Corsica ahoy

Spot the broken spoke

It's a short 50km coastal bike ride to Savona, where the ferry will take me to Bastia, Corsica. As it is off season, there is no ferry going directly from Genoa.
This gives me my first opportunity to get into the Mediterranean sea (a breathtaking 13C), much to the amusement/ amazement of local fishermen and beach visitors. Needless to say, I do not last long, but it needed to be done. Near Savona, there is a splendid bike/ pedestrian era area no path right along the coast, replete with tunnels and archways. I am taking the overnight ferry which takes 10 hours, meaning that I can, for once, get an early start tomorrow. After stowing my bike on the car deck and bidding it adieu, I seek out a suitable place for my thermarest. My 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep falls afoul of some rowdy, booze-cruising Italian teenagers and I struggle to even get a couple of hours kip.
From Bastia my route today will take me to the centre of Corsica, near Corte. Some basic facts about Corsica : it once belonged to Italy, but now belongs to France; they have their own language which is more similar to Italian than French; it's population of 300,000 swells to nearly 2 million in the summer session.  The two route finders I use (Google maps and maps.me), dispute the optimal bicycle way. I decide to use the more major roads (marked T**), as not to do so, would cause me to traverse 40% more distance and 100% more cumulative elevation; on this island this would mean really epic days of 3000m+ cumulative climbs, something I had not factored in when organising my WarmShower (WS) hosts. With plenty of hard shoulder, respectful drivers and not much traffic, this strategy proves efficient and, to my mind, safe. However, with more a conservative daily average, I would have seen more of the magnificent towns, perched precariously on mountainsides. 

My WS host for the next few days is the dynamic Delfine. The tiny village is close to Corte, but 400m higher, at approximately 800m and is a village almost decimated by the depopulation to the larger metropolises. This means that buildings are not cared for and the average age of its inhabitants lies above 60. So why did Delfine move here? Partially financial reasons, but mostly the view. She bought an old, decrepit house and has been painstakingly restoring it brick-by-brick for years. And the result? The most impressive, ecologically-sound and natural house I have ever visited. It's still a work in progress, but by using natural materials (eg cork, hemp, wood, to etc.), it makes you feel lighter when you step over the threshold. It's not easy to step inside however, as the panorama from the front deck clicks the button marked "ideal habitat" in the more instinctive parts of the brain.
Delfine is an active climber, so she invited me to join her in the evening's bouldering session in a nearby club. The club is associated with the university, meaning that it is regularly filled by students eager to improve their climbing ability.
The next day, I cycle down to Corte and into the Restonica valley, where there are numerous sport and trad climbing routes, both single and multipitch. As it is still not high season (it's still Spring after all and by all rights should not yet be 20°C +), there are practically no tourists and only some locals out on bike rides and hikes.
Later that evening I join Delfine for yoga. She is a hatha yoga teacher, who, at the moment, teaches regularly a small group of climbers and other people in a room at a local horse ranch. The yoga class has a less anonymous feel than that in Berlin, with the particants laughing and joking with each other during the session. After only one week's absence of yoga, my body has contorted to its more cycle-ready conformation i.e. rounded back, stiff legs and basically contracted. This yoga session is the perfect remedy.
Kate will also be staying at Delfine's place until she finds her own place. She had moved from France to Corsica to work for a bat conservation and research organisation. She's batty about bats and confesses that she can speak all day about them. Such enthusiasm is infectious.
I ask politely to stay another night so that we can go climbing some rock the next day. We head into the Restonica valley and Delfine leads some 6a climbs on the granite rock, which I struggle to manage. In my defense, I did not have climbing shoes. However, my inexperience on granite and outdoor climbing is evident. Yet another reason to move here some time.