Ton and I have had the privilege of driving some beautiful highways in our time traveling, the Alaska Highway, Utah Highway 12, the Pacific Coast Highway, the Amalfi Coast, and today we added another beautiful and memorable highway to the list, the D81 between Sagone and Osage on Corsica.
Our thought was to move up to Calvi today. It is the next major town north of us and somewhere we planned to spend a day during our visit to Corsica. I had looked at a map and I remember telling Ton that it was not going to be a quick trip as the road looked very curvy, and mountainous. I punched Calvi into Greta our navigator, and she first reported that it was 47 kilometers north of us by air, she then calculated the route and said it was 118 kilometers of road. That is a lot of curves.
I checked the weather and it was not good. It was supposed to rain most of the day, so in addition to the mountains and curves we were going to have wet roads. We had a short debate about whether to stay put for the day, but while the campground was nice the only entertainment around it was a very nice grocery store next door, so we decided to move on.
Just as we were pulling out of the parking lot of the supermarket there were a couple of thunderclaps and the moderate rain we had been experiencing turned into a full on downpour. Ton asked if we should abort the drive, but I decided to push on.
For the first 45 minutes of the drive the windshield wipers were on high to handle the volume of rain. We had to keep our eyes out for water running across the road and deep puddles. Fortunately the traffic was pretty light, and we did not realize it at the time but this was the wide and straight part of the drive.
After about 45 minutes the rain let up and then eventually stopped just as we were reaching the area around the town of Piana. The timing it turns out couldn’t have been better as we were reaching the Calanques de Piana. We passed thru Piana which was the largest town we had seen so far on the trip. There were several substantial hotels in the town and the views from the town were great including some red rocks in the distance.
A couple of kilometers outside of the town we came to a sign in French which said approximately, the road is very narrow, there will be places to pull out so when you run into another car, work it out. Or words to that effect. We were entering the Calanques de Piana.
But what a magnificent stretch of road. The road is carved thru these amazing red rocks that reminded me a bit of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. There were hair pin turns to negotiate while you were peering around the corner to see if anyone else was coming, and simultaneously gawking at another beautiful vista.
Once going around one of the corners I ran into a tour bus coming the other way. We both stopped and checked our mirrors and I was planning to back up about 50 yards to a pullout, but before I could get into reverse he gave me a hand signal to wait and he threw the bus in reverse and backed into a small pull out part way to give me enough room to squeeze thru. Over the 10 kilometers or so of the narrow part of the road I came across 5 vehicles, 3 times the other person backed up to make enough room, and twice I did. Often you would see another car coming and we would park in a pull out and wait for them to go by. As the sign said use the pull outs and work it out amongst yourselves.
Not only do you have the red rocks but you can see the ocean from the road. This stretch of road is absolutely one of the most beautiful we have ever seen. When we set out in the morning we had no idea we were going to have one of the most memorable drives of our life. Today is the reason why we enjoy traveling in our little RV’s. We would have never experienced the D81 and the Calanques de Piana.
We left the campground at 9:45 and arrived at our campground in Calvi at about 1:15, so our 118 kilometer drive took three and half hours for an average speed of 33 kph or 20 miles per hour. It was not a fast trip but we enjoyed it immensely. Right as we got settled into the campground the sky opened up again and we spent the rest of the day watching the rain pour down with high winds and the occasional thunderclap. It was a memorable day.