Picture captions (not sure what order they appear in on the blog. Hope you can figure them out.): Beach at San Pellegrino; Great Eastern Plains with the mountains in the background on the way to Aleria; Part of the Casablanca vineyard on the way to Aleria (with tractor); Part of Roman site outside Aleria (2 pictures); Road to the mountains on the way to Solenzara (thankfully, I didn't have to cycle OVER the mountains); View from my room in Solenzara; Tower over a small beach on a stormy morning on the way to Porto Vecchio; View from my room in Porto Vecchio.
August 30, 2010 Café L’Ancura Marina, Bastia, Corsica 4:05pm
I’ve got all of the postcards addressed, but in doing so, I found I needed some more, so I’ll try to get them today.
I put the bike together this morning and then took it up to my room. All seems to be in working order. I put the box back in luggage storage at the hotel, hoping to use it for the trip back to Dubai.
I also did a bit of exploration this morning. I found the road which I had seen everyday pointing to Bonifacio. It seems that there is a tunnel that goes under the harbor and comes out on the other side. Unfortunately, no pedestrians or cyclists are allowed inside the tunnel. It looks as though I’ll have to go up and over by the citadel. I’ll also be leaving my big bag at the hotel as well. I’ll only be taking my backpack with me. Shouldn’t be a problem. At least I hope not. I left the rack that I used in Canada and Maine at Mom’s house. It wouldn’t fit in the bag, and I forgot to ask the bike shop to put it in the box. Oh, well. Here is the tentative itinerary for the Corsica bike trip (and beyond):
Aug 31 T Bastia – San Pellegrino San Pellegrino Hotel 48.5km
Sept 1 W San Pellegrino – Aleria Les Oranges Hotel 40km
Sept 2 TH Aleria – Solenzara La Solenzara 31km
Sept 3 F Solenzara – Porto Vecchio ?? 43 km
Sept 4 S Porto Vecchio – Bonifacio ?? 28.5km
Sept 5 SU Bonifacio ??
Sept 6 M Bonifacio – Porto Vecchio ?? 28.5km
Sept 7 T Porto Vecchio – Bastia (bus) Posta Vecchio
Sept 8 W Bastia Posta Vecchio
Sept 9 TH Bastia – Nice – Paris Radisson Airport
Sept 10 F Paris – Dubai My house
So, once more I’m off on the bike. Today is a little worrying because it is quite windy, but I can’t really tell which direction it’s blowing. Let’ keep those fingers crossed for a tailwind (or no wind…or not much wind).
In the table above, even where I haven’t listed a definite place to stay, I know there are a couple of options. I don’t like to make reservations because if anything happens and I get delayed, I’ll be charged for the room. Not good.
August 31, 2010 San Pellegrino Hotel 48.5/1887.5 1:45pm
I’m not sure if that’s the actual mileage because the computer was a bit dodgy this morning. But, that’s what the map shows, so I’ll go with that. There were times when the display for speed on the computer would go from 21 to 6 to 0 to 15 to 0 to whatever, all in a matter of seconds. Of course, that affected the odometer as well. Finally, it seemed to give up the ghost and just sit on 0 for the rest of the trip. Oh, well. If that’s the only thing that goes wrong on the bike, I’ll be in good shape.
Last night was pretty uneventful. I finished writing all of the postcards. I’ll mail them when I get back to Bastia. I didn’t want to schlep them all over. I only took my big grey backpack on this trip. It has only the essentials in it.
The terrain today was pretty rolling, so I was actually able to carry pretty good speed throughout. Even though the traffic on D193 and D198 was pretty steady, all of the drivers were courteous and gave me sufficient room. Some of the time there was a shoulder. Sometimes the shoulder was cement instead of asphalt which made for a bit of a bumpier ride.
Seeing as how I’d been off the bike in about 10 days, I was pretty pleased with my performance. It took a little while to get my legs under me. Only one stop for PowerAde and water. The rest of the time it was “Head down, and GO!”
Check out this morning went pretty quickly. I left the big bag to gather when I get back to Bastia on the 7th. I think I reserved the same room I had this time for the 7th and 8th. Yesterday in my wanderings, I found a bike shop which might be able to box the bike for the trip home. I wasn’t able to ask because yesterday was Monday and it was closed (as were many other shops in town). Fortunately, the SPAR grocery store wasn’t, and I was able to pick up a wrench with which to tighten my pedals on the bike.
I arrived at the San Pellegrino at about 10:30. Pretty good time. (That’s what makes me question the distance). I had made a reservation two days ago. I had cancelled my reservation when Mom passed. There was a 25€ penalty for the cancellation. They were nice enough to apply the penalty to my room now. Isn’t that great??
