Friday 22/06/07

An early start after a much better sleep in the tent.

while packing the tent away the guy next to us told us that a fox had come into the camp site and had spent ages sniffing round our tent… all I can say is that I was glad I was asleep by then !

We had a good breakfast at 6am and was on our way by 6.30am

It was a much cooler day today which was nice after the heat of yesterday.

It was almost like a normal days walking, with little rocks and hardly any ascent or decent, so you could stride out for a change.

At times it felt like being in cowboy country as there was a lot of horse riders about who galloped past with no care for any walkers.

We also had a nice stretch along the Lac du Ninu.

We saw some fantastic trees too that had been molded by the wind.

It was a very easy days walking taking us 6 hours to reach refuge de manganu.

While at the refuge a group of horse riders turned up making a great sight.

Thursday 21/06/07

After a very restless night in the tent ( sleeping in a tent takes a bit of getting used too,especially when 2 are sharing a one man tent )

We woke up later than usual and got a breakfast too.

first thing I noticed today was that I felt a little more relaxed as to me the hardest day was over, I could stop worrying about the Cirque now and just enjoy the rest of the walk.

We finally set off at 7.30 for an easier days walking , we hoped.

The first part of the walk was through the pine trees ,a gentle steady climb before turning steep and ending with a scramble up to the top of the Bocca di Frogiale.

It was very hot today and walking by the golo river gave us plenty of opportunity to go skinny dipping,in all the wonderful rock pools,with fantastic waterfalls too

As it was so hot the last stretch to the hotel seemed to take forever , so it felt good to finally get there.

Free camping here and warm showers too.

Wednesday 20/06/07

Although we slept in a nice bed I didn’t get too much sleep as I was worried about today’s walking. The guide books says ” this is the day many walkers dread, indeed  some walkers have been known to slip away down the road rather than face the Cirque de la Solitude.”

There was never any question of me slipping away down the road but that did not stop me from feeling a little scared.

We were up early as we had breakfast booked for 6am, but that was not to be as by 6.30 the hotel had not opened for breakfast.

So we decided to leave with out our breakfast, we had stocked up with bread and cheese the night before and had some chocolate too so would be ok.

I don’t work well with out breakfast so it was a very slow start made even worse as I was very worried about what lay ahead at the top of this long slow climb.

The last half hour was a very steep and rocky climb to a  gap known as the Col Perdu, it took us 21/2 hours to reach this gap. 

I remember taking a look down into the Cirque and thinking “shit” what am I doing here.

It was nothing like walking you had to climb down to the bottom using chains at the hardest parts… I shook like a leaf all the way down and Geoff even had to swear at me …lol. one false move and I felt I would be dead. so you can imagine my relief and delight when I finally made it to the bottom in one piece.

We thought this was the end of the cirque only to find that after a small walk we then had to climb out the other end with the aid of chains and a ladder at one point. Must say climbing out was far easier than climbing down.

It took a total of 3 hours to get into and out of the Cirque, an experience I will never forget.

We then had a long descent down to the refuge Tighjettu but we decided to carry on for another half hour to reach Auberge U Vallone as we had heard the rock pools were to die for.

We finally reached the refuge 7 hours after setting out.

We decided to use the Tent tonight and pitched it right next to the river and a fantastic rock pool where we spent the whole afternoon swimming and sunbathing.

( I think I had been right not to carry on yesterday and I think I just maybe heard Geoff say that the Cirque was indeed a hard day but i don’t suppose I will hear him say it again )

Tuesday 19/06/07

Woke early today and the guardian had left us out a breakfast (6 euro )the coffee was most welcome.

Not really sure what to expect from today as there was a lot of talk about the spasmata slabs.

we left at 6.25 am

After a steep decent we came to the spasimata suspension bridge . something I had been looking forward too.Glad to say at that time we were the only walkers around so there was no hurry and we could cross it one at a time.It was great fun but did wobble and sway quite a bit.

Next came the slabs, nothing like I expected infact it took me a while to realize I was actually walking across the much talked about slabs.The give away was the cables attached to some of the rock.Care had to be taken but as the weather was good we had no problems.

We then had a steep and rocky ascent until we got a great view of the ski station at Haut Asco.

This is when Geoff got his brain wave…. instead of doing the very long and rocky decent down to the ski station he wanted to carry on and do the next days walking as well. This maybe would have been a good idea apart from the fact that the next day was The Cirque de la solitude.

On one hand I could see his point, as by carrying on we would not have to drop down then climb back up tomorrow morning but on the other hand as I didn’t know what to expect from the cirque (and was quite worried about it )I wanted to be nice and fresh for it after a good nights sleep in the hotel.

So I insisted we carry on down, although I was real mad at myself and wish I felt different about it.

It was a long and very rocky descent to Haut Asco I questioned myself over and over again wondering if we should have carried on.

We finally arrived at Haut Asco at 12.20 .. 6 hours after setting off.

Had a room booked at the Hotel chalet so enjoyed a great hot shower.

My legs ached a little and I had hot spots on the bottom of my big toes.

Monday 18/6/07

Today we had an earlier start, woken by the other people getting up and ready for the days walking.

After a good nights sleep and feeling happy as I had not found day one that hard, I was looking forward to the days walking.

We set off at 6.20 am, little did I realize that this was going to be a much harder walk.

Infact we spent very little time walking today, most of our time was spent climbing, scrambling and bouldering…. all things I have little experience with.

So it took us 7 hours to reach the refuge, I was worn out and craving sugar….this was to be the day my love affair started with Corsican Cola.( a drink I never usually touch)

 we did think we might use our tent tonight but the ground looked so hard and stony we decided to stay in the refuge again.

The showers here were very basic but you had plenty of room to move about in them.

The Guardian of the refuge did a great 3 course meal for 15 euro. and I think he took a liking to me as Geoff got his wine for free 🙂

Sunday 17/6/07

After arriving in Calenzana late on the Saturday night we stayed at the Hotel Monte Grosso, which was an experience in its self.

We were up early and eager to be on our way but decided we had to have breakfast first.

while waiting for breakfast we saw many walkers setting off . I could see that Geoff was getting restless and knew if I had said “lets go” we would have been off with no breakfast., but for once I kept my mouth shut.

We finally got on our way at 8.30, I was excited to finally be on our way but also a little scared as I was unsure of what to really expect as I had never done this kind of walking before.

Much to my delight ( as I knew it would please Geoff ) we soon caught up and over took most of the walkers we had seen setting off while we waited for our breakfast.

First part of the walk was fairly easy and we saw many lizards scuttling about, then between Bocca a u Saltu and Bocca a u Bassiguellu the walk became more difficult with a fair amount of scrambling.

The ascent down to the refuge was a welcome stretch and we finally got there at 14.30pm,  6 hours after setting off.

To our surprise the refuge was very busy with many people camping.

We decided to have a bed inside the refuge on this night.

On this day I had sweated so much all my clothes were just dripping wet, it was very embarrassing.So even the cold shower was very welcome.