Tuesday 15 October 2013

Day Five on the GR20 - Auberge U Vallone to Hôtel Castel di Vergio

Simply A Glorious Day's Walk ...


The statistics for the day ahead suggested that walking should a bit easier ...
  • Distance: 15 km
  • Total ascent: 850 m
  • Total descent: 870 m
  • Time: 6 hours
... and the map shows that much of the climbing and descending will be fairly gradual, with just a few steeper pinches ...

The map promises a pleasant day's walk
As you can see from the map, the route from the bergerie starts with a, short easy descent into a hanging valley before beginning a long and almost imperceptible ascent.

Petit dejeuner started at seven. It was the usual mountain breakfast of a hot drink and bread and not much else so it didn't take long before we headed off, saying goodbye to the donkeys who were nuzzling each other in their makeshift corral below the refuge ...

Donkeys doing donkey things

The sun was just starting to colour the tops of the peaks but we were about to descend into the forest so wouldn't be able to enjoy its warming rays for some time to come ...

Down into the pines
Twenty minutes later and down in the forest we could see that it actually wasn't going to be too long before we'd be coming back around and into the sun ...

Beautiful trees and sun kissing the peaks
Unfortunately it was just at about this time that Di began to experience an aura, a condition which she suffers from very occasionally. It is normally accompanied by a headache and nausea and can be quite debilitating, requiring a couple hours of quiet rest. As the going at this stage was quite easy and we were walking in the shade she decided to try to push on at a slower pace. Luckily, after about twenty minutes the aura disappeared and the headache along with it, but the nausea remained.

Despite her malaise, Di managed to enjoy the walking through the forest - which was lovely - and then the gradual climb up towards the one col we had to pass through for the day. If forced to choose a single word to describe the norm in terms of footing throughout the GR I'd have to pick "stony". Not surprising really, if you think of Corsica as being like one giant lump of granite sticking up out of the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. This section of the route was no exception. In the next photo Di is starting to feel a little better and is catching up to one of the hikers that had been camped at Vallone overnight and slipped off a little earlier than us ...

Nearing the Bocca di Foggiale

After a little bit of descending and perhaps 550 metres of gradual ascent we reached our first major landmark for the day, the Bocca di Foggiale  and then had to climb up a little way to about 2000 metres onto the shoulder of the cirque...

Climbing open rocky slopes

... before a bit of sidling gradually revealed a lovely panorama of open slopes to the south and west ...

Gorgeous open slopes
As you can see, we were blessed with fantastic sunny skies. There was just a faint breeze blowing, which kept it from getting too hot. It would have been a very different experience in drenching rain and a howling gale so we count ourselves extremely lucky to enjoy such a great day out in the open.

After a little more traversing a remarkable sight appears. Capu Tafunatu looms up above and  to the right: and it appears to have a huge hole right through the base of it ...

Is this a HOLEY mountain?

Shortly thereafter the Refuge di Ciotullu di I Mori appears, tucked away at the head of the cirque ...

Refuge di Ciotullu di I Mori
Despite Di still feeling fairly nauseous after her aura had passed, we arrived at the refuge 2 3/4 hours after leaving Auberge U Vallone - which is about 3/4 of an hour quicker than what Paddy Dillon suggests in his guidebook. We were pretty happy about that and decided to have a bit of a break and take some refreshments at the refuge. The guardian must have been a bit surprised and not too pleased to see us this early, judging by his bearish response to my request for a couple of hot drinks - which I took to mean "Forget it, pal".  (I guess that's understandable as it wouldn't have been long since his last overnight guests would have left, and he probably wouldn't have minded an hour or two to  himself.) We were about to pack up and head off when  he suddenly appeared with a tisane for Di and a coffee for me. We got our drinks and he got a tip, which meant we were all happy!

I'm sure you'll agree that the view from the verandah of the refuge is very beautiful, so we were pleased to be able to sit with our hot drinks and enjoy it ...

Sweeping views from the refuge

If you expand the photo you should be able to see a hiker doing the GR south to north approaching along the path to the right. The route heads off in that direction and then along the ridge to the left and up to the scree-covered bump left of centre before descending into the valley. 

The next photo is taken from the first little bump (visible just above the right-hand corner of the toilet block) and is looking back towards the refuge. Where the photo is taken from is about level with the refuge, which you can just make out if you expand the photo. (I have drawn a red oval around the refuge to help you spot it). Clearly visible also is the Bocca di Foggiale just right of centre ...

