Port de Centuri to Saint-Florent

April 27, 2025

Another sunny morning. Today’s breakfast was in our apartment. It turns out the local yogurt we bought yesterday is sheep’s milk. With arbouse berries - the ‘strawberry tree’, no relation to strawberries. New to me. Delicious. And just a wee bit funkier than cow’s milk yogurt.

As we packed up to leave, we discovered the first lost item of the trip - the sausage we’d purchased yesterday at the market. C’est dommage. ☹️. I wonder where I left it? Most likely at the market itself.

I did a short hike in the morning starting right from Port de Centuri. The views were lovely, and there were very few people about. I did see two women that I met yestersay. Plus just one other person - a local with his dog.

Looking south at Port de Centuri. It’s a small place.

There are zillions of little lizards. They are fast moving and hard to get a shot of. (Just left of the dandelion.)

I had a beautiful but nerve wracking drive south along the coast, starting with attempting to leave Port de Centuri by a one-lane route that was closed to cars at that time of day. And of course, there was somebody right behind me, so getting turned around was a nightmare.

Driving the coastal route involved avoiding rockfalls, motorcycles, dune buggies, ATVs, goats, and cars on a super narrow road. I’d rather be on a bike!

Locals seem to like spray painting out the French town names, leaving only the Corsican name on the road signs.

I went for a second short hike at the village of Nonza. The walk took me to the ruins of a monastery. Total hiking distance for the day was 7 km, and about 400 m of vertical. I was pleased with how my leg felt.

Nonza. No parking already in April. Imagine July!

The San Francescu Convent was apparently one of the first Franciscan convents founded in Corsica on the orders of Saint Francis of Assisi. It housed numerous relics and became a major burial site during the Baroque period.

It was abandoned towards the end of the 18th century, and now there’s not much left but the walls and some evidence of graves.

Vegetation seen today included wild nasturtiums, poppies, and figs.

Mel arrived ahead of me to our nice hotel in the busy seaside town of Saint-Florent after a very enjoyable ride. Our hotel has been recently renovated and we received a warm greeting, but I’ll downgrade its stars due to the lack of a shower. It had only a tub with a hand held wand.

Our afternoon treat was ice cream. My choices were a fig sorbet and broccui-lemon ice cream. Yum.

We went out for dinner, with a goal of finding a vegetable -forward meal. that was not as easy as you might think. We did find a good place in the end, and I had a huge salad with chicken and a jammy egg. Mel had a tuna poke bowl, also with lots of veg. I had a local rose beer, which turned out to have some raspberry flavouring. It was okay, but I’d prefer something more hoppy.

Today's ride: 60 km (37 miles)
Total: 126 km (78 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	5
Comment on this entry	Comment	1

Steve Miller/GrampiesDriving in Europe, for a non European, takes nerves of steel as we know. Congrats on a successful Day 1.
Reply to this comment
1 day ago