour and forty minutes after leaving camp.

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Corsica 2012 – TMM: “Bonifatu –> Tuarelli”

By Ondra OK1CLD | Published: August 12, 2012

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.

Start Finish Distance Max. elevation Min. elevation Track record
Bonifatu Tuarelli 17.8 km 1200 m 100 m GPX file

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

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. Read More (+ elevation diagram, waypoints, photos) »

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Corsica 2012 – TMM: “Calenzana -> Bonifatu”

By Ondra OK1CLD | Published: August 4, 2012

In a previous blog post I started describing my summer holiday to Corsica. I wrote about me and my friend’s journey to Calenzana, starting point of Tra Mare e Monti long-distance track. Now I’d like to tell you about the first stage of our hike.

On 22nd July we woke up at about 7 o’clock. To my surprise, our tent was the last one on the camping place – all the other ones were gone! As it turned out, all other hikers from camp were heading to GR20 and set out very early to avoid sun and heat.

Start Finish Distance Max. elevation Min. elevation Track record
Calenzana Bonifatu 15.1 km (incl. 2 km detour!) 575 m 218 m GPX file

We were much slower and left quite late, around half past eight. The first stage of Tra Mare e Monti, at the beginning common with GR20 route, led us through Calenzana village and up the hill. The ascent was quite pleasant, not very steep.

Calenzana (from GR20 and Tra Mare e Monti)

Calenzana (from GR20 and Tra Mare e Monti)

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Corsica 2011 – Lac de Nino (21st July)

By Ondra OK1CLD | Published: September 11, 2011

For our second (and last) day in Niolo, we had planned a trip to Lac de Nino – one of five most famous Corsican lakes.

Start/finish Main POI Distance Max. elevation Min. elevation Track record
Maison Forestière de Poppaghia Lac de Nino 10 km 1762 m 1061 m GPX file

The track begins at Maison Forestière de Poppaghia (1061 m ASL), few kilometers down under Col de Verghio mountain pass. The hike is very well-known and so we met a lot of people there. It surprised me that most of them were French – usually tourists in Corsican mountains are mainly Germans, Czechs, Austrians and Slovenians.

Lac de Nino from Bocca â Stazzona

Lac de Nino from Bocca â Stazzona

We set out from the parking place at 9:22 and set out to the south along the marked trail to Lac de Nino. At first it ascended quite gently through the beautiful pine forest of Valdu Niellu (“Black Forest” in English???); however, this changed after about 3 kilometers, when we came out of the forest near “Bergerie de Colga” (1412 m ASL). Read More (+ elevation diagram, waypoints, photos) »

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Corsica 2011 – Viru valley (20th July)

By Ondra OK1CLD | Published: September 11, 2011

Well, after a short cycling break I’ll return back to writing about Corsica. Weather wasn’t very good on our first day in Niolo. It was quite cold (approximately 13°C), very windy and it was raining. Despite that, we set out to a trip to Viru valley – a track from Klaus Wolfsperger’s guidebook.

Start/finish Main POI Distance Max. elevation Min. elevation Track record
Parking near Calasima Bergeries de Ballone 11 km 1442 m 1056 m GPX file

The hike starts near Calasima – which is, according to the aforementioned guidebook, highest-located Corsican village. We left our car at ten to eleven on a small parking space on the road to Viru valley – it is very easy to found: the tarmac road from Calasima changes here to the unpaved, gravel one.

Viru valley

Viru valley

Main target of our trip were "Bergeries de Ballone", that are located on famous GR20 route near Viru brook. At first we went to the west along the gravel road. After about 1.5 kilometers, it changed into a narrow forest path and gradually turned to the north-north-west. Even though the track was quite well marked, we still had some problems with orientation and I was quite happy to have my GPS with me. Read More (+ elevation diagram, waypoints, photos) »

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Corsica 2011 – Girolata (18th July)

By Ondra OK1CLD | Published: August 27, 2011

On Monday we set out to the same starting point as the day before – to Bocca a Croce / Col de la Croix. Our plan was to go to village Girolata, along hiking route Tra Mare e Monti (well-known track, leading from Calenzana near Calvi to Cargèse near Golfe de Sagone). Girolata is the only village in Golfe de Girolata bay and it’s possible to get there only by boat or on foot.

Start/finish Main POI Distance Max. elevation Min. elevation Track record
Bocca a Croce Girolata 11.3 km 261 m 0 m GPX file

We left our car at quarter to eleven and started slowly descending down to the bay. The path was quite wide and well marked by orange color. Unlike during previous two trips, we met quite a lot of people on the track. Some were going just to Girolata like us, but most of them had big bags and were probably doing the whole Tra Mare e Monti hike. That inspired me to make a promise (to myself:-)), that if I have time I’ll try to go “Between the Sea and the Mountains” sometimes next summer.

Girolata (from Bocca Ghjanibarellu)

Girolata (from Bocca Ghjanibarellu)

After 2,4 kilometers long descent (during which I took a lot of photos of Punta Castellacciu, towering above blue sea of the bay), we got down to the sea, to beautiful Plage de Tuara. From the plage, there are two paths leading to Girolata – one goes along the coast and the other across 180 meters high hill Bocca Ghjanibarellu. Read More (+ elevation diagram, waypoints, photos) »

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