Day Ten: Riding on top of the world

Just two more days in the saddle, a well earned day on the beach before we fly back home from Bastia. Today we head down and across Corsica, south east to the coast. Our target is the old roman town of Aleria, a few miles from the coast. Planning today's trip involved some intensive pouring over the map. In the past we've taken the easier route which follows the valley of the Tavignano before picking up the road to Aghione. But the T20 been upgraded to a major cross island road and it would have meant being in traffic for some miles at the start.

We decided to take the higher road - the parallel D39, D339, then D16 ... . But first we had to get out of Corte and no way could we risk throwing ourselves down the busy and extraordinarily steep 'Toute Directions' cliff edge. We walked the bikes downhill, fighting the gravity of a 10% gradient down to pick up the road. It was a relief to get that over and start pedalling. We rolled out of Corte and found ourselves on a lovely, scenic quiet road. The D39 gently tracks the river downhill for about 10K, it was a joy to ride in the cool of the morning. Popular with cyclists, families, tourers and the speed merchants out for a quick spin. It was a jolly start to the day.

Then we turned off, leaving the traffic and cyclists behind to take a path less travelled by. We started to climb, up and up and up again into and over side valleys as we clawed our way along the D39 up into the hills . We gained about 410 metres elevation

The views were exceptional, we had a world of endless, majestic vistas to feast on. We followed a series of high ridges, that folded around us, wooded valleys below. Small hill villages perched along the road - Pinello Favelello, Ampriani, Tallone , Pianicca .......

We worked pretty hard - the roads follow a gradient line was much as possible, but they regularly pitch up and down quite alarmingly.

Talking of alarms, the biggest scare of the holiday came after a water/ photo break. Came across a helmet, lying by the road above a precipitous drop - panic! is he down and injured? Keiron reappeared just as I was about to flag down a rare car to help search for him! He'd just forgotten to put it back on.

The day seemed to fly by. We didnt stop to take many pictures, but those we have are dreamy. It's impossible to describe the feeling of tranquillity and deep contentment of travelling through this wild, unspoiled landscape. Magic.

In places, finding the right road was really difficult, cue more intense pouring over maps at the (rare) junctions. It was SO important not to go wrong and have to retrace the way, At the junction with the D116 the road signs were confusing. We had a major dispute with Google maps insisting we should go wrong. The geopositioning was just not very accurate, but perhaps we were lucky to have a signal at all ! We chose the D116 toward Ampriani and Tallone before joining the D16 leading into Aleria. More map debate and we agreed to make a major diversion and sneak up on the town from the south. It added a few km but was really pleasant going through vineyards and along an old railway line.

We arrived in Aleria hot, dusty and tired , and felt immediately at home. It's a hot, dusty, busy little town. It sits at the junction of the N200 and N198 and caters for the quick fly through visit. No obvious feeling of history or antiquity here!

Our target for the night was the Hotel l'Empereur in Aleria where we'd taken the last available room in in town - a family duplex suite no less. We had two double bedrooms over over two floors, a proper sized fridge and , two balconies overlooking the pool. Luxury to rattle around in ! We chose to be upstairs, close to the bathroom and with table and chairs on the balcony. We left the heavy luggage and the bike batteries charging on the ground floor. It was a bit more expensive but worth it.

We took a brief stroll back along the main street for refreshments at the bar and checked out the alternative eateries. We went into an arab supermarket for supplies of olives and crisps and a bottle of local cremant muscat rose for the fridge.

Our room overlooking the pool is the middle one on the 1st and 2nd floors of the main hotel

We booked a table at the hotel for the evening and spent the rest of the day luxuriating in the rather fine pool. It was a popular choice for guests but the chat was in Italian, so did not bother us !

The restaurant was pretty full but we were lucky to get a table out on the patio. We enjoyed a leisurely meal. The nearby Etang de Diane is famous for it's mussels - served with pride all over the island. So we shared a starter of stuffed mussels followed by a carapacio beef and a rather magnificent plate of Gambas in pastis. All washed down with vin rouge d'Aleria IGP.

We toasted the end of a perfect day with a glass of chilled muscat Cuvee Le President on the balcony. Life doesn’t get much better than this.