Corsica big walk path

by Adelin (Sept 16, 2005)

This summer, I went to Corsica to walk the GR 20. It is a big walk path that crosses Corsica from North to South (about 220 km). It’s the most difficult walk path in Europe. It’s divided into 15 stages, from 6 to 8 hours’ walk (it depends!): from Calenzana (near Calvi) to Conca (near Portovechio). So the bags mustn’t be too heavy if you want to finish (about 13 kg).

I did it with my family: my parents and my sister (aged 13 years old). She was one of the little girls to finish the whole GR. In fact, a lot of people stop at Vizavona (ninth stage). We spent 13 days to do the whole walk: we doubled stages!!! So sometimes we walked for 10 hours.

A typical walk day

We woke up from 3 to 5, to walk with a cool atmosphere. We must go to the spring to fetch water to have breakfast with the morning cold wind. We fold down the bivouac and we go!!! We walk from 6 to 8 and we arrive at the refuge at about 1 o’clock, very tired. We have lunch and then, we install the bivouac to sleep until dinner. We go to bed at about 20:30.

Why did we do the GR 20 ?

We love walking in the Alps and we had never been to Corsica. So it was the ideal opportunity to discover the "beautiful Island".

Is it good ?

Yes, we saw a lot of beautiful and different landscapes like the Nino lake, the "solitude circus",…and a lot of animals like Corsica pigs, wild horses, cows,…
But it was very difficult physically and technically. I have lost 4 kg! But I think it’s a good experience because we were totally cut off the world and we didn’t have our usual little comfort !!! For example, we had a shower with the spring water (5-6 degrees!).

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