Day 17 - Another day in Paradise

Tuesday 26th July 2016


It's getting to be a routine. I am up at 6am for coffee and a breakfast of whatever is available - a leftover croissant, jam and a banana.

High up in the Haut Corse

Then I'm off for another early morning solo run into the mountains south and east of Ajaccio. The temperature drops as I climb up to some of the highest peaks in Corsica. The roads are empty and the scenery is very beautiful. The road winds up a number of hairpins and out onto a treeless high plain.

Haut Corse overlook


I stop for breakfast at Bar Relax in the tiny mountain village of Aullene. It certainly is a relaxed affair. The lady owner offers me access to the Wifi and I spend a couple of hours uploading photographs to the blog, catching up with the blog diary and getting another episode published and posted.

The cafe at Aullene

Leisrely breakfast

Then it is more mountain pass riding until I drop down to the coast and work my way back to camp.
It's one of those mesmerising rides where I get lost in the left-right swinging of the bike around the never-ending curves.

Lovely ride down the curves

Mick has been faced with a hard decision today. His bike has been assessed by the BMW garage and they say that the problem is much worse than we feared. The final drive unit is buggered and will cost over £1,500 even if the parts are available.
This cost exceeds the value of the repaired bike and there is no saying that further problems will not be found during a strip down. Also it will take at least a week or probably more to source the parts.

It is looking like the end for poor old Clarissa the R1100s. She has done almost 90,000 miles and looks like ending her days in Corsica.

Back at the camp we are done with spending here so we snack on an evening 'meal' of baguette, cheese and fruit before turning in for an early night. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 20 - Riding Solo

Image
Friday 29th July 2016 I am definitely ready to leave Camping U Prunelli. I've been camped in the same spot for a week now which is some kind of record for my tours.  So in the cool of the morning I pack up all my gear (plus some of Mick's that he couldn't carry with him) and finally set off around 09:30. Leaving Camping U Prunelli It would have been earlier but the campsite lady co-opts me to tidy up the English translations on some new notices she is preparing for the campsite.  "If not man in Reception please registration on the bar" - that sort of thing. I contemplate translating it as "My hovercraft is full of eels" but I don't think I will get away with that. I'm not sure how popular Monty Python may be in this corner of Europe. Main road to Bastia I've been thinking a lot about how I will continue this tour now that I am flying solo. The original plan was to return to France and explore the Alps along the Fr...
Read more

Day 2 - Fish and Taxis

Image
Monday 11th July 2016 The sea is calm next morning but the ferry is an hour late docking in Santander. We fight our way through a thousand Harley Davidsons on deck 2.  Eventually we are off and thread our ways through the narrow streets and out of town.   Arriving in Santander   The A8 is one of the most beautiful motorways in Europe. It swoops and rolls along the northern coast of Cantabria and Asturias where the mountains touch the sea. Our first night of camping is on the cliff tops near Luarca, a lovely little harbour settlement reminiscent of a Cornish fishing village. it is a steep walk down to the town but worth it.   Cliff top camping in Luarca   Luarca harbour at sunset Another sunset shot The little harbour is full of boats and a fantastic sunset presents a scene from a movie as the sun dips down into the Atlantic and floods the harbour with red-orange light. We find a harbour-side fish restaurant and settle in fo...
Read more