Calvi and the approach to Porto

With the warm-up in full swing, we knew that shade and water (to drink and in which to be immersed), were now necessities. We skirted the Desert des Agriates to the north of us as the temperature and humidity were a good reason not to go to the famous beach Plage de Saleccia. This would have required a sixty minute off road excursion on a track that we couldn't get up-to-date details about, to reach the campsite at the beach end.

Instead we continued on tarmac, reaching the coast and enjoying the beautiful scenery and smells until we arrived at the chic town and marina of Calvi.

There one can watch the yachting and boating world go by. The campsite we chose, Camping Les Castors, is just a few minutes walk from the huge beach, which itself is next to the marina and the massive Citadel is prominent too.

We found some shade for both us and the Landy, in fact a little too much shade, as the battery that supplies the fridge began to complain, dropping to 11.6V a few times. This was due to reduced input from the "shaded for too much of the day" 100W solar panel, whilst the fridge was working flat out 24/7 in order to keep the interior at around 4 deg C. It does this very well.

This is an idea of the temperatures we are experiencing, with the left side temperature on the display showing the interior of the vehicle and the right showing exterior shade temperature. The latter is a little affected by radiation from the chassis and so when the Landy isn't moving it can read a little high - but it isn't far off. So we are getting used to temperatures in mid thirties and wow is that hot. With a strong sun, the temperature rises very quickly so that it is over thirty degrees from mid-morning right through until the evening. There's no respite and the coolest places to be are supermarkets but otherwise, with no aircon, it is shade and a breeze, in that order or total immersion in water.

Calvi is set in front of a spectacular range of mountains, still showing some snow on these north facing flanks. The peaks are dramatic, looking like the Dolomites, formed by vertical rock faces like huge incisors. The photo doesn't do them justice.

Lord Nelson lost his eye here in 1794 and left never wanting to see the place again.

Visiting the Citadel required an early start due to the heat but we managed to walk there, back and around before the heat of the day would drive us to the campsite pool.

We had a great view down to the dock where Titania, a 73m custom motor yacht was coming into port. There was a large crew on deck ready to berth her and we were excited to see if anyone we recognised was on board, as it is a British ship flying the Red Ensign.

As we watched and waited, a quick Google gave us more facts and surprisingly, as it is a charter vessel, the indicative cost to hire for a week. Rather fortunately given the weather, it is still low season, so costs are €525,000 for the week plus expenses of about €71,000. Rather unsurprisingly one-one we know did appear on the gangplank.

Returning to the campsite, we toughed it out at the pool. This is beautifully situated and has very comfortable sun loungers. (I'm not responsible for the feet in the photo). Whilst not being a "swimmer's" pool", one can still have great fun.

Driving along the coast from Calvi to Porto was spectacular. For the main part, the road really was clinging to precipitous cliffs and the sea was often several hundred metres below.

A short detour to a village at the seafront was rewarded with a really cool café and another great view.

Plus another guest came past wearing a Land Rover T-shirt and soon we were back on teh road comparing notes, him with a nice TD5 110 fitted out for sleeping. These discussions are doing wonders for my French language ability too.

Finally the road swings east and as you drive around the corner, the whole of the Golfe de Porto opens-up. This view is looking back north across the gulf to the road where we drove from left to right as we approached Porto. In the grand scheme of things, we are now in a relatively remote part of the island and it is beautiful.