Holden Frith
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From Times Online
June 22, 2007
Walking coast to coast across Corsica
The Mare a Mare Sud takes in lush forests, babbling streams and rocky mountain paths as it crosses this beautiful island
Say that you’re planning to walk across Corsica and many assume that you’re heading for the GR20, a challenging 110-mile trail that bisects the mountainous island from north to south. As a relative beginner, I opted instead for the 50-mile Mare a Mare Sud, a gentler path that winds from Propriano in the south-west to Porto Vecchio in the south-east.
Day one: Propriano to Santa Lucia di Talla
It may be less of a struggle than the GR20, but the first day’s steep and sometimes rocky paths weren't easy. The first few miles follow gently sloping roads, but once you turn off onto the footpath the climb begins in earnest. With the sun beating down, I was soon cursing my rucksack and anxiously scanning the route ahead for contour lines.
A late bus to Propriano had delayed my start and I had to hurry along to reach the hostel in time for dinner. After six hours I was prematurely delighted to see my destination across the valley, before realising that the only way to get there involved a two-hour detour that picked its way down the hillside before embarking on an exhausting ascent into the beautiful and long-overdue village of Santa Lucia.
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Day two: Santa Lucia to Serra di Scopamena
An unusually deep sleep cured my aching legs, and I set off into the cool, bright morning knowing that most of the donkey work was behind me. Climbing from Santa Lucia, the path looks out over rolling hills and woodland before cutting into a dense oak forest and its welcome respite from the strengthening sun. After a steep climb, the rocky peaks of the Aiguilles de Bavella appear briefly on the horizon, before being lost in the trees during a long descent towards the Rizzanese River, nicely placed for lunch and a cooling paddle.
Day two is the shortest leg, and a leisurely afternoon stroll brought me into Serra di Scopamena with time to spare for a stop in the village café before I checked into the spectacularly placed hostel. Like all the hostels en route, this one provided bed, breakfast and a three-course evening meal with wine for about €35.
Day three: Serra di Scopamena to Levie
Serra nestles high in the mountains, and as I pottered around the village shops buying bread, cheese and chocolate for lunch, fluffy clouds were drifting aimlessly in the valley below. As the sun continued to rise the clouds burnt off and soon it was another glorious day.
The path splits into a few alternative routes on day three, which means that some of the tracks are less well worn. Dropping down from the town of Quenza, my chosen path deposited me in a small stream and then came to an abrupt stop. I tried walking along the stream, hopping from rock to rock in about six inches of water, but soon came up against a mass of thorny vegetation.
I dithered around for half and hour, map in hand, eliminating all other options and deciding that the only way forward was through the thorns. So, crouching down in the water on all fours and using my rucksack as a battering ram, I fought my way under the bushes and emerged on the other side. After a few more minutes of wading I spotted a very welcome signpost and continued with renewed confidence. Then I scratched my arm on a barbed-wire fence while trying to escape a cow that I thought was a bull until I saw its udders.
Day four: Levie to Cartalavonu
The path is marked thoughout with periodic stripes of orange paint on trees and rocks, and though the gap between them varies, it’s hard to go too far wrong. Nonetheless, I managed to get a bit lost on day four, following a broad tree-lined path and fording a couple of streams before realising that I hadn’t seen any orange paint for a while.
Retracing my steps, I found the overgrown path I’d missed the first time round and followed it out of the forest and into a landscape of sweetly scented scrubland known as maquis. Large swathes of Corsica are covered with this fragrant undergrowth made up of wild mint, thyme, rosemary and occasional thickets of honeysuckle, which makes for very pleasant walking.
The day finishes with an optional scramble up to the 1,314m summit of Punta di a Vacca Morta, from where you can see for miles across the boulder-strewn landscape. To the south and east is the most obvious sign that the walk is coming to an end: the sea.
Day five: Cartalavonu to Porto Vecchio
The final leg is a long, gradual descent towards the coast, taking in a range of vegetation, from dark pine forests through maquis and meadows towards more arid lowland landscapes. Then the path broadens out and eventually joins a quiet, tarmac road, then a busier one, and the birdsong and crickets of the last five days begin to be drowned out by cars and motorcycles. The walk concludes with a hot and dusty trek along the road to Porto Vecchio, where cold beer awaits.
The Mare a Mare had been a good choice for a long-distance novice. Day one was a struggle, mainly because my late start forced me to keep up a punishing pace, but the rest of the walk was perfectly pitched: enough twists, turns, ascents and descents to keep things interesting, but no serious mountaineering. That said, it would be unwise to set out without a good level of general fitness: the path climbs an average of 800m (2,600 feet) on each of the first four days, which comes as a shock to legs used to flatter terrain.
Apart from buying flights and maps, I did little in the way of advance preparation. Booking hostels (see below) was unnecessary in early May, when the route is quiet – on the first day I met only one other walker during eight hours on the path.
Overall, my relatively casual approach worked out well, but if I were setting out again I would make room in my rucksack for two extra pieces of kit. A compass, which would have been useful on a couple of occasions when I strayed off the path, and water purification tablets, so that I could fill my bottle from streams and avoid having to carry water for the whole day.
Travel details
How to get there: British Airways has weekly flights to Ajaccio and Bastia from £135 return. Air France has frequent flights via Paris but costs about twice as much. One low-cost option is to fly to northern Sardinia with easyJet (from £50 return) and get a ferry to Corsica.
Where to stay: Walker's hostels called gites d'étappe provide basic but clean accommodation and decent food for about €35 per night. In early May the hostels were half-empty and advance booking wasn't necessary, but from June to August they can fill up quickly and reservation is recommended. Some of the hostels close from October to April. There are also some guest houses along the route, which need to be booked in advance as they may close without notice if business drops off. Each of the stop-off points has a campsite, but camping outside these areas is not allowed.
When to go: Late spring and early autumn are the best times for walking. The route is passable for most of the year but is more difficult in the winter, when snow covers the higher stretches. In July and August the route is busy despite the heat.
What to take: You’ll need the hiking basics: a decent pair of walking boots, a rucksack, waterproof jacket and lightweight trousers. Hostels provide blankets so you don’t need a sleeping bag, but you will need a sheet or sleeping bag liner.
Maps: The route spans three of IGN’s 1:25,000 walker’s maps (4254ET, 4254OT and 4253ET). Less detailed, but adequate if you plan to stick to the path, is IGN’s Corse du Sud (sheet 9 of the 1:60,000 series).
