June 21, 2023
Out and back to Murato
We debated whether or not to go for a ride today. The beach and pool combo was great, and it was quite tricky to plan a reasonable length loop ride that wasn't boring and full of traffic, or uphill. But we are on a bike trip, and we do like biking, and we reasoned that Tobias should be happy enough if we got back in time for some more pool time in the afternoon so unloaded we set off towards the mountains at about 9am.
Tobias noticed immediately that the panniers weren't there and 3 times on the ride pointed down to my front wheel and said "bags" with a lot of concern. The frustrating thing about staying out on the other side of the estuary is that we had to ride 8km just to get about 3km from where we were sleeping. We stopped in San Lorenzo for a coffee and pastry (some kind of croissant and chocolate and raspberry roll thing for me, the boys opted for croissants, though Tobias stole my chocolate). The croissants in France are a step above any we've had so far.
Just after snacks we started climbing. Komoot steered us off the quiet but main road into a small road that ended with 3 steps. Thanks komoot. Luckily we are a bit more mobile unloaded so we could just lift up. It takes a bit of getting used to riding unloaded. The first time I took my bottle out I nearly pulled my bike over. After climbing to about 100m we found the proposed road by Komoot to be blocked by a big gate fastened with a big lock and chain and a very clear sign telling us not to proceed. So we descended all the way back to 0 and started the climb again. The further we got away from the highway, the less traffic we encountered and soon we were climbing above a big ravine with great views in front and behind us.
The detour put us a bit behind schedule and Tobias was getting quite frustrated at being stuck on the bike. He has started throwing his helmeted head backwards into my chin/chest when he's grumpy which in turn makes me pretty grumpy so we had an emergency stop at a wide corner so we could both cool down. After having my 5 minutes I joined the guys again and Tobias fed me his peas and offered me water. We stopped once more on the climb to fill up our bottles and for Tobias to dip his feet in the water then pushed on to Murato. The climb was awesome. We had a tail wind most of the way and the gradient was not so steep that we needed to get into our little gears so we made it up at a pretty good pace.
Murato was cute, but had less food options than we were expecting. There was one restaurant open so we had a burger and croque monsieur and then ate all of Tobias' beignets de fromage that he decided were too sharp. They were exceptional, but we were stuffed afterwards. We decided to turn the ride into an out and back rather than complete the loop. It was already 2pm and we still had a bit of climbing and then a long 15km once we reached sea level. The wind was getting pretty strong and if it was blowing so hard down there the riding would get pretty unpleasant. Plus climbing on a belly full of fried cheese is not pleasant.
I usually do a lot to avoid riding the same route back home, but it was actually quite nice to have a different perspective of the climb. Tobias was asleep in the trailer so I didn't have to contend with any head banging either. The wind was blowing hard, especially in the beginning so we took it pretty easy to avoid being blown off the cliff.
Tobias woke when we stopped for groceries and we made it home with plenty of time for the pool. There are lots of German families here, including one super friendly kid about his age who was super willing to share all his toys with Tobias so now he's saying danke schön instead of thankyou.
Tomorrow we have a pretty relaxed day. Our boat doesn't leave until 6pm and we don't have to leave the campground until 12 so we can take our time getting back to Bastia and picking up supplies for our crossing back to the mainland.
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Today's ride: 51 km (32 miles)
Total: 1,702 km (1,057 miles)
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