Garbage Removal by Chopper

Day 22 - August 20

I knew a strong climb lay ahead of me, so I was already in the saddle by 6 am, with practically no traffic and lots of green. The morning was just breaking.

I reached the pass at Palmarella Pass (406m) just before 8 am. Short of the pass, I heard the distinctive noise of a chopper and suddenly saw a helicopter land right at the pass, about 50 meters ahead of me. There were also a number of trucks - did an accident occur?

No! This chopper, as it turned out, was there to haul garbage from a small village, to which no roads lead. I spoke with the pilot in French, he was amazed at what I was doing, I was amazed at his work - I tried hitching a ride, to no avail, he was busy hauling the garbage, taking off and landing multiple times. The trucks were there at the pass to load the garbage from the containers attached to the chopper.

The view from the pass was amazing, the rising sun lit the bay, the sea was calm - the pilot must have been enjoying his view thoroughly.

One could see the road ahead carved out on the side of the mountain.

Traffic was still light.

...and I met some other bikers, they were on a tandem.

Photos do not do justice to the wonderful views I was experiencing and enjoying that day, the pristine water, the green, the rocks - pure joy!

Porto was the name of the next town, with a nice, cool grocery market and a large beach - here I went in for a refreshing swim and took a rest - and had a picknick.

After Porto it was yet again steep uphill - but what for a scenery: called Calanques de Piana, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. These are bizarre granite rock formations, some 400 meters above the sea - breathtaking.

The road was so narrow that traffic came to a standstill - for me as a biker this was a wonderful opportunity to look for the best places for a snapshot. There are no traffic jams when on a bike!

Reaching the town of Piana, there was somebody watering the plants with a hose, I asked him to splash me instead - going through the gorge in the heat was tiring. It really freshened me up - to the amusement of the people loitering around.

I guess the afternoon was not as spectacular as the morning. It turned out they were right at the hotel I stopped the previous evening: Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica, was a bit hard to reach in just one day. It was still some 25 kilometers away, but I realized there was a mountain to climb in between, so I decided to put this off for the next day, found a campsite near a beach and went in for an evening swim instead. After the swim, I had a below-average pizza at a nondescript, practically empty bar - to make matters worse, mosquitoes were at work. I should have, could have returned to my campground (too little, too late), there was a very lively and very packed restaurant there, with some Latin American band playing "Guantanamera" and similar songs - it would have been more interesting than at the boring bar. The music continued well after I entered my tent - but did not bother me, I fell asleep quickly.

Here is the map for the day. It was a bit 88 km and ascended about 2,350 meters, descending the same amount.