Day 20 - Riding Solo

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 France-Italy border before heading up into Switzerland.

But we did some of that while waiting for Sean's repair, and the main reason was to show Mick some of the great passes in that region that I had visited  previously on a solo tour.

So now I think I need to find some routes that are new to me. In the end I decide to go to Bastia and check out the ferry routes from there. Fate can decide for me.

So I take the fastest route to Bastia. This is along the main spinal road that runs north-south through the mountains for the length of the island. It is good and fast with some spectacular views as it winds up and over the central mountain range.

Camping Les Orangers

By 13:00 I have arrived in Bastia and navigate my way to the port. It is blazing hot and I am glad to find a small tabac bar on the waterfront which is air-conditioned.

I down two glasses of iced orange juice and wait for the sweat to dry. I enquired of the barman as to where I can get a ticket for the ferry and he points out a big, modern building on the waterfront, the Corsica Ferries offices. They are closed for lunch but will reopen at 14:00.

So I go over there at 2pm and buy a ticket on the morning ferry to Livorno, a town on the Italian coast not far from Pisa and Florence. It is the shortest sailing route off the island.

Next I ride north along the coast and find Les Orangers campsite in the tiny coastal village of Miamo. It's a great little site with tent camping on several terraces up the hill. I cannot ride the bike up to the camping space but it's not too difficult to lug my gear up on foot.

My pitch at Les Orangers

The campsite has a small bar/restaurant and the usual ablution facilities. I change out of the bike gear, take a cold shower and relax in the shade at the bar with a cold beer. It is far too hot to contemplate erecting the tent until the heat starts to leave the day.

Soon after five it is time to get set up. Then I walk the 50 metres or so to the coast road and cross over and down the steps to the beach.

On the stony beach

It is a stony shoreline, but only small gravelly stuff halfway to sand. I'm already in my swim shorts so within moments I am swimming out to a diving raft moored 30 metres or so off the shore.

The water is blood warm. It's wonderful to be swimming in the sea for the first time this holiday.

..and in for a dip

Afterwards I wander back to the campsite and order a ham salad and a bottle of the local red. I get chatting with a fellow camper who speaks perfect English. Hardly surprising since it turns out that Raisa is in fact English by birth although she has lived near Lake Garda in Italy for 30 years.
She is on a cycling holiday with a group of friends. We talk about England and Italy, our different travels and generally set the world to rights. She is taking the same ferry as me in the morning so we will probably meet up again on the boat.

So I get an early night in anticipation of the morning schedule. I need to be at the ferry for 8am. 

Back for supper

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