GR20 – Corsica – Stage 7 – Mary's Outdoor Adventure's

Manganu-Petra Piana
July 2023

We were up early (again!!) as this stage was meant to be a tough day. Last night had been a very cold night. We had slept in all our gear including our waterproofs – they’ve came in handy after all but my bones still felt cold this morning.

On exiting the tent it was still cold so we left sharp and were happy to be walking to get a bit of heat.

From Manganu we climbed up the valley to the ominous looking Brèche de Capitellu, a rocky gap between two stone towers.

This hike is massive and goes on and on upwards for quite some time. We tried to climb as quickly as possible in the morning before the sun rose over the mountain and things began really heating up.

This hike completes a traverse through the second highest mountain range of the island.

The climb is very steep and relentless the whole way (of course it was). The final scree slope holds snow well into the summer, but not today.

Once we arrive at the Brèche which is hours later in front of us could be best described as a moonscape.

Far beneath us lie the crater lakes Lac de Capitellu and Lac du Melo. Its very beautiful here absolutely stunning. These lakes have glacial origin. Their isolated location is special.

I love it here, pictures can never do it justice. After sitting for a bit taking in our surroundings we have to move on.

A scrambly passage to the right leads us to a high ridge with amazing views down the Restonica Valley to the left.

We then have a steep downwards climb. The rock here is super smooth so they have provided a metal chain to help climbers down. From here there’s more scrambling and some more.

We can see the trail traverse the mountain which from where we are looks relatively ok, until we got there. There was lots of steep scrambling up, a massive boulder field, another steep scramble up and another mountain crossing. You would not believe it. Then of course we faced the massive steep scree/ boulder decent down…just the usual terrain now we have come to realise.

We can finally see our Refuge for the night and it was still some bit away.

On arriving in camp, Refuge de Petra Piana offers awesome views down the valley and towards Monte d’Oro.

We find our spot for the night which is in a pretty isolated area away from the other campers. We set up camp, shower, cook and eat dinner, then head up to the refuge area as our Edinburgh friends Jen and Ashley are leaving us tomorrow. They had combined two different stages to us so our group of 6 is becoming a four. We sit up late (9.30 pm, it’s hikers late) chatting and sharing stories.

This refuge was quite rowdy. The staff being the worst. They decided to get out the guitar and have a sing along aswell as a drinking session. It got to the point that they forgot they had guests and the party became all about them. In fact I’d go as far as to say they were rude to guests and they didn’t particularly want to serve anybody. As we headed to bed their party was still in full swing with no thoughts whatsoever about the hikers who are rising early in the morning.

The evening sky was beautiful tonight but by the time we got in our tents the wind had picked up. Think its going to be another cold one again tonight.

This had so far been one of my favourite hikes on the GR20 to date. Although its very tough conditions, very steep ascents and descents, we were rewarded by the scenery. They do say the best views come after the hardest climbs.