GR20 – day 9 and 10 – and then it rained

We knew once leaving Vizzavona that the days would be longer and have to be at a faster pace, but that the walking would still be tricky with huge ascents (and descents) and just as much rock.

But, having slept well at the gite, (well except for the unfortuate one who got bitten by bed bugs!) we didn’t expect to wake to the deluge that faced us. So the next two days were to be a challenge not just for the terrain but also for finding the will to boost morale when faced with being soaked to the skin and blow to bits in the wind. Being British at least prepared half of the group for the weather!

Day 9 – Vizzavona to Col de Verde 4 hours

Distance 30km with 1320m ascent and 955m descent

This section combined two days worth of walking into one day. Ok, so the astute among you will have realised that its not possible to walk 30km in 4 hours. You’re right. Unfortunately it rained so heavy right from the start of the day that by the time reached the refuge at the half way point at Capanelle we could go no further. At least we’d walked one days worth of walking in 4 hours on the easy forest tracks and paths. In the rain even the ascent up to Bocca Palmento didn’t seem important, its not like we had a view. When we reached Capanelle at 10.30am it was already full of GR20’ers that had made the same decision as us; to sit for a while, have a few hot chocolates and coffees and wait to see if it was going to stop raining.

It didn’t.

And the reports from walkers having arrived by vehicle to Capenelle from Verde reported that two rivers that the path crosses were in spate making them impossible to cross and the two we’d already crossed to get to Capanelle hadn’t exactly been fun.

There is an alternative, higher route, but in the rain this wasn’t really an option either as the wet rock slabs wouldn’t have been safe.

So deciding that it was ok to miss a bit of the route only on the grounds of atrocious weather and that it would have been a boring march through the woodlands anyway, we caught a minibus down to the gite at Verde.

Wet weather and being totally soaked to my skin despite waterproofs also meant that I took only these pictures all day. Salamanders are common in the woodland in the south and were all over the path in the heavy rain. The gorgeous dog belonged to the refuge and had been wandering (as refuge dogs do) between Vizzavona and Capanelle – so we briefly had an extra member of the group as we brought him back to Capanelle. The refuge at Capanelle services a ski station so food and drink are easy to get hold of, good job as we were there a few hours waiting for a lift!

I should add that the gite at Col de Verde was just what we wanted for the night, a shared hut to ourselves and a lovely little restaurant with a roaring fire to dry our boots and amazing food.

Day 10 – to Cozzano 8 hrs 45

Distance 19km with 1345m total ascent and 1905m descent

Another day, more cloud. At least the rain had stopped.

We left the gite at Verde at 7.30am having had a very good breakfast (bread and jam – but by now we had standards of what was good and bad) and our boots dry from being left under the fire grate overnight. Perfect. We were walking a bit more than a leg today as we were descending all the way down to the valley into the village of Cozzano.

The day started with a swift walk through the woodland and up to the ridge. Again the track is very easy to walk along through the woodland and despite walking uphill it doesn’t seem an effort as there’s no rocks to scramble over. We reached the refuge di Prati at 9,45am and stopped for a hot drink. Already the wind was enough to chill us and we could see the mist sat along the ridge we were heading towards. At least we’d managed to get a great view of the sea, it was certainly the last view we’d have that day!

After a hot french (weak) tea at Prati we headed up on to the ridge and into the cloud. The Brits among us found it funny that our Corsican guide was so concerned about the weather and us being safe, frankly mist was what we’re used to, so it wasn’t an issue at all.

So as we walked along the ridge, crossing from left to right along the way, it did start to feel like we were walking in circles. There’s some scrambling along the route, but nothing challenging.

We reached Bocca di Laparo and had lunch sat in the trees. From here we took the route down to Cozzano and our gite for the night, a lovely place with home grown vegetables and hot showers. I’ll be honest, the Cozzano gite is a great place to stop, but for the massive descent required to get there, snaking through the woodland on dusty forest tracks, and then tomorrows massive ascent back up to the route – it seemed a bit unnecessary when there were refuges we could have stopped at along the route.