Corsica: Finishing the GR20 (and a pre-birthday fitness test)

July 21, 2011

Six days before my 3Xth birthday, my trusted hiking buddy and I completed what may have been my greatest physical challenge yet (edging out the 2002 Boston Marathon only by the narrowest margin): the 90 or so mountainous kilometers of the southern GR 20 (long distance trail), almost 37 hours of hiking in the span of 57 hours.

 Following the white and red trail markers along the narrow ridges of the GR20

Corsica is about as good as it gets for hikers.  The mountain scenery is breathtaking but the altitudes are low and it is usually sunny in the summer so there is no need to acclimate or carry cold-weather clothing.  There is a well-organized network of refuges (mountain huts) so if you book in advance, you do not need to carry tents, cooking supplies or water purification devices.  And best of all, the beach awaits you at the end of the trail, in just about any direction you choose.  (According to Wikipedia, Corsica is “183 kilometres (114 miles) long at longest, 83 kilometres (52 miles) wide at widest, has 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) of coastline, more than 200 beaches….”)

Generally, it is recommended that hikers take six days to complete the southern part of the GR20. Four or five days would have been challenging but sane.  We did it in three.  It was not easy, but it was well worth it both to prove to ourselves that we could do it and (equally important) to enjoy the final day of our trip by the pool at our hotel in the charming fortress town of Bonifacio on the southern tip of the island.

Bonifacio’s Old Town and the pool at the Hotel Genovese

I have posted the detailed itinerary under Longer Trip Itineraries, along with the itinerary for the northern part of the GR20.  You may also want to read my earlier post on the GR20.

Related Posts

Penultimate GR34 Update

Penultimate GR34 Update

Having finished all the mainland segments of Brittany's coastal trail (the GR34) and many of the islands, I'm now at 1,461 miles logged since November 2014. Here are all my GR34 photos to date. Bay of Quiberon I plan to finish the last few remaining pieces of this...

Semaine du Golfe

Semaine du Golfe

At the end of May, I was in Brittany for the biennial week-long festival, the Semaine du Golfe. This "Week of the Gulf" is a celebration of the boating history of the Gulf of Morbihan. There is no racing, but numerous other boat-related festivities, including a...

Scotland: The Full Itinerary

Scotland: The Full Itinerary

Old Man of Storr, Skye I have posted our full Highlands itinerary under Longer Trip Itineraries. Hiking near Glencoe I’m not sure there’s anything I would have done differently in terms of our itinerary except perhaps hoof it all the way to Tarbert on the first night...