Refuge de Ciottulu di I More and Capu Tafunatu

This sort of open, high-level walking where you can see your route coming and going is just magnificent. It really reminded us of a section of three wonderful days of  walking along the Pyrenean Haute Route before you reach Pic du Canigou. (You can go here if you'd like to see what I mean. Check out pages 4 and 5.)

Here is another view looking back towards the refuge from just a little farther along. If you expand the photo and look closely you should still just be able to make out the refuge ...

Haute Corsica at its best?
Turn to the west and an equally fine view down to the Golfe de Porto is revealed ...

Looking west towards the Golfe de Porto
The path eventually descends towards the head of the cirque where a ruined bergerie lies ...

Remnant of a previous era
Looking back, Capu Tafunatu at 2335 m continues to dominate the skyline well down into the valley. If you expand the photo and look really, really closely you might also be able to make out the refuge ...

Capu Tafunatu is a popular goal for local peak-baggers
Eventually one's attention becomes more consistently focussed on the delights of the valley itself, like the gorgeous stream that starts off as a trickle interspersed with numerous small waterfalls and delightful little pools ...

One of many lovely pools
By this stage we had noticed that a normal pattern of high pressure mountain weather was in place, with cloud gradually building up during the day. It had been starting to cloud up just a bit earlier each day. The photo below, looking south and down the valley, was taken a little after eleven o'clock.

The upper part of the valley descends very gradually
Looking back up the valley though it was still largely sunny and we seemed to have come a long way from the head of the cirque ...

Looking up through the beautiful open valley towards the peak
... but we still had about two hours of walking ahead of us before we'd be finished for the day. As the valley narrowed we were forced closer to the stream and the track became more rocky, eventually leading us across it via this bridge ...

Looking back at the bridge and walkers we passed a bit earlier
Some traversing over rock slabs followed and the route wound its way amongst larger boulders for quite a while, zigging and zagging to such an extent that the red and white GR paint flashes were very useful and helped us largely follow the easiest route. In the next photo the route had become reasonably well worn again and easier to follow ...

A rocky road
... and then suddenly levels out into a broad footpath momentarily as it nears this fat Laricio Pine ...

Momentary respite from a jumble of rock
Around the next corner a large stand of taller pines with their characteristic flat tops appeared ...

Regal Laricio Pines
Not far below one arrives at the first of The Bergeries de Radule. There wasn't anyone about at this one, but the tools of the cheese-maker showed that somebody couldn't be too far away ...

Tools of the cheese-maker
... and numerous rock chambers like this one, used for storing and ageing cheese, dot the hillside ...

Cheese storage
A little further down the hill is the main Bergerie de Radule, a popular place for those walking further up the valley and day-hikers coming up from the ski resort at Castel di Vergio to stop for a drink and a snack, or buy a cheese made on site ...

Bergerie de Radule
Coming suddenly to "civilisation" like this, thought we must be getting close to our objective for the day, although it did seem too early. Well it was - too early to be arriving, that is. We actually had a lot of traversing at about the same level ahead of us, and wouldn't finish walking for about another hour and a quarter. 

The rest of the day's walk was fairly unremarkable but we did see our first flock of Corsican goats grazing in the wild along the way ...

Goats ranging freely along the GR20

In keeping with the pattern we'd been noticing each day it had clouded over quite significantly by the time we were nearing the end of our the stage. The forest was an interesting mix of deciduous trees and pines, with various types of shrubs scattered throughout. There was quite a lot of evidence of wild boars rooting around in places too. We were getting pretty intent on arriving and hopefully getting a room in the hotel, having a hot shower and putting our feet up for the day. (We knew we could pitch our tent, but we were hoping there would be a room free.) 

Although not generally as demanding as the previous four days, we were feeling a bit tired - especially Di after having experienced her aura earlier in the day. I did take one photo to try to capture the mix of vegetation in the forest and the approach of autumn reflected in the birches starting to turn colour ...

Trudging on through the last stretch
Finally we reached the Hôtel Castel di Vergio - exactly six hours after departing Auberge U Vallone -and went in to enquire about a room ...

Hôtel Castel di Vergio
The funny thing was that when I asked if they had any vacancies both the owner and the other person on duty burst out laughing. I guess they had well and truly passed their peak period, and most of the hikers elected to stay in the camping area adjacent to the hotel. We were very pleased to be able to make our way immediately up to a room and settle in. A major bonus was that we were given a room with access to a huge, shared verandah very useful for hanging up all our washing!