I can't recall if they sold Corsica Cola in the Spar shop in Calenzana, but someone in the village must sell it. You can certainly get it at the Refuge d'Ortu di u Piobbo, which is where I first saw it, and was moved to take a photograph of the can!
I checked in to the Hotel I Laricci in Vizzavona on account of their hot showers, then I decided to have a meal in the hotel too.
Paddy, I'm tagging along with Sherpa Ainsworth and his mule Aberdeen but will be bailing out at Vizzavona and want my last night to be spent in some comfort. You mention the Hotel I Laricci but this seems to be quite a distance from Vizzavona - could you or anyone else recommend accommodation in Vizzavona town/village - close to the train station would be perfect. A review of the Hotel Beausejour would be great!
The Hotel I Laricci is almost in the middle of Vizzavona, which is in any case barely big enough to be called a village. I think the hotel is one minute's walk from the train station! You're possibly thinking of the Hotel Monte d'Oro, which is quite a hike up the main road from the village, although they do pick ups and drop offs if you phone them. The Hotel I Laricci does budget digs, and there is a bar/refuge also in Vizzavona. Even if you stay on the campsite, there are showers available in the station building.
I've just got back from the GR20 and I found food in the Refuges expensive. I've written it up and included a lot of info about prices at each of the places I stayed. It's all here, if you want to take a look.
Fwiw, if I were going again I'd aim to buy supplies (pasta, rice, sardines etc) and cook them in the communal Refuge kitchens. That's what almost all the other people seemed to be doing, and it was a lot less expensive that way.
I'm surprised you managed to get all that detail written down, as well as walking the route, since most folk just seem to crash at at the end of each hard day! I noticed that you took the Alpine Traverse, which is one of the highly-recommended alternatives that most people don't take. As for the big ruin you found at Vizzavona, that's all that remains of the Grand Hotel de la Foret, where the English aristocrats used to stay and gamble away huge fortunes in the 19th century. (Further details on page 149!)
Ahaa! Well, when I make notes in the evening I don't write it out verbatim. Sometimes I write sentences, but other times I just jot down key words that remind me of particular things, and I find that looking at the piccies helps me fill in any gaps when I get home. I've just finished writing up the C2C I did a year ago, and somehow I was able to drag the memories back in that way.
As I sit in my tent making my notes, btw, I sometimes think of you typing away into your Psion I bought one on your recommendation a couple of years ago (got it on Ebay), but something fell off (I'm not quite sure what--I'm not very technical...) and so I've not taken it away with me yet.
It was a great pity that the weather was so extremely windy on the day of the Alpine Traverse. It was so windy that it wasn't really possible to dawdle over flowers and small things in the way I generally like to do. I certainly intend to return, though, and so if/when I do I hope to be able to take that bit more slowly. Having said that, I'd also like to do the forest route because all the way along the top I was wondering what new flowers I might be missing below (having read what you said about it in your book).
Many thanks indeed for the info about the amazing building in Vizzavona! I don't know how I managed to miss that in the book (well, other than the fact that I don't ever seem to read the descriptive parts carefully enough). I wondered what it was. What a pity it's fallen into disrepair like that!
Thanks again for all the great stuff in your book Imo it's quite definitely the definitive guide, and I'd say that some 75% of people I met had a copy: even the Europeans.
(If you read my a/c of getting to Conca, did you see the bit about how delighted the owner of the bar was to find the picture of his premises in your book? He almost skipped out onto the veranda to show it to his friends
I'm glad the bar owner liked the picture. I would have liked to have seen his face! That's the only bar I've ever been into where I was given a glass of iced water for free (on a very hot afternoon) before I was able to get an order in for anything else. Obviously, they like to take the edge off your thirst before dealing with a 'proper' order. When I left, they filled my bottle with more ice-cold water and crammed ice cubes into it for good measure!
I'm now a little confused. According to the font of all knowledge (Google) I Laricci is in Vivario which seems to be >5km away although one internet search this morning placed it in La Foce. Is I Laricci a common name for a hotel? Had similiar problems with the internet when looking for a hotel in the south of france and typed in 'nice hotels' first four pages had nothing to with france
Peewiglet,
Great blog, it's good to have such an up to date review before setting off. We were planning to take a stove for emergencies only but will probably make more use of it based on your feedback.
Dave - All I can say is that there's a massive discrepancy between things I see on Google and things I see with my own eyes! The Hotel I Laricci is in the tiny little village of Vizzavona, but as Vizzavona is too small to be a 'proper' village, it wouldn't surprise me if the postal address was Vivario. Be assured that the hotel is NOT in Vivario. La Foce is where the Hotel Monte d'Oro is located, and La Foce is even smaller than Vizzavona!