The room is wonderful!! Lots of room. Air conditioning. About 100 yards from the beach (where I’ll take a long walk after finishing this entry). The only drawback is there are two single beds instead of one BIG one. But, it was the only room that I could check in to when I arrived. No problem.
Aleria, next stop on this adventure. There is a site containing Roman ruins just outside the town, so I’m hoping to get there at about the same time that I arrived here today so I have time to look around the ruins. According to The Rough Guide they are worth seeing.
I sent off a first draft of the initial correspondence for the project that I’ve been assigned the other day. The Director of Institutional Effectiveness sent it back with some suggestions. Before I make any adjustments, she’s going to share it with the President to see what he has to say. We’ll see.
I’ve taken the bottoms off the “zipper pants” for the first time since I began all of this in Montreal. Since I’ve got a bike tan, I guess it looks OK. The sock tan leaves a little to be desired.
Since I stopped cycling, the wind has picked up quite a bit. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m on the immediate coast or if it’s windy everywhere. I guess what it tells me is that I should get out on the road early in the morning before the wind get up. Important.
September 1, 2010 Hotel L’Atrachjata, Aleria 42/1931km 5:10pm
Overall a pretty good day on the bike. For some reason the computer decided to work again. 26 miles total. That translated to 41.6 km. Took just about 2 hours. No rush. More later.
I gotta say…the San Pellegrino complex (and it was), was pretty amazing. After a short nap after arrival, I took a loooooong stroll down the beach toward the left. There seemed to be a point of land jutting out at the end. The wind was up pretty good, but it was behind me as I headed in that direction. The sand was pretty soft, so the walking was a bit tough. The waves were up a little bit because of the wind.
At the other end was another “complex.” Just as I sat down on the patio to have a small beer, it felt as though at least two buses of senior citizens descended on the place. They all carried their “welcome glass of juice” with them. They were then addressed by what seemed to be the local version of “Julie McCoy” (Love Boat reference), a guy in a blue Hawaiian shirt. Of course, it was all done in French, so I had no idea what was going on. Anyway…I read my book and tried to be invisible.
The wind had subsided a bit for the walk back. On the way back, I walked along the edge of the water the whole way. It was so nice. I hadn’t had my feet in the water since I don’t know when. Maybe last summer in Cuba. Anyway…it felt great.
I had made a reservation for dinner (suggested by the front desk when I checked in) for 7:30. Caesar salad to start (with no anchovies) and then grilled steak with potatoes wrapped in bacon. It was all quite good and filling. Actually, I don’t usually eat steak, but it was the only thing on the menu that I could figure out. There weren’t any menus in English, so I had to try to decipher the French one. I wasn’t sure about the pasta dish, and there wasn’t any chicken, so I went with the grilled steak.
After dinner, I had two small glasses of red wine (to help with digestion). All the while I was reading some of the “box texts” in The Rough Guide with information about Corsican vendettas and the nationalist movement, etc. Pretty interesting stuff.
After that, I went to bed and slept pretty much like shit. I’m not sure why. Even though the air conditioning was on, the room was a bit stuffy. In the middle of the night, I opened the sliding door which is just inside the slatted front door. The allowed lots of cool air in. Helped only marginally.
7:30 up and over to breakfast. Hey, I was paying 7€ for it; I might as well eat it. A bowl of Corn Flakes…a bowl of fruit, a croissant, water, and juice. Should stand me well on the bike trip. Supposed to be about 40km to Aleria. That’s about 24 miles.
The morning was actually pretty cool even though the sun was shining brightly and there were a number of people strolling along the beach. I wore my black Nike Quick-Dri shirt over my bike shirt on the way out of San Pellegrino. Again, it felt good to start the day on the bike.
All through the day, I kept getting mixed up with kilometers and miles. When I first left San Pellegrino, the odometer read 22.something. The map said that Aleria was 40 km away (24 miles). I figured, “OK, when I get to about 60, I’ll be almost there.” However, I forgot that the odometer was in MILES, not KILOMETERS. So, when I took my first rest stop at 10, it took me a while to realize that I had already gone 10 MILES, not kilometers. That meant that I was almost halfway there. Oh, well. In fact, the distance wound up to be about 26 miles for the total. Of course, that included the additional two kilometers from San Pellegrino to the main road.
Again, traffic wasn’t too bad. I even clicked into my pedals today because most of the time there was a six-foot wide travel lane for me. Two stops for water/PowerAde along the way. At the first stop, I took off the black Nike shirt and put it in the backpack. The day had warmed up in a hurry. Occasionally the wind whipped up (or at least I felt it) because I was riding through the plains of Eastern Corsica. The ocean was a ways off to the left, and the mountains were a ways off to the right.
