Corsica

One of TGO’s favourite maverick adventurers, John Fleetwood, is back, this time with a fulsome coast-to-coast extension of the renowned GR20 that embraces the best of Mediterranean village life, swimming, scrambling and the odd scrape away from the hot spots

WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY JOHN FLEETWOOD

Sunset from A Muvrella

MENTION A TRAVERSE OF CORSICA to any seasoned trail walker and they will almost undoubtedly assume that you are talking about the GR20, the world-renowned trail that picks a line through the towering mountain spires and forests that make up the spine of the island. Yet Corsica is so much more than the GR20, boasting picturesque mountain villages, spiky crags and a truly delectable coastline with a multitude of secluded bays and dazzling white expanses of sand. The GR20 is also quite short at 180km, with the challenge to be found in the nature of the terrain rather than the length. Greedy for a multiplicity of experiences and a long-distance route that sampled the very best of the island, I scoured the map and the internet in search of just such a journey. Nothing jumped out at me, but little by little a route emerged – a north-to-south traverse of the island embracing both the idyllic coastline and the mountains over its 465km. I was hooked, and within a month I was on a train headed for the sunny climes of the Mediterranean.

A STINGING BEGINNING

Except that it wasn’t sunny... or hot. Marseille felt more like a wet Manchester, and feeling sleep deprived after three poor nights, I let the deep drone of the ferry’s engines lull me into oblivion. I emerged from my cocoon as land was sighted, the shadowy outline of the mountains emerging with the approach of dawn. A glorious sunrise greeted our arrival at L’Île-Rousse, the sea beckoning sweat-encrusted travellers. While other passengers hurried off to their accommodation I sauntered toward the Île de la Pietra, intent upon the inviting waters. I slipped into the cool ocean and began my adventure by almost immediately stepping on a sea urchin, before swimming into the channel formed by a rocky islet, glowing red by the rising sun. Away from the hustle and bustle of the port, I had entered another world – a water world of deep chasms, coves and headlands, and a myriad of fish – blue, green, orange, red, yellow, silver, white, striped, fat, thin, flat, smooth, dull, radiant. In the sea there is no separation. You are immersed, surrounded, embraced by the water, connected with all that is. I swam and looked, swam and looked – content to explore without defined purpose.