Hampered by the Mistral

For the last week the wind has been howling.  It is a Mistral which appears when there is a low pressure system to the north of the gap between the Alps and the Pyrenees causing a strong NW wind in the Gulf of Lyon.  The effects are felt in the south of Corsica and north of Sardinia, and in Bonifacio in the harbour it was gustuing at 30 plus at times.  We were happy to sit the first few days at our berth and made use of our time by having a look around some more and catching a couple of the world cup games.

A windy day in Bonifacio

For one day we hired a small car and headed into the hinterland.  Corsica is a pretty big island and the centre is dominated by a range of very rugged hills or mountains through which are dotted small villages.  We drove up the west coast which was was taking a hammering from the Mistral and then turned inland to cross over the hills to the other side.  The scenery is very spectacular as you can imagine.  The land is very green with lots of trees and houses dotting the hillside.  The villages consist of clusters of houses and shops with the obligatory church nearby all built out of grey granite topped with red roof tiles.   The villages have quaint small streets with shops and restaurants to catch the tourist dollars.  And in all the villages are memorials to the resistance fighters from the second world war.  

Corsican Hill Village

Quaint Streets

Some decisions are tough

Corsica is a beautiful island and well worth a visit.  There is a famous hiking trail through it called the GR 20 which would be pretty spectacular.  To really do the island credit you would need to stay here for a couple of weeks as there is so much to see.

On Friday (11th July) we left Bonifacio.  It was still blowing but we had to make a move and we were heading around to the east side of the island so figured we would get some shelter.  As we were going with the weather the sail was terrific and we only needed the genoa to get up to 8 kts.  Once we got into the lee of the island and the sea calmed down it was very enjoyable.  We headed into a small bay called Port de Rondinara.  The bay was very picturesque, fringed by beaches and would have been a great spot to swim and relax but the wind continued to blow around 25kts so we hunkered down and got on with school for the next couple of days.

Bonifacio from the sea

Yesterday we moved up to Porto Vecchio further up the east coast.  The main reason was to get to a town so that we could watch the World Cup final.  We anchored off the harbour and had a look around the old town and then found a restaurant in an alley which had a TV set up outside.  Had a great meal and watched the final with some of the locals sitting around the TV.

The mistral is starting to abate but the weather is still overcast.  Plan is to start to head north to Elba hopefully stopping on the way to enjoy some sunshine at a beach.  It is Bastille day here today so we figured we will stick around Porto Vecchio for one more day before we head off.

Honest we will get Sam a haircut soon