A week in Corsica!

Hello again everyone! 

Since the last blog we have left Italy (for the meantime) and have been travelling around Corsica. A 4 hour boat trip from Livorno in Italy and we had arrived at midnight during a raging storm at Bastia, on the east coast of Corsica. 

Corsica is an island belonging to France. 180km north to south and 90km east to west. 

There are over 60 peaks over 2000m here! A hiker's and biker's paradise.

The above photo is very misleading. We have had horrendously cold weather! Anyone in Europe is probably experiencing the same. The French campsite owner this morning had only one word for it "Catastrophic!". He has never seen such weather at this time of year. It was 9 degrees this morning! The kids were however excited to see sleet :/

First day in Corsica and we met up with our friend Karen, a fellow cycler and Zambucca lover from Sydney ;)

One happy customer with his 'glace' at Calvi, chique coastal town on the west coast with the big boats and the high rollers.

baguettes and cheese road side

 WILDFLOWERS ...

Les Calanches: spectacular UNESCO protected site.

 narrow windy roads. Tourists straying from buses made the passage even more difficult.

Plage D'Arone. Rays of sun, yay!!

education corner :)

wild pigs, a local delicacy apparently.

ARRIVAL at Montu Cinto camping yesterday :)

DEPARTURE at Montu Cinto camping this morning:(1200m altitude, 9 degrees celcius, visibility zero and sleet! Wasn't so crazy afterall packing the beanies :)

A frequent sight: Fynn flashing past on 2 wheels.

the town of LUCCA (near PISA)

daily gelato 

one of the many 'torre's'

in search of old beetles ... this one is from Rome

on the impressive wall surrounding Lucca

We cycled the 4km around the city this morning on the wall amongst the Italian's getting their morning exercise.

Camper park just outside Lucca, FULL!! Mostly of Italians as they love their campervanning on a sunny weekend. Thanks sun for returning after some miserable days! Tonight we are on the boat to Corsica, vive la France!

Come out and play!

Room with a view

top bed in the van

"poo duty" :(

Stabilising the necessities while on the move. One of the many uses of a washing line.

Farm life

PODERE IL CASALE

(agroturisme)

Thanks France & Werner for this great tip :)

we managed to loose the kids amongst the animals and were treated to a delicious home-made dinner Italian country style.

and now for something completely different .... goat shearing Kiwi's in Italy :/

Lago di Garda

Lake Garda, the largest in Italy. Windsurf and kitesurfing mecca for many. Massive and absolutely stunning! Our last visit to Lake Garda was 15 years ago on our trusty bicycles :) 

In search of some sun ...

After 3 days on the road we are slowing down pace after driving straight through Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany and Austria. We are now in northern Italy and, as usual, the sun is shining on this side of the Alps. Our campsite is on Lago di Caldonazzo. It's low season so we're in the 'grey wave' of campervanners with very few kids around.

Through the land of windmills and solar panels we continued further south in search of some sun. 

Good bye Germany, we will be back ...

It's not often you have snow capped peaks as a backdrop during brekky :) The southern side of the Alps in Italy. Unfortunately our computer has now gone Italian so it was quite challenging uploading this blog in a foreign language.

Driving the 3.5 tonne 'beast'. Note: new central rear view mirror purchased at petrol station on the way. Couldn't the kids have broken something a little less essential??!!

Goodnight ;)

Spectacular scenery all the way through Austria of snow capped peaks and clusters of hamlets in the valleys. Austria is stunning.