A Pleasant Morning's Hike ...
Today's stage was a very nice change of pace from the previous five days, allowing for some good recovery and even time where it wasn't necessary to keep a constant vigil on the surface of the track. Indeed there were even sections that were relatively rock-free as one of the photos below will show.
I've described this stage as a pleasant morning's walk because one can easily arrive at Refuge de Manganu in time for lunch, which is great because they do a great onion omelette. More about that later.
The guidebook says this about today's walk:
- Distance: 17 km
- Total ascent: 670 m
- Total descent: 475 m
- Time: 5 3/4 hours
We are inclined to think that Paddy Dillon must have made a mistake regarding the distance, as we actually completed the stage in just on four hours and we weren't exactly racing along. In fact Di's hip started bothering her so we were deliberately pacing ourselves. Although slightly uphill over all, it's pretty flat most of the way and what height you gain and lose is done quite gradually. As mentioned above the path is quite good most of the way so you can actually walk with a bit of a rhythm for a quite a lot of the time. Here's what the stage looks like on the map:
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| Castel di Vergio to Refuge de Manganu |
Breakfast at the hotel started at 7:00 a.m. and was actually quite good, I think we even had a croissant along with the bread, as well as juice in our demi pension petit dejeuner. I also paid a bit more to have one of the great-looking fruit salads that was on display as I'd been feeling the distinct lack of fresh fruit over the past five days. The weather was looking just a bit iffy, so I had a chat with the owner/manager of the hotel and got him to check out the forecast for us. It said that it might rain a little later in the day. That proved to be a bit of a joke as it started to shower just as we went out the door! However, it didn't seem to be amounting to anything at that stage so we decided to hold off putting on our rain jackets as it was relatively warm.
The day starts with a short descent along the road before dropping into the forest and then some more gradual descending before the path levels out. It's quite refreshing - and even though the guidebook alerts you that "the path is well engineered and a joy to walk" - somewhat of a surprise given what we've had for the first five days to be able to actually walk without having to constantly keep our eyes on the track. The forest is a lovely mix of mostly young pines, birches and some fantastic larger beech trees.
After about an hour or so of this lovely walking the path suddenly veers steeply uphill, but only remains steep for a very short distance before climbing more gradually via switchbacks. After about half an hour of climbing you reach a saddle on a ridge where a small chapel awaits your attention ...
... with this little icon inside ...
Looking back over the way we'd come we could see the Hôtel Castel di Vergio below and beyond to Capu Tafunatu (look directly above the hotel) with its tell-tale hole ...
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| No the photo's not doctored; yes, there is a hole in the mountain! |
After five days of fairly strenuous effort, perhaps the short steep section before the path eased off and reached this spot was the final straw for Di's dodgy hip, as it started to worry her for the first time on the entire route. As the day was really only getting started and we had some climbing ahead we rearranged our packs so she didn't have quite so much weight. That seemed to help and we continued on up the ridge.
After a few hundred metres it started showering again, gradually increasing until the point where we were forced to don our rain jackets - but not our waterproof pants (I hate hiking in long pants, let alone waterproof ones!). Before long the rain cleared away again and we were able to take our waterproofs off, but it wasn't exactly warm and sunny. Soon we were enjoying somewhat muted views west and south across a rugged landscape towards the sea ...
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| A more moody vista today ... |
Light showers came and went as we climbed the ridge and then traversed a rocky crest called the Serra San Tomaghiu, before giving way to a broader ridge leading up to the Bocca â Reta. By this time we had put our rain jackets back on, although they were about to come off again with blue sky ahead promising an upturn in the day ...
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| That's most of the climbing done and dusted!
A gradual descent leads down to an overlook with a pleasant view over the renowned Lac du Ninu ...
Lac du Ninu
... and then the path winds on down to the grassy plain itself ...
Just about time for morning tea ...
The PRNC would prefer walkers to stay off the grass and the GR20 has actually been re-routed to hug the edge of the plain rather than cross it in order to try to reduce wear and tear on the grass. I guess this is a measure of how popular the GR20 has become.
As we followed the path around the grassy plain we enjoyed looking at small clumps of horses of various sizes and colouring ...
While on this particular day it seemed to be mostly horses enjoying the rich pasture, there was also a smattering of cattle ...
Some folks just couldn't resist the charms of the little ponies ...
It really is a lovely spot tucked in snugly between rolling hills, with the lake itself and little waterholes called pozzines scattered along the meadow ...
A little way further along the Bergeries des Inzecche are situated up on a bench, ideally placed to take advantage of sun from late morning ...
The route drops down out of this lovely hanging valley and back into the maquis for a bit, where at least one either anti-social or of below-average intelligence bovine was grazing ...
More delightful walking lay ahead, with the gorgeous surprise of Corsican Crocuses appearing as if by magic ...
(This photo really IS worth expanding to appreciate the delicacy of the petals)
A bit of level and super-smooth track wound its way past some strange, stubby beach trees ...
Are these Hobbit Beeches?
... and a gem of a pool harbouring a gorgeous little plant with yellow flowers ...
(I'd be delighted if someone could name this plant for me ...)
The track gradually dropped past the Bergeries de Vaccaghja (sorry, no photo) and on a little further before finally climbing and traversing across to the Refuge de Manganu ...
It was reasonably sunny when we arrived and we were pretty happy about the prospect of lunch and a relaxing afternoon so we posed for a photo on the verandah ...
Fresh enough to do it all again!
After posing for our photo the priorities were:
And what a good place to have lunch! The guardian made a great onion omelette and it seemed like the distinct local brew Pietra Ambrée, (which contains chestnut flour) was made just for this moment ...
Ahhh ... the simple pleasures of life!
And that concludes Day Six. A bit of an issue for Di with her hip but being relieved of a couple of kilos seemed to help a lot. The weather also improved as the day wore on, and the walking was just gorgeous, a lovely respite after five pretty hard days. And that was a good thing, because the guidebook suggested the next day was going to be quite hard yakka.
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