Zonza to Bonifacio

May 5, 2025

A rain-shortened ride and a beautiful hike

We woke to light rain today. Not great for Mel. We decided to wait a couple of hours to see what the weather would do. The forecast for the morning was mixed, and early on, the radar was just showing random blobs of rain.

Our little apartment is not fancy, but really has everything we need - heat, a nice shower with hot water, a kitchen, mugs big enough for a cup of tea, and parking for both the car and bike.

Our Zonza apartment. One bedroom with a pullout couch.

It’s mostly a low tech place, including access to the exterior door with a funky old skeleton key. But this kettle is decidedly modern - it shows the current water temperature in big font.

The only downside is no wifi, but the cell service seems better now than when we arrived on Saturday. I have enough data left on my plan to allow limited web surfing, if not video downloads.

Just when we were about to depart at 9 am, the heavens opened. The host said no problem, we could stay until 10 am. But a look at the radar showed that there was a wide band of heavier rain to be negotiated, so Mel accepted a ride to Porto Vecchio where the weather was looking better.

And it proved to be a very good decision on her part. The road to Porto Vecchio was wet and foggy, and it was only 10 C up at this elevation. At times, there was enough water running across the road that a cyclist would have been in big danger of sliding out. It would have been a dangerous and cold total 1800 m descent on her planned route. Sorry, there are no photos of the lousy weather.

The bits of Porto Vecchio that we saw were uninspiring, and there are no photos of there either. Maybe we just saw the commercial side of this larger town. It has big box stores and malls, and the marina area looked to be all newish buildings.

The one bright spot was stopping at a good (not great) patisserie. We haven’t encountered decent bakeries in most of the small towns we’ve visited recently. We bought some migliacciu, which is a Corsican bread with cheese baked on top. It’d be better warmed up, we think. And would also be helps by adding some herbs or onions. We also bought quiche slices for dinner, and a tartelette au citron for dessert, my personal favourite.

By 11 am, it was partly sunny and I let Mel out on the outskirts of Porto Vecchio so she could bike to Bonifacio on this very windy day.

The rest of my drive to Bonifacio was on a remarkably straight road, with only a brief rain shower. The driving was so good that I even passed someone who was doing 50 km/h in a 70 km/h zone. That’s another first for Corsica, and one I didn’t expect to accomplish.

I arrived at our campsite by noon and had to wait an hour for our two bedroom cabin. And aggravatingly, we’ve landed at another place where the wifi is out of service. ‘C’est compliqué‘ says the nice reception lady. 🙃 It’s harder to blog from my phone - I’m never sure if I’m adding the best photos.

We have a nice cabin - it’s brand new, perhaps. The cooking pots still have stickers on them. Too bad the neighbours are motorbikers with loud machines.

I left for hike after Mel arrived, so not until about 2 pm. Bonifacio is a bit of a walk, so in the interests of time, I drove to town and paid for parking. Oh, how I’d rather be on a bike instead of figuring out one way streets and jostling for a parking spot. It’s all pay parking here in the confined spaces of Bonifacio, and the lots are almost full today despite it being early May. I think this is another place that would be awful in high season.

My hike took me along the beautiful limestone cliffs to the southernmost point of Corsica. How far south? Far enough that, for a while, I was roaming on an Italian cell network.

There’s a bunch of sailboats out there in the haze, having lots of fun on this very windy day.

I walked back along the cliffs all the way into town. It was still very windy. Although the views were spectacular, I wasn’t thrilled with the trails themselves. They were eroded in places, badly braided with no controls, and there was a lot of uneven footing. Even the steps down into town were treacherous, I found.

There is a sailing regatta underway - I saw multiple Sprinter vans sporting team decals. It looks like they were having fun in the strong winds - I could see spinnakers out in the distance.

As I approached town, it was fascinating to see houses on cliffs that are undermined. I hope they have a good geotechnical study!

The area along the harbour is filled with tourist restaurants, bars, and gelato shops. It was already busy in early May.

I stopped at a Spar grocery store to supplement our dinner and breakfast items and bought a stuffed eggplant dish that included lamb, rice, and cheese, as well as buying what must be very special olives. Leaving the Spar parking lot, I managed to turn the wrong way onto a one way street. The big arrows on the pavement were my first clue. I quickly backed up and returned to the parking lot, heart pounding. No harm done.

Our expensive olives were tasty, but I was surprised that olives could cost that much in Europe. In Spain they’d just include them with the price of a drink! It sure is nice having a kitchen though. We enjoyed the eggplant, salad, and quiche lorraine for dinner. The lemon tart was nothing special.

The straight road at the end is the official GT20 route. Mel reports that it is a better/safer alternative than seeking out winding roads.

Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 566 km (351 miles)

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