Anchoring in the beautiful Isola di Piana - heaven 😍😍

A very long but lovely journey from Stintino (Sardinia) to here Propriano (Corsica). We did see for the first time in ages a big pod of dolphins feeding so not coming to play in our wake sadly but at least we saw them. Other than that the trip was hot & eventless with a rather large Emma special egg mayo sandwich.

We got a great reception from the marineros here on arrival. The town is described in Captains Mate as unassuming but I prefer to think it’s unpretentious & actually quite like it. It’s not old or particularly pretty but has lovely French shops, bars & restaurants & the beaches (of which there are loads) are lovely (a bit gritty) and mostly quite empty, we are surrounded by mountains & the sea is lovely & \240clear.

So we spent a day doing chores, boat cleaning (it was filthy), washing, ironing and fixing things. Andrew had a board meeting yesterday so I went on a long walk around the lovely coastline with very lovely views, stunning but it is very very hot at the moment so I got back very hot & sweaty!!

Last night we had probably our best dinner out so far at a small but very lovely place called Terra Cotta, the food was superb & although pricey actually by Corsican standards it was more than reasonable & the service was perfect. We had hoped to go here on our 8th wedding anniversary which was on Tuesday but couldn’t get a reservation.

Today we went inland a bit to visit an organic vineyard which although all in French was very interesting. We got to taste the wines with local bread, cheeses & meat but they were just ok so didn’t buy.

Tomorrow we head back to Ajaccio not because we loved it but because it’s convenient on our way back!

So we are back in Ajaccio (capital of Corsica) or now know as Cruise ship city! Each morning we have woken to a new cruise ship on the quay & today there are 3 cruise ships in & huge numbers of Americans, British & Spanish walking around town & it’s really hot. They all pass by the end of our boat so it’s great for people watching.

Yesterday we did the Petit Train trip to see more of the sites of Ajaccio & the area. It was a great little trip & meant we got to see so much more of the city when it’s too hot to walk around much. We also went into the Citadelle once it was a bit cooler last night & had a yummy ice cream.

I think this time we have appreciated Ajaccio a bit more but I still don’t like the fact that the quay is so high and we have to step down to the passerelle across a gap, it feels very unsafe for some reason.

A stunning bay in the north west of Corsica everyone said we must visit & we are here. \240It is a stunning end (almost) to a fabulous 10 weeks onboard our second home. It is beautiful & therefore it is really busy & boats are packed in on bouys tied front & back. It’s a bit like a carpark for boats of all shapes & sizes but it works. The sea is azure, the mountains rise up around us & the tiny village of restaurants & cafes sits prettily in the bay. A large Genoan fort built in 1552 overlooks us. It is beautiful.

Did I mention that on our way here from Ajaccio this morning we actually saw a whale 😍😍. Finally after all these hours at sea, an amazing Fin Whale that blew & then waved a tail at us - so fantastic. I am now on the lookout for more whale 🐋 sightings.

Anyway on arrival here in Girolata we went a shore to have a walk around, we chose & booked our restaurant for tonight. Oh and there are cows just wandering around the beach & seafront - yes really 😂We have chilled on the boat this afternoon, \240I had a lovely swim & we have read books.

The views from the restaurant were superb & the food was pretty good too. We had a delicious starter of langoutine tails in lemon & thyme butter sauce - yummy. Since you can only get here by boat (there are no roads) the restaurants are packed full of boaters all arriving on the beach in tenders.

Here are some of the photos

For the sake of completeness we made the trip from Girolata to Calvi yesterday. On the way I got something in my eye that scratched the surface & was very painful so on arrival at Calvi we didn’t do a lot. We had hoped to go out for our last Corsica meal but my eye was too painful so ended up having sad takeaway pizza on board whilst I wore an eye patch manufactured by Andrew from a sleep mask !!

We had planned to stay 2 nights & enjoy Bastille day in France but the weather wasn’t looking great for the long 89 nm passage to Sanremo on Friday so we bought our trip forward to today.

So today we did the final crossing for this years travels. Goodbye Corsica and hello again Sanremo.

Our crossing was on the whole very calm & flat with a little swell as we got towards The Italian coast. We say a ray (of some sort), a huge group of dolphins who played in our wake and a turtle so it was not too dull. We crossed at 18 knots so that the journey wasn’t too long (although we burnt a lot of diesel 😳).

We are here for a few days to close up the boat so I will do one final blog for this years adventures.

So it’s the end of our travels for this year. Ten weeks on board, 29 stops, just under 1000nm, 4 islands & 2 countries, 3 lots of visitors, some new friends made oh & lots of ice creams & aperol spritz.

We loved seeing Portofino & the Cinque Terra from the sea. Pisa was a fabulous city to visit. Elba was pretty. Corsica was stunningly beautiful on the west coast, with crystal clear waters & Bonifacio is a must see place, but Corsica is very expensive. North Sardinia & the Maddelena islands were beautiful & the Italian marinas are so friendly & welcoming.

We like being back in Sanremo but it is just too hot & doing all the closing down boat jobs has been hard & sweaty. Still it was all done & VA is ready to be left until we next visit for the lift.

It is sad to be going & the weeks have flown by.

Now at Nice airport we are travelling from one hot place to another….. by tomorrow though UK temperatures will be back to normal.

We made it home despite flight delays, unprecedented heatwaves in the uk & missed ferry’s. It was sad to say goodby to VA & Sanremo but blame Brexit & the bloody 90 day rule! We won’t be back now until the lift & service next Feb.

Home is in pretty good shape apart from being very hot inside, very scorched gardens and a day of the triffids experience in the garden room.

The heatwave here of course has gone but it is lovely to be back & phase 2 of our house renovation projects can start.