Day 38: Corsican mountain love

Today was not going to be a stuff up like yesterday!! I have a rockclimbing session booked in the town of Corte, about 2 hours inland of here, and got to the only bus that goes that way a good half an hour before it was scheduled to leave. And then one hour passed. And no bus driver arrived. So I went into the main station to discover that the bus is not running today!!!! Because today happens to be both the day of Mary's Assumption (apparently this island is really catholic...) and also Napoleons Birthday, and Ajaccio is his town of birth!!! So in this city only its a double public holiday which for some reason means my bus doesn't run. So so so upset!! The only other option is the slow train, but that left while I was waiting for the bus... And no more trains for a few hours, which would skew our meeting time by hours!! I was so shattered, looking like the two things I can here for would fail, and this one especially which had been so well organised!!! So I was crying and went back to my hotel, planning to call the climbing company to see if by any chance we could still climb if I arrived super super late. On the way up to the room I thought I'd just see if reception had any bright ideas. I asked them if there was any other way to get to Corte at all, they said no.... But then one of the staff caught up to me saying that a guest that overheard my distress at the counter is about to drive to Bastia (other wise of island, but e only road there goes through Corte) and can give me a lift!!!

So yay, plan back on. This means I will arrive only 1.5 hours later than planned rather than 3! And the drive was awesome. She was a really cool lady, with her little dog, travelling back home after being in Ajaccio for meeting (she works in real estate). We had a great chat about all things Kangaroo. The drive took about 2 hours and took us up from sea level to about 1500m (on the road, the surrounding mountains over 2500),  through some of the best looking mountains I've seen. Really rocky and stunning in the low cloud. Unfortunately no photos really, other than these ones from a bad viewpoint... But may e it gives a small impression??

Then we arrived in my destination Corte! This is on the otherwise of the mountain - still high and hilly, but no where ear as high as the pass.

There I met up with my guide Agnés, a gentle and lovely lady who owns the local adventure business which had recently also become a shop for relevant equipment that her husband runs. She also has canyoning tours and such run by other staff but for rock climbing - she's your lady!! So nice to see this kinda of stuff done by a woman - especially seeing as she started this business many years ago. So off we went wi her expertise and my enthusiasm to some rocks, hopefully in the shade...! (And as always preceded by long walks up hill)

I stupidly forgot to take my camera up the rock as we climbed, which is a pity because the views from the top were amazing!! But he's what I was looking at, only this time from 70m below...

For my first outdoor climb this was perfect - I felt really safe with Agnés so got to really challenge myself. First I did a few short climbs- for this to happen Angés has to lead climb up first (this means with no rope holding her from above, securing the rope into fixed bolts as she goes) to secure the rope for me to climb on afterwards (because I'm not good enough to lead yet!!). And then we did a multi pitch climb. This is a climb where the aim is to get quite high - usually to the top of something - and where the height is far too great to achieve it in one climb with the length of the rope. Instead you need to climb a certain (predetermined) distance (as Agnés did at the start), secure the rope to a bolt in the rock (this bolt is much more secure than the standard ones and reinforced so you are generally quite safe), then the second person comes up while the first belays from above in stead of below (obviously some rope skills involved). Then when the second person is at the same level as the first, they rejigg the rope and bolts so it can be the beginning of another climb higher up, and so on until you reach the top. Mind you, the place that you change pitches at is not necessarily a ledge of any kind, usually just a portion of the rock with slightly better food holds to use while you attach the gear. So in this case we did three pitches and climbing probably about 70m in total, to the top. From there one person rappels down and then the next, taking all gear with you, and rappelling again from each pitch station (otherwise the rope will run out!! - which ours did 4 metres short of the end so Agnés climbed down a tree haha). 

There were some really tricky bits in this climb - cracks and such, and when you're climbing you often cant see the other person, so its just you, the rock and all the time in the world (which is often takes for a hard section ... Not much you can do other than keep trying to get up even when there's seemingly no where to put your hands or feet!) 

Looks small from here but that's the wall we just climbed... From deep below that green tree at the base.

After getting back to town and giving a million thanks for the great climb and lesson, I strolled (and got lost a few times) to the train for the return trip. Passed some cute ruins on the way....

Back in Ajaccio that night to discover fireworks for the public holiday thing. I only caught the tail end as I was right in the middle of my pasta when they -oh so loudly- started.