Corsica June 10..25 2007

June 14 2007
Corsica is unfolding as it should. Spent the arrival day, Monday, in Nice, then Tuesday a five hour crossing on a very large ferry to Bastia. Wednesday was first cycling day, 105 km fairly easy, because although mountainous, we stay close to coast. Today June 14 was hot, 30+ and I found the climbs fatiguing ..... so had to rest for almost an hour at one point so that I didn't expire. Group of 19 all francophone so I speak french only, .... to the extent I speak.. I find the group dinners a bit tedious, .... long, ....lots of noisy laughter and they speak/joke very fast.
June 20:
As we continue our counter clockwise trip around Corsica, ...... it has been great. Just three more cycling days to go. Sunday is a bus then ferry to Nice, and flying out on Monday am with an arrival in Montreal-Trudeau by noon. Our rest day in Porto was a treat, went scuba diving even though I didn't have my certificate or prescription mask. They seemed security conscious. The big difference was that it was from a zodiac, and they hand you your vest tank, AFTER you get in the water. The sights were not impressive by comparison. Yesterday was 38 C as we cycled, some say it was 43C (I doubt it) and considered to be the most difficult day, somewhat mountainous, commonly climbing to 400 m.

In general Corsica is close to ideal for cycling. I thought Hawaii was great, .....but Corsica is even better, more dramatic scenery ... often wild and not populated. but pretty swanky places too. Had dinner last night with Richard (the guide) in a kind of swanky restaurant with live jazz, risotto-lobster for 29 euros, and that was just the starter.

update June 21/07 (in Sardinia)
Since today is a rest day in Bonnafacio Corsica, I took the ferry across to Santa Theresa in Sardinia (part of Italy). Its just an hour or so on the Moby ferry. Today for the first time I carry my small Nike sportbag with a Canadian luggage tag and it get questions, like "where am from?". By the way, on my bike I have a small 4x6 inch Ontario flag from the saddle, which I use instead of Canadian, just to see if it provokes questions, ... it does.

The Velo Quebec group is rather "performance" oriented (a few exceptions), almost obsessed, possibly more interested in performance per se than being in Corsica (maybe that's a reflection of the fact that I am relatively slow, and cant match them). They all seem to have quality bikes often of the super-lite carbon type. They are typically around 40 years of age, and I'm no doubt the oldest (or at least one of the oldest) The other notable thing is that the group dinners are unreasonably long, .... 3 to 4 hours, and I find them a bit tedious, and the food while OK is not exceptional maybe that reflects that I don't always follow all of the conversations.

Sunday June 24
Now am back in Nice (3:00am wake-up in Corsica) ready for the flight out June 25 at 8:45 am. Nice is sure a busy town the Ironman going on with 'Promenade des Anglais' closed to traffic. Beautiful clear day, just 24 C.