32 replies to this topic

[dapleb]

Thunkin of goin on an actual holibobs this year. . Not boike related... Anyone been to Corsica? Any good?

[mototdm]

Yep, went there last year, on the bike with others.  Overnight ferry from Toulon to Bastia. A bit of a different perspective for me as I live in mainland France. Everything in Corsica is more expensive from your beer to petrol. If your not driving there, different again but if you are the coastal roads are spectacular , good for bikes, cars get bogged down behind campervans. If you can be patient the views are great, however bikes & cars once of the coastal roads drop down into the port towns traffic congestion is a pain. If your flying there, hotels, beaches & the little fishing ports in the evenings are all great. Pop into a café for a coffee , ask how much before you order, like a lot of places in Europe, Greece being one of them, you could get ripped of.

PS   You need to take your passport even though its part of the EU  !!!  Don't ask IO don't know

[stu]

I's beed. Long time ago, in a camper, bogging down cars

 

Loved it, would go again.

[dapleb]

Brill thanks guys. Sounds loike it might be worth a go.

Hehe http://www.directcor...rpeDiem_apt.htm

[JBX]

I've been in Corsica several times, mainly on bike.

Main thing to know : avoid July & August at all costs. it's too crowdy, campgrounds are full, restaurants are full, seashore, beaches are full.

Prices also rise during this period.

May & June are far better, but the sea may be cold (for a frenchman).

September is ok too.

 

Pity you don't take your bike, roads are all twists and have an exceptional grip (granite based tarmac).

Be careful if you drive early in the morning, cattle wanders on the roads...

Only main brand gas stations, no cheap gas !

You may want to take the train from Calvi to Ajaccio, it's a must, cheap and very nice scenery.

If you plan to go hiking, the GR20 is one of the best hiking trail in the world.

[dapleb]

Thats mega info JBX Mercredi buckets. 

 

We plan on June and the Calvi region.  Love to hoike and boike so its sounding good.

 

I would love to take the boike but only have oooon semaine...might hire one there for a coupla days.

[babus123]

If its any use to you, I have just come back from a week in Corsica.  This is the post I put up on the French site I am on.  Did not take the TDM though.

 

Had been told by some French bikers that Corsica was the place to go. Indeed it is listed in the top 10 of biking routes in the world on some sites. Looked at biking down, taking the ferry and meeting my wife at the airport, but it seemed so much hassle we took the advice of our Physiotherapist and hired a bike. He recommended a company, but they had no bikes available. This trip was to be a number of firsts. My wife had never come touring with me before, I have never hired a bike before and we have never had a holiday where we had to rely on other people or organisations. Found a flat on Abritel, found the cheapest flights (but happened to be with Air France and Air Corsica) for 23 - 30 May, then tried to find a bike. This would appear to be one of the most popular times of the year. Having booked the accommodation and flights, my attempts to find a bike near Ajaccio nearly met with disaster as the several companies I contacted did not have one. Eventually found Evasion Moto Corse who had a Honda 700 NC for 6 days, but the first day they could only offer me a Scooter! (I have to admit I have never ridden a scooter and had to ask them how it worked!). Paid the deposit and hoped for the best.

Arrived at the airport at Ajaccio at 2010 on the Saturday evening, flat owner was there to take my wife to the flat, not the one we had hired as he had sold that, but to another one that was brand new, view of the sea and was fabulous! Bike shop owner was there in his Audi A5 waiting to take me to the shop to sign the paperwork, pay the balance and collect the scooter and to arange to pick up the Honda at 1900 on the Sunday, a day earlier than expected. The twist and go aspect of the scooter was very novel, I felt I was in Los Santos in a real life version of GTA5, screaming down the road at 100kph!

Got out on the Sunday



The roads lived up to all expectations.



The bike was a bit frantic after my TDM, but coped well two up and with the novel under seat storage, plus the top box, meant that days out with all the gear women need to take was not a problem.



The scenery was stunning, the twists and turns in the road were exhilarating throttle twisting non stop fun and never busy. There are very few "main roads" which, when they came into villages, seemed to be composed mainly of repaired pot holes.



Sections like this did not encourage rapid riding, but with an assualt on the senses from the IMAX visuals, you just could not take it all in. We stopped here for lunch (the Calanche have these rocks on one side and view of the Med on the other). Apart from the views, we were entertained by the Lotus Evora 2015 tour of Corsica roaring past in low gear, the delicious exhaust notes echoing off the cliffs. We also saw about 15 Morgan 4 and +8s doing the same thing.



Weather was generally ideal for biking, warm enough to ride with a ventilated jacket but cool enough not to cook in the gear when walking about. Went to Porto on the coast, intending to ride back over the mountains. Got about 500 meters up when the lightening and thunder started. Lack of waterproof trousers was a failing on my part. Convinced myself that the coast run back would dry us out! But no, the downpour continued for the rest of the afternoon. Trip to Decathlon for trousers was first on the next day.

Fifteen minutes after the above photo was taken, the sun came out and the clouds cleared.



