 | Home > Expedition & Overland > First "overland" to Corsica |
 
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| TDCi Guy Member Since: 17 Aug 2014 Location: Yorkshire Posts: 286   
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Hi all,
Me, the girlfriend and the two dogs are looking to make our first ever "overland" style trip. I've got my heart set on Corsica for our first trip. It isn't too far or too expensive to get there which is very appealing, also the comments from people online are extremely positive. I'm thinking of setting off on the August bank holiday weekend and returning the following Sunday, the weather over there will hopefully be a bit cooler for the dogs at that time of year. Now the getting there is easy enough, eurotunnel and a ferry with a few hundred miles to cover. However once we are there what do we do? 
In the UK I use the memory map app on an iPad for Greenland nav and I've seen that there is a French map available for download which I assume is similar to OS. Would this be useful or should I use a paper map? (I would probably get some kind of paper copy anyway just in case technology fails us on the trip) Is there anywhere that would be a good source to get trails to follow? I've seen wikiloc which has a few trails from other overlanders. And there are various videos online but they don't offer any specific information. Also anything else I need to consider before travelling apart from the obvious vehicle prep and packing for every eventuality? Tom @tditomprice 100†Defender Hybrid 2010 Alaska White 90 HT |
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1st May 2016 8:24pm |
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| JOW240725 Member Since: 04 May 2015 Location: Suffolk Posts: 7906 
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Watching with interest!
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1st May 2016 8:38pm |
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| Penguin Member Since: 08 Dec 2014 Location: Tienen Posts: 247  
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It can still be very hot in August on the island. 40 degrees C is not uncommon in a good summer.
For cards, I can recommend Osmand. With the free version you get 10 downloads. Corsica is 1 region. Since you're only going for 1 week You'll have to make choices. Stay North or stay South. Unless you want do drive all day, every day. If you like beaches and mountains, than I would recommend to ride along the east-coast. Start from Calvi and take the D81B south. Follow that till Galéria. From there continue south on the D81B to Piana. From Piana take the D81 to Cargèse and keep following the D81 direction Ajaccio. From Ajaccio take the D55 and D155 to Propriano. Once in Propriano, do ride to Sartène. One of the oldest villages of Corse. From Sartène head to Campomoro-Belvedere. Very nice beach and camping If now, you have time left, you can continue south to Bonifacio. An other option is to star from Bastia. There ride to Saint-Florent. In Saint-Florent, take the D81 direction L'ille Rousse. On that D81 look out for a sign direction Camping U Paradisu. You will now enter the Desert des Agriates. Once at the camping, find a track heading west to get to Plage Loto. Return to the D81 and continue to L'ille Rousse. Follow the N197 to Calvi and follow the above 
There are plenty other possibilities, but with this you get a very nice scenic route and the best view of Corsica. If you prefer the mountains, let me know, I'll have some tips there as well
If you can... extend your stay to 2 weeks 
I haven't put Corsica on our site yet, but on the link below you can find an impression of the routes I described https://plus.google.com/collection/AFk7c 28/02 - Loss of a good friend... 
