Lately we have opted out of the hotel provided breakfasts. They are not included in the room charge and usually cost between 8 and 10 euro per person. This has seemed expensive for the typical continental breakfast offerings of primarily bread and jam. Instead, we have been buying yogurt, muesli and bananas at the local grocery store. This route provides quite a savings and we are generally more satisfied with the food to start our day. Lunch is still often premade sandwiches or we will purchase some ham, cheese and tomatoes and make our own at a nice place to stop along the way.
It was a sunny day as we set off for our last ride on Corsica - to Ajaccio, the capital of Sud de Corse. The road was a nice, undulating road at sea level. We very quickly rode the first ten kilometres to Sagone. It was a very picturesque town with a beautiful beach. Scott decided this would be a good place for a swim; so he put on his bathing suit (there was absolutely no one around) and dove in. It would have been a good town in which to have spent the night, but clearly all the hotels we passed were closed up. We had a quick snack and carried on to Tiuccia, another small town, but perfect for a coffee stop. The serious ascent began shortly after leaving town.
Looking back across the water at Cargese. Pretty town with most of it's commercial activity along the highway.
Still on the D81, it was fairly busy with cars and earth hauling trucks. We suspect the truck traffic may have been due to the on going road construction or perhaps a mine located on the other side of the ridge. Most drivers were kind but cycling with bigger trucks is never fun. Up, up we went with Pat leading the way. One short stop at just over 200 metres vertical and then on to the Col San-Bastiano at 411 metres high. We did it quite quickly. It seems that we are getting stronger or just better able to deal with the pain!! The final three kilometers were all grades of just over 7%. It was our last serious climb on Corsica but we still added more vertical on the remainder of the ride.
Bocca di Bastianu. This picture may look simple but it was not! The camera was placed on self-timer on a construction baracade and Scott had ten seconds to press the button, cross the road, leap the wall and get into place. Anything for a picture!
We enjoyed our lunch at the top and then carefully descended on a fairly rough road to the junction of D81 and D61. Here was our opportunity to leave the busy highway for a quieter ride. Pat's Mapsme selected this as the best bike route while Scott's Garmin wasn't sure if the road even existed (later recognized as operator error). Given the signage, the D61 seemed for real so we jumped in and started down the hill only to encounter full on road construction one kilometre later. Tentatively we pushed our bikes onto the dirt road toward the construction workers. Would they send us back? Was Garmin right - there was no road? No one so much as blinked. Pat asked if the road was good to ride. She was told the construction was for about one or two kilometres.
Pat"s "mapsme" selection got us into this mess but it worked well.
It turned out to be the best choice as the road surface soon turn to pavement and another long downhill run with few cars. The city of Ajaccio was now in our sights.
We passed under this aquaduct upon arriving into Ajaccio. It was finished in 1878 and still looks solid.
We arrived at rush hour with busy car traffic on the local streets. Not sure of the best route we ended up riding and pushing our bikes up and down steep hills. We soon found our hotel but not before stopping for a celebratory beer. At eight euros for a large glass these are are not inexpensive but at moments like these, so worth it!
In Ajaccio at rush hour just as local kids are leaving school. We went past the scooter parking area which is the choice of transport for them. Cycling here was not very good. We pushed up a few hills on the sidewalk due to traffic.
We finished the day doing laundry at the local laudromat and enjoyed a yummy pizza dinner with two desserts! Not being able to choose between chocolate mousse and a lemon thingy, we had them both. This is very unusual for us as we always share just one dessert. I guess we felt we had earned it.
