Corsica - part 2 Bonifatu Forest - Muvrella et Punta di Bonassa

On our first day we we decided to climb up to the Refuge d'Ortu di u Piobbu. A mixture of forest and ridge walking in the granite heartlands and our first glimpses of the high mountains. The Bonifatu is a large pine forest and heat and high humidity made for a rather exhausting 6h30 walk. Susie's toes, still sore and bruised from the half marathon made for a painful descent.

Next day Susie decided to have a rest day, so I opted to tackle Muvrella 2148m. A centrally located mountain with amazing views but a tough 1800m of ascent - some of it on the GR20.  The guidebook said it was a tough 10 hour day but I was keen to test myself. I set out early and reached the Spasimata bridge in about 1h30 well ahead of schedule.

From here on I began to pass the groups on the GR20. I felt fast and light - most of them did have bigger packs - but I was flying along!

After passing through the pass of Bocca Muvrella with a strange rock feature resembling a rabbit's head some scrambling lead down and across to another pass Bocca di Stagnu high above the ski station Haut Asco and opposite Monte Cinto the highest mountain on the island. 

view down the Fangu valley from the rabbit ears pass

From the second col I climbed to the summit following the edge of the rocky crest to arrive in just 4 hours from the Auberge. Spectacular views in all directions.

On the descent I was amazed to pass some of the slower parties I passed in the morning who were still a long way below the first col - a polish guy of 63 living in Boston who said this was his 7th traverse of GR20 and a couple of English guys who were on the verge of giving up having realised how tough GR20 was. The descent took 3h30 so I was very pleased with my fitness given how few trips to the mountains we've made this year.

Day three we chose a slightly shorter walk following the Corsican "coast to coast" walk to summit called Punta di Bonassa 1153m. Another walk mostly through the pine forest before emerging for views to the coast. At our lunch spot we finally had some encounters with fauna!

A distant golden eagle

The Corsican nuthatch

A spotted flycatcher and her fledgling who she was still feeding