7 Corsica— Mountain Hikes

Corsica— Mountain Hikes

I took several hikes in the mountains near Cartavalone. The first one was with Francis. We hiked up the mountain. I was soooooooo glad I had hiking poles.  As we hiked, Francis talked about the land. He talked about the plants and how they were used for tisane or health or herbs for cooking. (Fabi later asked why we didn’t collect some of them for her yearly gathering. She said that she had to go out collecting. Oops.)

Here’s a photo of one such area of plants but unfortunately, I can’t remember what these are… Oops. 

Francis said that the pine trees in that area are found only in Corsica. They are very tall and very straight and in the 14th and 15th centuries, boat-makers came to Corsica to cut the straight trees for masts. There are a lot of tall straight trees in the forests around Cartavalone.

Although the trail had its difficult parts, the views were spectacular. I loved being in the mountains.

When we reached the almost top of the mountain, there was a place with a lovely meadow of wild flowers and a little trail through some boulders that led to yet more views. As we were wandering and looking in this area, lo and behold, along the trail was a group of about 20+ tourists(!) who were on an excursion with a guide. There were whole families of people with little kids and big kids as well as singles. Right there in the quiet secluded mountains. And there was a guide! A real guide talking about the flora and fauna and hills and vales. AND…of course, this guide was a cousin so he and Francis had a greeting and a chat. See? Everyone is a cousin. If they’re not a real cousin, they’re a false cousin. This one was real. 

Here we are at the top of the mountain. 

On other days, Fabi and I took a couple of hikes to a lake that was a reservoir. There was a dam at one end. Around this lake there are no buildings. No boats or water recreation are allowed on the lake. This is because it’s the precious water used by all the villages in the area. Because there were no people, hikes in this area were very pleasant.

On another hike, Francis, Fabi and I went to a place where there was a “cocoon hotel.” This is difficult to describe. There are large domes that appear to be suspended alongside a cliff. There are stairs connecting them—swinging stairs. And there is one at the top of the cliff. We took a look at the domes from below and we saw someone climbing up a rock to get to one of the domes. Take a look. It’s very interesting.

Views from this area were again stunning. And there was an interesting little sign on a tree. (hee hee)

Another hike took us to an abandoned summer camp for kids. It was built in the 1970s and lasted only about 10 years when it closed due to lack of government funding. The camp was for disadvantaged kids from all over France.

On yet another hike, Francis and I went down from the village…and climbed back up. I don’t have any pics of the views but I have these two…

Can you see this little guy?

It was windy!

Maybe my favorite hike was the one with Fabi the day before we left. We went to her favorite forest on a trail that was marked with information signs. There weren’t any spectacular views here but this forest has some interesting features. For example, many of the trees have branches sticking out on one side of the trunk. This is caused by the wind.

Flowers grew everywhere, even on boulders…

One tree was identified as being rare and dangerous to animals and people. It’s called L’If. Really. What “if?”

Finally, I saw huge areas that had been dug up by boars. There are lots of boars in this area and are avidly hunted in August and September. Francis says that he goes hunting with his rifle and his friends but he doesn’t like to kill animals so he doesn’t actually get anything. They do a lot of damage. I’m glad we didn’t come across any.

…and that’s it for hikes.