Corsica the hard way — ten days crossing the island on foot, starting in Ajaccio. Napoleon's hometown, palm trees along the waterfront, a 16th-century citadel over the gulf. I had a day there before things got serious: cathedrals, Maison Bonaparte, wandering the old town. June 23, I picked up the southern half of the GR 20. It has a reputation as Europe's hardest long-distance trail and the reputation is earned. 180 kilometers of granite and scree and pine running the spine of the island. The southern section is the "easier" half, supposedly. It was still tilted slabs, loose rock, a few stretches where you pay attention or you fall, and all of it with a full pack in real Mediterranean sun. First night I camped by the Cascade des Anglais. The waterfall was loud. Then a bed at Gîte U Fugone, then up to Refuge de Prati, which sits high. I walked outside around midnight and the moon was enormous, sitting right over the sea below, with that straight silver line of reflection running across it. I stood there for a while. That was the best part of the trip. After Prati came the Usciolu ridge (narrow), the pastures at Matalza on the Coscione plateau (flat, a relief), and then Asinau below the Bavella needles. On June 30 the trail finally dropped me into Porto-Vecchio on the southeast coast. Long dinners, sea breeze, the weird feeling of not having to climb anything the next morning.
