Ascent: 963m, Descent: 791m, Alcohol consumed: 1 glass red wine
Walking notes stats:
Distance: 15km, Time: 5 hours, Ascent: 780m, Descent: 610m
Breakfast was on the meagre side again. Just bread or toast, jam and pureed fruit. There may have been yoghurt as well as the tubs of fruit, but the tubs all looked the same to me. No eggs or cheese or any other form of protein. I guess they assume you get your daily allowance in one hit at dinner. I prefer to spread it out over the day.
I collected a picnic lunch and left my suitcase for transport, confident that these people at least seemed to understand the process. My lunch consisted of bread and cheese, another tub of pureed fruit, a kiwifruit (all the way from NZ!) and a rice & tuna salad. I figured that salad should probably not be kept unrefrigerated for too long, so I had that for my elevenses.
I took the walking easier today. I have a better idea of how challenging the terrain will be and how long it will take to walk it, so I wasn't in a hurry. This morning was a long climb, but I don't mind ascents. You can take them as slowly as you like and they are actually easier than descents. Descents are tough on the shins and quads. Also, most of it was through woods so there was shade. It was actually a pleasant morning.
Just past the peak, the route notes said to turn when you get to the Bocca di u Vint'unu which turned out to be this odd clearing with these odd cairns. I didn't count but I guess there are 20 of them. I wish I had WiFi so I could check what on earth these things were.
The next major milestone was the "forest destroyed house of Vera". This turned out to be 2 or 3 abandoned stone houses plus an outbuilding in the middle of the forest. I couldn't understand why they were here. There wasn't anywhere to keep animals, except perhaps goats, and no flat land for growing any sort of crops. Also the nearest water was a creek about 1km away. What on earth possessed people to build these solid stone houses out in the middle of nowhere?
After another short climb it was downhill all the rest of the way into Olmetu. The walking had been fairly easy until then, mostly dirt tracks. Then came a 2km descent down what felt like the Corsican version of Hanging Rock. It wasn't so much hiking down a path, as scrambling down rocks. Not fun and I can see it would be dangerous in wet weather.
As I was scrambling down I met another hiker coming up. He was carrying nothing - no pole, no map and not water. He was obviously just out for a day walk but I can't imagine where he was going, unless it was to Vera. I met half a dozen walkers yesterday, but this man was the only one today. I'm not sure if this isn't a popular path or whether I'm just travelling out of season.
As I was making good time I took a detour to the chapel of Saint Esprit. That detour on the map is not me getting lost, I meant to do it. The chapel is still a working church. The door was locked but the key was hanging up on a nail so I went inside. If you stand near the altar and peer through the
opening over the door at rocks in the scrub above Olmetu "to each one to see what he wants". I just saw a rock in the scrub. I have no imagination clearly.
Finally, I headed into Olmetu and this is where everything went pear-shaped. When I got to my hotel - which has an attached restaurant - I couldn't find the door to the hotel and the restaurant was shut tight as it was around 4pm. Too early for dinner and too late for lunch. I eventually found the entrance to the hotel tucked away with a bell to ring. I woke a grumpy woman from her siesta and she checked me in. However, there was no sign of my suitcase and she seemed surprised that one should be there.
Phone calls were made to the Altipani office and messages left on answering machines and then I headed up to my room to wait and worry. The best option was that my suitcase was on its way. Next option was the taxi driver who was supposed to ferry it from place to place had forgotten. Third option was that it had been stolen. Luckily I had my passport and all my credit cards with me but basically all the rest was just what I needed for that day's hike. I did have the map for tomorrow on the back of today's map, plus they are all loaded on my GPS. I had a copy of the route instructions and the list of hotels I'm to stay at on Dropbox on my phone, but my phone charger was in my
suitcase, but I had enough charge to copy out one set of instructions. I figured if worst came to the worst I could make it to tomorrow's destination, which is a bigger town than the village here, and buy phone chargers, extra batteries and a change of clothes and keep hiking. When I finally get to Ajaccio, at the end of the hike, I could always buy yet another suitcase and more clothes. Not ideal but do-able.
I finally managed to get hold of Agnes at Altipiani and she promised to chase up what had happened. My mobile phone bill is going to be horrendous. In the meantime, I went to the local pharmacy and bought deodorant, a comb, a toothbrush and toothpaste. I figured I could always use all that, even if my suitcase reappeared. At least, I could have if I'd really bought toothpaste and not denture glue.
In the end it turned out the taxi driver had forgotten. After what I hope was a right bollocking from Agnes, he went to Burgo and fetched my suitcase. It is a bit lowering to know he covered the distance in under an hour and I spent all day walking it. On the plus side, that taxi driver is to do the suitcase transport for the rest of the trip. I'm guessing he won't forget again.
Dinner wasn't served until 8pm. I was starving hungry by then but at least I had time to shower and dress in clean clothes, even after the long wait to get my suitcase.
I got to select my meal from the 5 course traditional Corsican menu. For entree I had soupe de Corse which turned out to be a vegetable and bean soup. It could have used more salt. Next came a plate of charcuterie - very salty. For the main course I chose wild boar stew which came with a side dish of polenta and something fried up with onions. I thought it might be mushrooms but suspected it could be some form of offal. When I asked the waitress (who was the grumpy woman who checked me in) she prodded it doubtfully with my fork and said she didn't know. She came back later and told me it was eggplant. Next came a big hunk of local cheese with fig jam. Finally there was dessert. I could chose from fruit salad, strawberries or apple tart. I had the tart, which was pieces of apple on a custard base. The apple + base were fine but the pastry was a bit like cardboard. All in all, not bad but I've had better.
In the restaurant were a couple with a little dog about Teddy's size. He would beg for scraps, which he invariably got. Whenever the waitress went past she would give him a pat. Food safety standards people would have a fit, especially as later in the evening the restaurant cat, Minette, sauntered through. She didn't pay me any attention sadly.
Here is the route map and elevation chart for today.
What a day!
ReplyDeleteIt's comedy capers with that suitcase!
Do I get the feeling that not many walkers do this walk with this company?