I found the hotel in Aleria without any trouble. Got checked in right away. (I had made an electronic reservation.) Really nice room. Except, the 2nd time on this trip a room that has an unattached shower nozzle…expected to use it by hand. Nowhere to put it. Oh, well.
After showering and checking e-mail in the room (free WiFi), I headed out for the Fort and the Roman ruins just outside town. From the elevated area where they are located, there are some great views of the surrounding countryside. In addition, other than over the mountains, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Beautiful blue.
The displays inside the Museum were “okay.” But it was pretty amazing to think that I wasn’t in ROME looking at this stuff. I was a long way away.
Oh, ya…When I checked e-mail, I found out that the hotel in Solenzara where I had hoped for a reservation for tomorrow night (Sept. 2) has no availability. It is, as they often say in Europe, complete (meaning full). So, I had to go to my 2nd option, which is a bit more expensive (but not overly so). Fortunately, I can get a room with a “sea view” for a reasonable rate. Yay!!! I’ll be sure to take pictures and send them along.
When I returned from the ruins, I wandered down to the far end of town to the local equivalent of Carrefour. There, I bought a new pair of boxers and some new highlighters. The highlighters I purchased at Office Max before I left don’t work so well. To me, it seems to be a design flaw. The ones I bought work like ball point pens. The point appears when you click the top. This is all well and good and eliminates the need to take a cap on and off, but it also leaves the tip exposed to the air. That means it dries out quickly whether in use or not. The yellow one I’ve been using is already almost dry. Not good. So, I bought a pack of four different colored mini-highlighters with caps. Should last me to the end of the trip. The boxers I’m currently wearing are on their last legs, so I picked up a cheap pair to last me until I get back to Bastia where there is a clean pair in the bag I left behind. Probably more than anyone wanted to know.
The roads of the D198 continue to be good. I’ll be following it all the way into Bonifacio. Over the next day, I’ll also try to line up accommodation in Porto Vecchio and Bonoficcio for the end of the trip. I’ll be taking a bus back to Bastia from Porto Vecchio. If I took the bus from Bonofaccio, I’d have to change in Porto Vecchio, so what I’ll do is travel from Porto Vecchio to Bonofaccio…stay overnight and one more day in Bonofaccio…then bicycle back to Porto Vecchio (30km) and stay overnight and take the bus from there.
Of course, in the back of my head, I’m deathly afraid that I won’t be allowed to take the bike on the bus back to Bastia. Just before I left Bastia, I thought about taking the bus (with the bike) down to Bonofaccio and bicycling back to Bastia. That way, I’d arrive in Bastia with the bike and not have to worry about getting it on the bike. Obviously, I didn’t do that. We’ll see if that comes back to haunt me.
So…that’s about it from here in Aleria. I’ll post more from Solenzara. There’s not much to see there. Just hanging out on the beach. No ruins or anything. It should be an easy day on the bike. From here in Aleria, it should be about 30km.
At this point, I’m over 26,000 words for the blog. Isn’t it too bad that I can’t submit a travel blog as my dissertation? I’d be about 1/2way through by now. Oh, well.
September 2, 2010 Hotel La Solenzara, Solenzara 32/1964km 3:00pm
Pretty easy day on the bike. I got a bit of a late start (about 9:30). That was because I was “only” going 32 km today (20 miles). I had a little bit better grip of the miles/kilometers thing today. Not too much confusion.
Pretty rolling terrain (only one real “hill) for most of the day. There were also quite a number of “flats”…spaces which had pretty much open plains on both side. That meant that the wind had a chance to become a bit of a factor. Oh, well. It didn’t blow too badly. (In many senses of that expression)
I managed to find the hotel La Solenzara without too much trouble. It is, after all, right on the main street. I arrived in the late morning but was able to check in right away. Pretty good stuff. Technically, it has a “sea view,” if I look straight left out the window. I immediately hung my riding clothes out the window in the sun to dry. By the time I had checked e-mail and taken a shower, they were already dry. The bed is large, and the TV works (although the only thing I could understand is the US Open highlights on EUROSport.
As I write this, I’ve already walked the entire length of the town. Not really much to see. Although, there are two other hotels that weren’t listed in any of the books that I consulted (including one given to me at the Tourist Information Office which was supposed to have all of the hotels in it from all over Corsica). No big deal. I decided not to go for a walk on the beach just down from the hotel because the other day at the San Pellegrino, the beach walking really did a number on my leg. It made them a bit more sore than usual. So, seeing s how tomorrow is a 43 (or so) kilometer day, I decided just to rest.
I now have all of my hotel reservations for Porto Vecchio and Bonifacio. The one in Porto Vecchio was a little complicated to try to do over the internet. I would up just contacting them by e-mail to let them know that I wanted a reservation for two night but not consecutively. The one in Bonifacio is not the one that I originally had a reservation in when I first planned to come here but then had to cancel. Both of them are slightly pricey, but the location more than makes up for it.