'Laricci' is actually derived from the Corsican pine, or 'laricio' pine, so it is a fairly common name around the island. And yes... if you search Google for 'nice' hotels, you'll find godzillions of 'pleasant' hotels as well as hotels in the city of 'Nice'. All internet searches should come with a 'belief' rating, because in my opinion there's a lot of stuff out there that is simply not to be trusted. I prefer to see things with my own eyes before I tell anyone else about them!
Really looking forward to taking on this route, this coming week will be spent packing and re-packing my racsack, I've taken note of both peewiglets kit list and yours but have to say you both must have magical powers to fit it all in. So far I've conceded with the tent, my luxurious Tadpole has been ditched in favour of a friends tiny vango, which means I can save another 0.5kg by taking a smaller bag. There's also the option to carry a little less food and a lot more money!
PS Top marks for the quick response, I'm impressed.
I've packed a Tadpole along the route twice, and they only thing you need to watch are the big mesh panels. When it's dry and dusty, and the wind whips between the flysheet and inner tent, you can get one helluva duststorm inside a Tadpole. If your little Vango can keep all that dust zipped out, then you can forget about conditions outside. I won't be taking the Tadpole anywhere else, having found a tent half its weight. As for packing... just keep doing it again and again and you'll be surprised how you suddenly find ways of eliminating dead space and getting it all in.
I'm so glad you found my write-up helpful I'm very envious of you, about to set out on the journey. I'm sure you'll have a fabulous time. Corsica was the most beautiful place I've ever been. I v. much look forward to returning.
Fwiw, I entirely endorse what Paddy says about duststorms when the wind is high. Although I've walked a lot in Scotland (v. windy!) I simply hadn't experienced that sort of dust to wind ratio until I camped on the GR20. My tent is in the garden as I type, in the pouring rain, gradually shedding some of the clay it accumulated en route.
p.s. the Hotel Larrici is definitely in Vizzavona I saw no other hotel of the same way along the way.
I'd highly recommend treating yourself/yourselves there for the night. See piccies on my pages. It's elegant and friendly, and (I thought) pretty good value as a break from all the camping. Do book the brekkie, though, unlike me: the dining room was extremely elegant, and I was very sorry that I didn't pay the extra few Euros that would have secured me what I'm sure would have been a delicious breakfast there.
Ms Piggy, you have a great blog. Your write up of your GR20 trek is terrific. You captured the very essense of all that's good about trekking. And, it's bang up to date too !! Perfect The one thing that you rammed home was your regret at not having taken a stove. We won't have that problem as I've always planned to take one anyway, along with vast quantites of porridge, tea/coffee, and chocy drinks (for breakfast).
Paddy / Ms Piggy :
I also plan to take a water filter (quite a large one) in order to purify water on an industrial scale - there will be 5 of us - do you think we'll need it ? Afterall, it'll primarily be used for cooking breaky and making a brew around the refuges. It frees up a decent space in my rucksack when it's not there.
Did someone mention a water filter? (Shameless plug!)
Despite the fact that I'm selling one, I have to put my hand on my heart and say that you don't actually need one on the GR20. Most of the water sources are perfectly good to drink, either because they spring straight from a crack in the granite bedrock, or because they're piped from a spring to a refuge without any opportunity for contamination along the way. The main water sources are well-known and are mentioned in my guidebook. Usually, but by no means always, there's a water source in the middle of the day between refuges. The exception is the first day out from Calenzana, which is a bit of a killer, because you're still trying to get acclimatised to the heat and effort, and you run the risk of drinking all your water before the end of the day. When you reach the first refuge, the water inside the building is not drinkable, so you have to walk a few more metres to find the drinkable water. It's nearly always the case that non-drinking water is labelled in French as eau non potable, but good, clean, drinking water might not be labelled at all! Drinking from rivers carries a slight risk of contamination, but from my point of view, river water has never upset me, but I find it uncomfortably warm... rather like drinking from a kettle that hasn't quite cooled! Lake water, should you be tempted to drink it, should always be treated. So... the bottom line is... it's really up to you if you want to carry the weight. I don't think you need it, provided you know where the next reliable water source is located. If you want to drink from rivers or lakes, then by all means play safe and carry the filter.
Thanks, Richard I'm delighted that you enjoyed my account.
Like Paddy, I don't think you'll need a water filter. I didn't need one at any stage, simply filling my 2L Platy at the various Refuges in the mornings.
If you're determined to get one, though (*g*) you should look at the amazing Aquagear water filters over on backpackinglight.co.uk. There's also a podcast about them, which you can listen to if you scroll down to the bottom of that page.
The one thing that you rammed home was your regret at not having taken a stove. We won't have that problem as I've always planned to take one anyway, along with vast quantites of porridge, tea/coffee, and chocy drinks (for breakfast).
