Cap Corse

We are using an app - park4night which is very handy as it uses the reviews and knowledge of previous "campers" to provide locations and facilities of various camping spots. These range from unofficial spaces at the side of the road or maybe a lay-by, to fully fledged campsites. There's the quick access to "what's near me now?" and this provides easy directions for a "drive there".

So we found references to a spot at the tip of Cap Corse, described as two locations, upper and lower. The drive there, although all tarmac, entailed a turn off the already minor (narrow, twisty and hilly) road onto another that terminates at a military radar place a km or so past the camp spot. We parked next to a French camper and went to the small beach, a 600m walk down and there we swam off the rocks. It was absolute bliss.

Back at the top the French had left and for the next eighteen hours we saw one other couple who came for a swim and a couple of cars the next morning that drove past on the road above, going to the military place.

It is exposed and the reviews said so but somehow when the temperature is in the twenties, that doesn't matter much. It was a little disconcerting as the wind was very gusty, so during the night there would be periods of calm and then we'd get a real buffeting. The Landy rocks around on its springs and as we are sleeping at the roof line, there is some motion.

We carry 40 litres of water and have our little loo too, so hygiene standards at a site such as this are maintained.

The views were amazing as we watched shipping sail by, down the east side of the island towards Bastia.

We were very happy to wake the following morning to more of the same weather and the solitude. After breakfast we continued our tour of the Cap with a drive along the west coast on a road that is very popular with Italian motorcycle tourers and also a few coaches. This required patient driving and passing wasn't possible unless the coach drivers decided to be nice and pull-in, which in our case they did.

Unlike many, we took the side-roads so we could get back down to the coast and there we found places such as this, perfect for a coffee.

At one spot along the route we parked behind a 110 from Luxembourg. There was a fair bit of bling on there but all in all it looked like a great Landy. It's much newer than ours, a Puma, with big seats and aircon, with cargo rails and bits fastened on the top and sides. However from a vehicle controls point of view, there's a lot more to go wrong and as far as Land Rover touring is concerned, less is more.

Next we stopped for a couple of nights at a "campsite" that was nearly as rustic as the previous one at the tip of the Cap. Although it's a vineyard with an added set up for campers, it was almost forgotten by the operators who didn't seem to do anything to improve the life of a camper. This was more than compensated for though by a stupendous, effectively private beach right in front of our spot and with only one other campervan there it was empty!

By now the heat was setting in and night time here was hot and sticky. We couldn't get as much as a zephyr into the roof and went to bed sweating and wishing we were at the airy Cap.

News started to come through of the predicted heatwave that is to cover much of Europe - something that we had seen on Windy.com, last week. This is the current prediction for tomorrow, 27th June. Corsica is looking a little less extreme than much of the mainland. Those dark reds are high 30s / low 40s Centigrade. Wow!