The Goat Work

June 5, 2022 — Stage 15 — Bavella to Conca — 12mi / 1,800'

Bad sleep indoors in the gîte. At this point I was fully adapted to sleeping outdoors in a tent, and much preferred that to being in a room with other people. We had breakfast and then left at 8:30, walked to Paliri, had coffee, and then a long, humid walk through descending maquis and big exposed slabs of granite and red rock. Beautiful, pretty much all the way to Conca, w...

June 4, 2022 — Stage 14 "alpine variant" — Asinau to Bavella — 6mi / 1,600'

30 minute debate and observation about the weather to decide whether to take the “Alpine” route. At first we though no, but the sky opened up blue and we went up. I had a conversation with Anthony about paying attention. Dramatic views, lots of rock. Arrived in Bavella for lunch and then checked in to the gîte at Auberge Col du Bavella. We ran into the Fren...

June 3, 2022 — Stage 13 original route — Uscaliolu to Asinau — 11mi / 3,200'

By this point we've learned that it's usually better to make ourselves breakfast than buy the set breakfast from the refuge. We decided to take the slightly longer "original route" to the next refuge, which is like a stage and a half. Weather was overcast, with a few raindrops. 

The second half of the day was hard, a long ascent of about 1000m up to a...

June 2, 2022 — Stages 11b & 12 combined — Relais San Petru to Uscaliolu — 10mi / 4,250'

Morning walk on well graded trail uphill to the Prati refuge and then beautiful hiking beyond Prati with clouds forming on the lee side of the ridge. Walking through beech forest at Bocca a Meta, the air was thick with insect life. Not pests, just alive.

We then came down to the col there where the Mare a Mare Sud crosses the GR20 and I stop...

June 1, 2022 — Stages 10 & 11a combined — Vizzavona to to Relais San Petru — 17mi / 4,500'

We ran into the French kids as we were beginning the trail for the day. Started very fast, and Eloise called us “machines.” We reached the end of stage 10 by noon and had lunch there. This is the first day with easy, well-graded trail, although it was blocked for a while in the afternoon by a group of big cows. We got to Relais San Petru ...

May 31, 2022 — Stages 8 & 9 combined — Pietra Piana to Onda to Vizzavona — 13mi / 3,600'

We did a "double" today from Pietra Piana up along the ridge and down to Onda for lunch, and then up and over another pass and down to Vizzavona. Another outstanding day in the mountains and we have been very very lucky with the weather which has been ideal — mostly sunny, some afternoon clouds, very little rain, not too hot, with a nice we...

May 30, 2022 — Stage 7 — Manganu to Pietra Piana — 7mi / 2,800'

Beautiful day, also very tough. Steep uphill right away leaving Manganu, then up through a dramatic portal notch, to a lunch spot up high above the lakes in the upper Rezzonica watershed. We ate spaghetti from a thermos and then traversed along a sharp ridge before dropping down to next refuge, which offered a fine dinner of lentil stew accompanied by Corsican music an...

May 29, 2022 — Stage 6 — Castel de Vergio to Manganu — 11mi / 2,000'

Lovely and fairly easy 10mi walk traversing forest, then up and over into the upper Tavignano basin and the Lac de Nino, where we stopped for lunch. Very beautiful and views north to Monte Cintu and south to Monte Rotunda. We caught up with the young French ‘team Amazon’ at the first bergerie (still closed for the season) and then had a swim in the river as it for...

May 28, 2022 — Stage 5 — Tighjettu to Ciotullu to Castel de Vergio — 10mi / 1,500'

It was a hard morning walk up to the Ciotullu bivouac at the pass. I was tired and hungry after not much breakfast. We lost the trail for a few minutes and ended up in the “forest of frustration,” with a bunch of the dreaded Pine Processionary Caterpillar https://web.cortland.edu/fitzgerald/PineProcessionary.html

We had a swim after getting off the t...

May 27, 2022 — Stage 4 — Haut Ascu to Tighjettu — 8mi / 4,500'

I enjoyed breakfast a lot, with yogurt and two coffees, and got “leave last, move fast,” as the message for the morning. We motored up to the pass below Monte Cintu in record time, passing many other parties along the way. There was only a tiny bit of snow left up high, and it was soft enough that we didn't need to use the micro-spikes that we'd brought along. 

Onc...

May 26, 2022 — Stage 3 — Carozzu to Haut Ascu — 5mi / 2,800'

We had some light rain for a couple of hours in the morning as we ascended the lower part of the gorge going up from Carozzu. We took it slow as it was a bit exposed moving over slippery rock above the river gorge. The weather cleared about halfway up, and we motored up to the pass where we took a break to regroup. 

We debated for a while about an alternate to the st...

May 25, 2022 — Stage 2 — Ortu di Piobbu to Carozzu — 5.5mi / 2,300'

We took the high alternate route from Ortu di Piobbu over Monte Corona and Capu Ladroncellu and then rejoined the main trail at about the halfway point. I was feeling super strong, just about running uphill with a 15kg pack. Anthony and I agreed that I was doing the “goat work,” and I said that has been part of my vision for who I want to be in my 50’s — a mountain...

May 24, 2022 — Stage 1 — Calenzana to Ortu di Piobbu — 8mi / 4,800'

Anthony and I met Dirk at the Poste in Calenzana and then the three of us set off. Climbing straight out of town we quickly gained 700m, half of the day’s ascent, and then stopped for lunch at Boccu u Saltu at 1250m where there is a nice little meadow. Anthony and I played catch with a frisbee for a few, my anxiety growing. Just as I called a halt I stubbed my toe ...