An incredible challenge from North to South:
From Vizzavona to Conca (3rd part South)
The end of our trip is approaching, tomorrow will be the last day. There is still time to take beautiful photos and continue to visit this beautiful country of Corsica. Today we will go from the Matalza refuge to the I Paliri refuge. It will take us about 7 hours. 2/3 of the way will be downhill... We start with a slight descent. After a ford, we hike in the middle of a forest of pines and birches. An hour and a half of walking later, we arrive at the junction of the alpine variant...in the direction of the Aiguilles de Bavella.
The day before the weather information was not optimistic...there was a risk of rain, or even thunderstorms on the Aiguilles de Bavella. This morning at the start, some hikers still choose to try the adventure towards the needles...this alpine variant is not easy, but the landscape is sumptuous. We will not be so reckless, we take the option of continuing by the normal route at the foot of the ridges. This careful choice turns out to be the right one. From the GR we see the black clouds coming above the needles. Soon those same clouds will be right above our heads. We accelerate the pace so as not to find ourselves under the storm. We will learn later that those who had chosen the alpine option not only took the rain, but also saw nothing of the landscape. As always in the mountains, caution is required, this is good advice even for seasoned hikers.
The storm moves away when we arrive at the village of Bavella. This return to civilization after so many days in the mountains is a shock. Cars, parking lots, signs, noisy tourists...we feel a little out of time with these people who come there to admire the mountain and for some of them take a short hike to the Aiguilles de Bavella. Fortunately after this dizzying moment, we find the GR a few hundred meters lower at the exit of the village. We descend on a wide path. Soon the track rises again in laces until it reaches 1206m. We come across a few curiosities on our way.
The trails descend via a fairly steep path to reach 1000m. A last short climb and here we are at the I Paliri refuge.
As always and it's normal, on the GR20, the "commodities" are rather spartan...this is also part of the charm of this GR. 16th and last day. A relief... but also a bit of nostalgia. This morning the GR offers us a beautiful gift with this sunrise
What a beauty !! we have so many memories in mind... But it's time to leave...like every day, wake up around 5:30 am and leave around 7am...It's a vacation :) We will only have 160m of positive elevation and 960m negative today. So we start with a fairly steep descent on the Solenzara side. We continue to descend and pass a ford. The forest is quite degraded in this sector (fire, snow??)
Arrived at an altitude of 550m, we cross a ford again to go up again by fairly steep switchbacks...I thought we were done with all that. Morale takes a hit, we can't wait to finish. The descents are good, but they also wear out. Finally we arrive at the Bocca d'Usciolu.
We continue our descent and arrive at the fountain of radical. Another effort to come out on the road that leads to the village this Conca. The village is 1.5km away...in other words, nothing at all after 180km. Yet these last hectometres seem very long to us. We meet hikers who are just starting their trek, they are doing the GR in the South/North direction. A long debate...North/South or South/North. For me, I remain convinced that North/South is common sense. The historical sense and you are still in good shape to face the first stages of the North :) Here we are, joy in our eyes, pride... "We did it"... We came back from this mineral "hell"... we are not complaining... We have chosen to live this incredible adventure. A little nostalgia remains, images full of the head and a desire to leave... This GR20 is of course a physical adventure, but above all a human adventure with beautiful encounters, but also a look at oneself, some would say an introspection...Where are my limits? This GR also brings its share of joys and sorrows... great moments of euphoria in the face of so much beauty, great moments of despair when fate is not with you. So if this adventure tempts you...Be ready for the worst and enjoy the best
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