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Corsica

Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 8:07 am
by Chasbmw
I'm looking to go to Corsica in a couple of weeks time

On my R90/6 so not looking for anything more challenging than the odd track in good condition.

So any hints about where to go, which is the busiest ferry route any outstanding campsites and bits of history.

All help appreciated

Charles

Re: Corsica

Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 8:48 am
by john-g
I went there in September 2015 and had a great time, roads are generally poorly surfaced and twisty though some coast roads were wide and well surfaced. They appear to measure distances in time taken rather than distance due both to the road quality and mountains / twists. Local car drivers didn't seem to take much care for two wheel users and liked to tail-gate.

I used the Ferry from Nice to Porto Vecchio and returned to Nice from Ajaccio. The only problem was that the outward trip left Nice very early in the morning.

Not the cheapest destination but Hotels were good and overall loved the island and hope to return sometime.

Re: Corsica

Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 10:29 am
by bikenav
There 2 years ago also went out of Nice be aware- I arrived Nice for an evening crossing boat was there but no possibility of boarding(no booking) - no ticket office open so had to wait till morning bit of a pain. Stayed night in HI Hostel 2nd time now, highly recommended but a bitch to find with GPS due to tall buildings bad signal.Returned into Toulon at dawn(pretty) after night crossing (find a quiet corner and stake out your pitch early).Corsica is a great destination for bikes as is commonly known by Europeans less so by us,I did no trails. If you want my GPX track with the 3 campsites I stayed I'll post it up.

Re: Corsica

Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 11:11 am
by Chasbmw
Thanks for that, I'll book ferries in advance and use Toulon, never been there, I'll probably use the night ferries, names of good campsites would be great, I have posted this in the wrong forum, I don't use Garmin so, only Co pilot on a phone so I don't think it accepts gpx files.

Many thanks

Re: Corsica

Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 1:24 pm
by Peirre
I used the hotel Corsica in Porto as a base for several days http://www.hotel-corsica-porto.com/francais/ , this allowed me to ride circular routes. The gpx track is here https://www.dropbox.com/s/0ip4x0dhgwjsv ... a.gdb?dl=0 I'd treat the timings of your routes the same as if your riding alpine passes. The route I took up through the centre is easily 10hrs+ but well worth it.

Re: Corsica

Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 4:18 pm
by gspod
We went over in 2012 and need to go back - it's superb (thumbs)

We sailed over from Toulon - it was the first rugby match of the season on a Friday evening, Toulon were at home to Toulouse and the rugby ground is opposite the port. There were also 2 ferries scheduled to leave within half an hour of each other - it was chaos, with a 9 mile gridlock going into the port. Some very interesting riding got us onto the ferry as the gangplank was going up :lol:

The ferry is chaotic too with vehicles crammed into every nook and cranny and no real tigh downs - just bits of oily rope lying around so you may want to take your own straps. We returned back to Nice (moby lines I think) and I seen to remember it was a lot more civilised.

The island is very mountainous with lots to see and you won't see it all from one base. What most of the campers do is pitch up somewhere for 1 - 3 nights then move on. We were there for 6 nights - 3 in the mountains and 3 on the coast. The costal roads are very busy and get blocked with coaches and camper vans, by their very nature it is difficult to get through even on a bike. Our routine was up and out by 7.30, ride the coastal roads in the morning then head up into the mountains during the midday heat, then head back late afternoon for an hour or 2 on the beach - this system worked really well for us.

There are loads of nice campsites- just pick 1, 2 or 3 areas, depending on how long you're going for and enjoy (thumbs)