Heather Bikes

I love taking the Corsica Ferry. It’s not that expensive, they don’t hassle you about bringing a bike on, and it’s cool to be on a huge boat.

I got into Ile Rousse around 2pm and decided to take a train into the interior. Last year, I had been too scared of the mountains to venture off the coast. But now, I was carrying less weight on my bike and decided to do it.

The trains in Corsica are very limited and not welcoming to bikes. My ticket was about 9€ from Ile Rousse to Corte, and I had to pay 19€ extra for the bike! Plus, there was a bus connection from some town about 25 km away from Corte and the man at the train station said I could only go as far as that town. I decided to do it anyway. Being on the train felt like I was on that roller coaster on Coney Island. Very rickety, only two cars, winding through the mountains. The conductor had to constantly blow his horn to alert the cows on the tracks to get out of the way.

It was the second time in my life I’ve ever seen a cow run. Very funny!

When I got to the train station before Corte, I was able to talk to the bus driver and he wound up letting me on the bus. He just said, ‘if anything happens to the bike, its not my fault.’ There are benefits to being a female travelling alone.

Corte is a really beautiful town.

I spent the night camping, and just like last year, my first night camping on Corsica is always scary!

There were crazy thunderstorms and I was worried my bike was going to wash away. Luckily, I had put my tent up well, remembering to tuck the tarp under, and everything was ok by the morning. I was worried about riding because I heard the storms were going to continue, but I came to Corsica to RIDE!

Am I going to make it???