• Edinburgh-Nice-Calvi-Calenzana
• Saturday 22nd July 2023

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Corsica is a mountainous Mediterranean Island in France.  Although its been part of France for hundreds of years, it retains a distinct Italian culture.

Nicknamed the ‘Isle of Beauty’, it’s an excellent resort destination as it presents a mix of stylish coastal towns, dense forest, craggy peaks and prestine beaches.

It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean.  The mountains dominate the islands western and central regions and nearly half the island falls within a park whose hiking trails include the challenging GR20.  And it was this we were here to experience.

The GR20 is the mythical 200km-long (124 miles) hiking route, mostly along mountain ridges, from Calenzana in the north to Conca in the south, that most French people associate with Corsica (along with the beaches of course).

It should take an experienced hiker 7-14 days to complete with every night spent in a refuge or a tent. Of course, you don’t need to hike the whole length of this trail and can just undertake small segments in a day. We have chosen to try to complete it from start to finish bringing our own tent, whilst trying to be as self-sufficient as possible.  We are also trekking for 17 days as we hope to  climb a few extra peaks and of course have given ourselves a ‘rest day’ to chill and enjoy our time in the mountains.

The northern section is where we will begin and is said to be the hardest as the path can be steep and rocky – in the south, the path is smoother and a bit flatter.

We have been told “the GR20 hiking trail isn’t for the faint hearted but the effort is worth it”!

We were flying from Edinburgh to Nice whereby we would pick up our next flight taking us to a beautiful town called Calvi on the northwest Coast of Corsica.  This town is well known for its beaches and cresent-shaped bay.  There are many beautiful cobbled streets and popular restaurants lining the harbour here with a medieval fortress overlooking the marina.  We literally drove through it.

From here we were taking a taxi to Calenzana, a commune in the Haute-Corse area of Corsica.  Nowadays it is probably best known for being the starting point for the GR20.

We would stay here for the night and begin our hike tomorrow morning.

I should however tell you the short version of our journey getting here.  After being dropped off at Edinburgh Airport at 1am on Saturday for our 6.10am flight (gates opening at 4am) we had a pretty long night waiting.  Our flight from Edinburgh to Nice was sharp.  On arriving in Nice we had a 5 hour wait for our plane to Corsica which ended up being delayed so we were stuck in that airport for 8 hours, including a 30 minute wait in a bus taking us to the plane.  We arrived at our apartment at 7.30pm Saturday.  I think this has been our shortest flight time in a long time which resulted in us ‘travelling’ longer than ever before!   Nice way to start.