In a time of chimpanzees, I was a penguin. |
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2nd May 2016 6:18am |
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| Wild Card 90 Member Since: 03 Dec 2014 Location: Gerlingen Posts: 1060  
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Tom,
as we did a trip to Corsica last summer, your title caught my eye. I can´t give you any help on the trails on the island, but i thought I should mention a few details that come to mind. Corsica is a fantastic place to discover and enjoy, and a Defender is the ideal vehicle to have there. Many of the locals and authorities there still drive Land Rovers. some even wave, which totally phased us! Lots of remote and rugged landscape. We personally found the mostly tarred (and charted on a regular Garmin) roads challenging enough, and they gave us access to all the landscape and adventure we needed. Your timescale getting there is probably going to be the adventurous part. I admire and commend your enthusiasm, but "a few hundred mile" doesn´t do the journey justice. If your coming from Lancs. I suppose you have a 250 mile journey down to Folkestone. Probably an early start, so allow 5 hours. Tunnel is 30 mins, but you´ll need an hour if you time it well. Calais to Genoa is about 750 miles. That´s about 14 hours, if you do it in one shot. Stops for fuel, and a break for the dogs included. The ferry, with boarding and disembarking, is about 7 hours. If you take a night crossing, you will be able to get a fair night´s sleep. We didn´t take a cabin, and set up camp in the restaurant. About a half hour after the ferry departs, the restaurant closes, and they switch the lights off. It is quiet, and there is the air good (better than the cabins). We slept well. Might be a problem with the dogs. That´s 27 hours to get on the island. We were there for a week (9 days) and travelled from Stuttgart (a 500 mile trip down to Livorno). We arrived on the island at 6.30 in the morning, stopped at a beautiful clifftop location to watch the sun come up, and make some breakfast. Corsica is wonderful. Plan your journey there well, and just get on the island and drive. There is so much to see. We were there last days of August, beginning of September, and many of the regular tourists were gone. I thoroughly recommend a cruise control. Easy fit on a TD4 and just transforms long journeys. Hope this is of help. Stephen Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge 1998 Tdi 90 SW, 2008 Td4 90 SW, 2012 2.2 90 SW, 2" raised Trailmaster/Terrafirma Heavy Track Raids, 255 MT´s, Recaro CS´s, anorak, wellingtons |
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2nd May 2016 6:47am |
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| Wild Card 90 Member Since: 03 Dec 2014 Location: Gerlingen Posts: 1060
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Good question, P, and I see I made a mistake in my time estimate. We used the Livorno to Ile Rouse connection, as we decided very late to take our rib with us, and had limited options. 6 hour ferry, 7 in total.
Livorno to Bastia is shorter, only 4 hours, but then you don´t have enough time to get a useful amount of sleep. Genoa to Bastia takes 10 hours, and Marsaille to Bastia takes 12. So if you are coming from the north west you can take Marsaille, and cut your miles down. Plenty of time to sleep. Maybe a cabin makes more sense, then. Night boat makes best use of the time, and arriving on the island early in the morning just made it for us. Whichever route, hope you don´t encounter the Mistral. We had a 5-6 on the way back. We love boats, but that was an adventure! 1998 Tdi 90 SW, 2008 Td4 90 SW, 2012 2.2 90 SW, 2" raised Trailmaster/Terrafirma Heavy Track Raids, 255 MT´s, Recaro CS´s, anorak, wellingtons |
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2nd May 2016 7:25am |
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| TDCi Guy Member Since: 17 Aug 2014 Location: Yorkshire Posts: 286
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Thank you all so much for the information already. It's really a huge help. I had only wanted to travel for a week initially as it will be our first long distance trip with the dogs. Once we've got a few shake down trips done I want to eventually travel to Scandinavia and Iceland but we will start with baby steps first, we've done plenty of laning weekends in the Uk so I feel this is the next stage.
I like the look of the osmand mapping app, I will try it out over the next few weeks in the uk to test out its limitations. Hopefully i can import my existing os maps into it as well. I'm not too phased about the travel from uk to Corsica. As long as I allow enough time for regular breaks we will be ok and we can book a cabin on the overnight ferry to Corsica. I was considering staying more in the north as the trails I've found online seem to be around that area. We're on the lookout for anything with a secluded beach where the dogs can have a run and a swim at their leisure etc. The only thing I'm slightly worried about is the fact that I only have a 90 and most people appear to travel in 110s. Two people and two dogs will require some careful packing to fit it all in! Tom @tditomprice 100†Defender Hybrid 2010 Alaska White 90 HT |
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2nd May 2016 9:47am |
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| X4SKP Member Since: 29 Nov 2013 Location: Berkshire Posts: 2295 
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Hello TDCi Guy
Corsica I think would be a good destination, and one I'v been looking at too as part of an extended 'Italian Trip', if you want to see more of what's on offer join Vimeo (Free) and search Corsica, some really good videos from visitors on there... if you walk, cycle or kayak...
https://vimeo.com/ SKIP https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic83242.html |
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2nd May 2016 10:34am |
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