The people were friendly and eating out in the road side biker cafes was not dear (6 euros for a Corsican ham hacked off the bone sandwich). Traffic filtering was a must, 90% of the cars moved across for us on main road and in the frenetic traffic in Ajaccio. Once in the countryside the anti French feeling was evident. Navigation was made a bit difficult by the locals painting out the French version of the village names. FRENCH GO HOME painted on buildings in English seemed to miss the point somehow. Either the locals are poor shots or the wildlife hides behind signs.



From my wifes point of view, she absolutely loved it. I was equally amazed how easy it was to tour 2 up, even round the tight bends. Having been solo round the French Alps, I found the hairpin bends there a challenge. Luckily, we only encountered about 6 on the Island. I did manged them two up and was glad not to have disgraced myself by dropping the bike and wife on the first wet one I came to.

Sadly all good things come to an end. Took bike back to the shop and he took me back to the airport where I had dropped off my wife. Connecting flights were all on time. Car was still in the car park. And its raining. Ah Normandy.

Wife is now looking for the full leather gear and I have told her flat out that pink is not an acceptable colour 

[dapleb]

Now thats mega, thank you babus for taking the time to post that. if you have any more contact details, particularly of accommodation owner, please let me know.

Thanks

[babus123]

The link for the company I  used for the accommodation and the flat I booked is here

 

http://www.abritel.f...ances/p6309423a

 

If you want any more infor on anything else, please PM or ask here, no problems, glad to help.  You MUST hire a bike, the mountain roads are fab.  We did about 800kms of biking heaven.

[dapleb]

Brill thanks.  If you were doing it again, which area would you base yourself in?  I was thunkin of flying in to Bastia as that seems the easiest place to get a flight to....and then staying in Calvi region.

[babus123]

SWMBO has already decided that we should fly to Bastia and hire a bike there and tour the whole island next time we go!  Funnily enough we were buying plants in our local shop and got talking to the lady owner.  Turned out her husband has a Gold WIng and they drove/ferried there and did the island tour.  The "main roads" are OK, the mountain roads are much better for bikes but a pain for cars..  However, the general agreement is that the West coast is much better than the East, which is flat and boring.  So if you stick to the West side of the Island, either end is good.  Even talking to the locals, they agreed that if you had seen the south, then the North is worth a visit.

 

The company that hires bikes in the North has a better selection of bikes.  Calvi is fine,  both North and part of the South are within striking distance, Calanche and Porto are worth a visit.  It does take longer to go places than you would think.

[TinTin]

Napoleon grew up there. Can't be that good, he left it. Norfolk not good enough for you youngsters. 

Is this extravagant holiday at the expense of the G2G boy

 

I may sound harsh Dappers but you can't beat a day at the beach, Cromer crab butties & a game of Monopoly.

Edited by TinTin, 11 June 2015 - 07:19 pm.

[dandywarhol]

Terrible goings on in the mountains this week http://corsica.forhi...m/forum/p/24997

[dapleb]

Yikes, thats the route the crazy Frenchman mentioned!!

Haaa Sam, well it looks like I wont have time for holibobs so even a day at the beach unlikely :-)

[TinTin]

Yikes, thats the route the crazy Frenchman mentioned!!

Haaa Sam, well it looks like I wont have time for holibobs so even a day at the beach unlikely :-)

That's unfortunate. I was jealous. If it  is anything like Capri it will be stunning (but very busy)

Took a picky of SWMBO & daughter at the top of Capri & its the bestest photo I have ever taken.

Never mind. You always have us in Leominster

[Tishabelle]

That's funny I am also planning a trip to Corsica😁

[OwenMc]

Brill thanks.  If you were doing it again, which area would you base yourself in?  I was thunkin of flying in to Bastia as that seems the easiest place to get a flight to....and then staying in Calvi region.

Dap

 

I've been there twice now, though never on the bike.

 

Calvi was nice, but if you're planning on travelling/biking around check the map as Calvi is a bit limited on 'ways to get there' - you end up covering the same ground a lot.

We ended up driving the St. Florent - Calvi route a few times on that trip - I loved the scenery en route, but had had enough of the run on the 3rd return trip....

 

Roads through the middle were scenic as all hell, and in some places lumpy as all hell too - surfacing left a lot to be desired in some patches, but that was quite a few

years back.

East coast - flat, boring, warm, did it in a day, and didn't go back - we spent the rest of the time up and down the centre.

 

On the 2nd trip I did an East-West walk which was easy going - there are a couple of cross-island walks if you're like something a bit less strenuous than the GR20.

 

Corsica was the first place I saw lots of lodgings with a symbol for 'covered motorbike parking', which on its own made me feel like coming back on 2 wheels!

Edited by OwenMc, 14 July 2015 - 04:01 pm.

[dablik]

That's funny I am also planning a trip to Corsica

 

The other half i presume 

[dapleb]

...and STILL t'other half dabbers..... deserves some kinda medal. 

 

Dont take me long to sort stuff.  A year and a bit later and Me'sen and the Tishabelle off to Corsica ... very soon.

[dablik]

Oh your not alone dappers, my other half's got a drawer full of medals, lets know next year how it was then   happy hols have a lovely time