You had to know that we would eventually do something with our hiking shoes and gear.🙂 That happened today. We had a bit of time on our hands before we were expected in the harbour this morning at 10:00. A nice breakfast provided by our host was a good start to the day!
We found a walk called the Customs Officers Trail before departing home. The trail dates back centuries (probably to service the Genovese watch towers) and runs along the coast from well before Barcaggio south to Macinaggio. In the 1800’s the north Cap was populated by customs officers and administrators who used the trail to keep an eye out for the arrival of ships. Napoleon and Josephine visited the area several times as well. Yup, that’s about all the information we could find.🤣
We walked down to meet the boat that would take us up to Barcaggio. I noticed the boat was called the San Paulu V. I found myself wondering just what happened to the other four?
The wind was ripping through the sailboat halyards across the harbour making quite a whistling sound. As we were to discover, the wind was blowing pretty hard from the south…Africa.
It was a one hour tour complete with stops to see some of the sites between the two towns. As I mentioned yesterday there are a considerable number of Genovese watch towers along the coast. We saw three more today and the two right on the coast were in pretty bad shape, suggesting that the Mediterranean can get pretty nasty from time to time. That said, I thought they looked pretty dramatic!
As windy as it was, it was really beautiful on the water today. A T-shirt was enough to keep warm.
This is the second tower, looking in better condition, but not a whole lot. The water is spectacular!
And this is the third tower, well above where a damaging wave could strike it. We would pass each of these towers as we walked back to our starting point. However, it was lovely to see them from the water as they are much more dramatic. It gave me a sense of what an invading fleet might have seen many years ago.
The cliffs are largely sandstone, but there are other things going on as well. A real green tint.
Arriving an hour later in Barcaggio, we started the trail almost immediately at 11:00 because the afternoon forecast was for a possibility of wet weather. The walk takes about 3 1/2 hours. We also had a 2.5 hour drive ahead of us at the completion of our walking day.
We started off along the beach, and we were a bit surprised to find that the beach was covered in flat, mostly dried brown seaweed. It was everywhere, but easier to walk on than the sand. Bonus! It did give the beaches a somewhat unpleasant look, quite a contrast from the gorgeous turquoise water.
We approached the first tower.
We started to climb and the wind was just blasting us. At the top of the first climb I found a place in the lee of the headland to wait for Annemarie. All the wind pressure against the headland only accelerated.
It’s late here so pardon whole I input a series of pics in the blog
After 3.5 hours and loads of wind we were finished! Thirty minutes later were were on our way to the NW part of the island. We drove back down through Bastia and even further south beyond the airport. Then across the island along some very windy roads and through some spectacularly jagged mountains! Finally in sight of L’lle Rousse about 2.5 hours later I took this photo.
We are high above L’lle Rousse in a surprisingly inexpensive place for the next 3 nights. A very good restaurant is part of the deal, and after a particularly bad meal last night, we are well satisfied tonight. 🙂
It’s late here after a brilliant, but long day. Sunday here tomorrow so we will have to figure out something to do. Float in the pool?
Last, but not least: Happy Birthday Caitlin!! Hope those girls are spoiling you!🎂🎉🎉🍷
Distance Walker - Wandering & Wondering! 