Just before I rode into Solenzara, I passed a sign which indicated that Bonifacio was 63km away. That’s odd. The map says that from Solenzara to Porto Vecchio is 43km and Porto Vecchio to Bonifacio is 28.5 km. A book from the Tourist Office in Aleria says that it’s 41 to Porto Vecchio and then 27 to Bonifacio. Who to believe? Oh, well. Just put my head down and go. When I get there, I get there. It’s not a race. I’m constantly reminded of my two favorite Nike t-shirts which I bought at the huge mall in Kuala Lumpur: one said “The Road is Long. So what?” The other one said, “It’s not a Race. It’s a State of Mind.” I had my picture taken in both of them at various points. (The first one I wore when I finished the Camino de Santiago…pretty appropriate.) I gave that one to my Kenyan doorman friend at Le Meridien Hotel in Dubai. I still have the other one. I’ll definitely have to take it with me on my next bike tour.
In Bastia, I saw a number of long-distance cyclists. Sometimes I saw them bicycling into the city. Sometimes I just saw their bicycles (complete with trailer) leaning outside one of the tourist attractions. However, since being on the road, I’ve only seen ONE. He was ahead of me on the road to Aleria early in the morning. He was riding in a tank t-shirt (wife beater) and what looked like black track shorts (ouch, my bum). I didn’t have the inclination or the energy to overtake him. I did see him turn off somewhere to have breakfast (I can only assume). Haven’t seen him since. I’ve seen TONS of long-distance motorcycle riders. Maybe I’m just going the wrong way. Who knows? But it’s the only way I’m going.
September 3, 2010 La Caleche d’Or Hotel, Porto Vecchio 42/2006km 1:00pm
Boy, was it dark this morning when I woke up. I thought I heard the distant sounds of thunder as well. In my head I started going through all of my options: Ride in the rain; take a taxi to Porto Vecchio; stay in Solenzara and wait it out for a day or so; etc. etc. The sky looked just so dark, but really, it hadn’t even started raining yet. Then, just as I was getting into m cycling clothes, it started. I kept getting dressed, figuring I could wait it out in the lobby. But I wanted to check out.
By the time I had checked out and gotten my bike out of storage, the rain had stopped. The clouds were still dark and foreboding. I decided to make a run for it. I figured that even if it started raining again, I could find somewhere to sit it out.
Just a quick note on the totals above. This is the 2nd trip that has gone over 2,000 km. The other one was my first trip through Eastern Europe so long ago. No new countries on this trip, though. That’s a little disappointing, but what to do???
Anyway…I rode pretty hard for the whole 42 kilometers today. I got spit on a few times. I a couple of places, it was clear that it had rained just before I had gotten there. I was a little concerned with the thin tires on the wet road, but no problem. I didn’t clip into the pedals for most of the trip because I wanted to be able to get my feet down quickly if anything happened because of the wet road. I noticed that my legs were getting tired, and then I clipped into the pedals, and BOOM off I went!! With about 10 miles to go to Porto Vecchio, I was passed by a husband and wife cycling team (I’m assuming) as I came out of a water break. They passed me going pretty quickly, but I caught up with them, and just coasted on their tail for almost the whole way to Porto Vecchio. The ten miles went by wonderfully quickly.
Finding the hotel in Porto Vecchio was not so easy. First of all, the old town is WAAAAY up on a hill. I started to cycle up one really steep street and almost went over backward. So, I walked the bike up the rest of the way. After a couple of consultations with the map in The Rough Guide, I found the general direction to the hotel. I got there at just about noon. Fortunately, I got to check in right away. I paid for tonight and for the night of the 6th when I return here to catch a bus for Bastia. I wanted to take the bike up to the room on the 3rd floor, so I asked if there was an elevator. There was. However, it is barely big enough for one adult. The bike didn’t fit. If it did, it would be going up by itself. So, I carried it up three flights of stairs. Good thing it’s so light. Boy, did the shower feel good!!! A hot shower after a damp ride.
Out and about into the Old City. Small streets and alleyways. Pretty neat stuff. Just trying to relax. The sun has been out almost continuously since I arrived here. Good stuff all around. I’ve wandered down here to the port to the Tropicana Bar where I am writing this entry. There seem to be a million beautiful sailboats here in the harbor. Wow.
Tomorrow I head about 30km to Bonifacio and the southernmost point of this ride. I stay Saturday night and Sunday night at the Roy d’Aragon Hotel there and then return the 30km here to Porto Vecchio. Anyway…that’s the plan. Here’s hoping.
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