Got up and got going early today because it really gets hot around midday, so we like to have done all our walking by about 1pm so we can spend a couple of hours out of the sun over lunch. Today we are going to Porto, which is about 45ks north of Sagone. Heading around the coast, we got to the small town of Cargheze, where we stopped for breakfast. Getting through town was a bit of a mission in this narrow single street town. The Corsicans were doing their best to disrupt the traffic by continuing their habit of parking anywhere that suits them, even if it brings a whole towns commerce to a halt while they are doing whatever it was they stopped to do.
We parked the car in a carpark just on the outskirts of town and then walked the 100 metres back to the centre of town to take up a spot in a cafe at the towns only intersection to observe the traffic chaos that was being created in this two horse town. I didn't envy the truck driver who had to negotiate his way through town, but he did very well. The whole event took on a slightly United Nations atmosphere as the Swiss arrived to provide their own version of self interest and to show that there was more to them than cuckoo clocks and chocolate. After several minutes of horns tooting and vigorous gesturing, the Swiss delegation was duly despatched and we were left with just the normal traffic chaos to amuse ourselves with. The Petit Dejeune for $E5.50 was perfection – coffe au lait, croisant, bread roll and an orange juice.
Moving on from Cargheze, our next stop was Piana, the next small town along the coast. This was a wonderful little town with a couple of little piazzas with restaurants all around them and a stunning view of the sea and coast below. It was only midday by the time we'd walked all around Piana, so too early for lunch, so we pushed on to Porto.
2ks out of Piana, we came across the Calanche de Piana – 1000ft sheer red jagged pipe organ rock cliffs that go from the sky to the sea. The road round and through them is very narrow – ostensibly 1 lane, with passing bays periodically, but the views are very dramatic with the vivid blue skies and the red rocks and then the winding road running through it all.
Porto was a disappointment, infact Porto was a turn around point to go back through the Calanches, which were totally free of traffic on the return journey despite being traffic jam central on the way through. Piana had looked like a great place for lunch and indeed it was as we found a very nice little restaurant on one of the Piazzas, the highlight being the Ile Flotante for desert.
Weary of grey underpants man, we avoided the pool today and on the return trip from Piana, stopped at a tiny beach, uninhabited by European standards (only about 30 people). Given the 35 degree temperatures, the swim in the sea was just heaven – at no stage was it cold, but it was just cool enough to be completely refreshing.
Dinner at night, was a repeat of the previous night outside the tent. The frogs were silent as we ate, but the wildlife was still keeping us entertained as a bee started hassling us. Anne taking on her roles as Doctor Doolittle, pulled off a small piece of Jambon and placed it on the far end of the table, then tapped her finger on the table beside it until the bee got the message that his food was over there and he wasn't to disturb us while we ate ours. For the next two hours, the bee kept itself occupied cutting off small bee-sized portions and flying off with them back to its hive, which we were to discover the following morning.
Before we finished dinner, a grey cat and her four kittens came past our campsite, so they were treated to the remainder of the Jambon before they headed off on a night of frog catching no doubt, as the frogs were once again croaking and once again would croak all the way till morning.
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