Walking on Corsica
Guidebook
Walking on Corsica Book Review
As strange a book to review as this may seem, Corsica is a destination that is firmly on my bucket list so I consider this to be advanced research for sometime in the next few years. In all honesty, we were supposed to be in Corsica a few years ago to hike the 180 km GR20 which runs along the spine of the island but had to put this adventure on hold. While keen hikers will be well aware of the hiking trails in Britain and Europe, most people living outside of Europe may not have heard of Corsica. They would be hard pressed to locate the Corsica island on a map and wouldn’t realise that there is some excellent hiking available on this large mediterranean island.
Cicerone Press is well known for publishing a comprehensive range of hiking and outdoor guide books. As a generalisation these books are compact in size, hard wearing and provide the necessary information to undertake the hikes being described. Size-wise this book is typical of the format used by this company (116 mm x 172 mm x 15 mm – around B6 stationary size) which is nice and compact and will fit into even a smaller daypack.
This book reviews 25 coastal and inland day walks across the island of Corsica ranging in length from just 4 km up to the longer hikes at around 19 km. Ignoring the long distance GR20, there are enough walks to keep most keen hikers busy for 2-3 weeks so whether you are there for an extended period or just a few days, there are plenty of options.
Like most of Cicerone’s guidebooks, there is an overview of the area in the first section of the book including transport, accommodation and food considerations before launching into descriptions of the 25 hikes. Each of the 25 walks comes with a small map, information about what you are seeing and the main directional changes along the way. Each image comes with a single photo and I must admit some additional images would be nice but I do realise that would add extra pages and weight for a book that’s meant to be compact. The main, but minor negative for me is that the maps are missing a key and it took me a little while to realise what some of the markings meant.
Price-wise this book sells at AUD $34.90 RRP which is typical for guidebooks of this type. If you never plan on visiting Corsica then this book isn’t going to be of much interest to you but if you are looking for a destination that’s a bit more off the beaten track, from an Australian perspective at least, then Corsica is worth considering.
Chapter Headings
Walking on Corsica: 25 MOUNTAIN AND COASTAL DAY WALKS
- INTRODUCTION
- 7 Corsica
- 8 Plant life
- 10 Wildlife
- 13 When to go
- 16 Getting to Corsica
- 17 Local transport
- 17 Accommodation
- 19 Food and drink
- 20 What to take
- 22 Waymarking and maps
- 23 Emergencies
- 24 Using this guide
- 27 THE FAR NORTH
- 29 Walk 1 Cap Corse Sentier du Douanier: Macinaggio–Barcaggio
- 33 Walk 2 St-Florent coastal route
- 37 THE NORTH-WEST
- 41 Walk 3 Bonifatu loop: La Boucle de Ficaghiola
- 43 Walk 4 The Fango river valley
- 46 Walk 5 Visiting Girolata
- 50 Walk 6 Spilonca gorge
- 53 Walk 7 The Calanche: l’ancien chemin des muletiers
- 56 Walk 8 Rossu
- 59 Walk 9 The Aïtone forest
- 61 THE CENTRE
- 64 Walk 10 Beneath Paglia Orba and Capu Tafunatu
- 68 Walk 11 Lac de Nino
- 71 Walk 12 Tavignano river valley
- 75 Walk 13 Glacial lakes in the Restonica valley
- 79 Walk 14 La Cascade des Anglais
- 82 THE SOUTH-WEST
- 84 Walk 15 Punta Parata loop
- 86 Walk 16 Ajaccio Sentier des Douaniers: to Plage Saint Antoine
- 89 Walk 17 Porto Pollo–Cupabia circuit
- 93 THE SOUTH
- 95 Walk 18 Zonza–Quenza circuit
- 99 Walk 19 Trou de la Bombe
- 102 Walk 20 Foce Finosa
- 105 Walk 21 unta di a Vacca Morta
- 108 Walk 22 Piscia di Gallo waterfall
- 111 THE FAR SOUTH
- 113 Walk 23 Capu de Fenu
- 117 Walk 24 Strada Vecia Madonetta
- 120 Walk 25 The white cliffs of Bonifacio
- 124 Appendix A Route summary table
- 127 Appendix B Glossary of French and Corsican terms
- 131 Appendix C Useful contacts
- 132 Appendix D Accommodation
- 134 Appendix E Further reading
We Like
- Good size for a field guide to carry on a hike
- Provides a good range of hikes on Corsica
- Good representative images
- Descriptive information to help you complete the hikes
- Good introductory information on the island itself
We Don't Like
- A key for the maps would be an improvement
- Additional images would be good but that would increase the size and weight of the book
Buy One
You can purchase Walking on Corsica from Amazon Australia
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Investment
AUD $34.90 RRP
Walking on Corsica : 25 mountain and coastal day walks
Trail text example
Close up of page showing description and photo
Close up of page showing map example
Disclaimer
This review was done with product provided by Cicerone Press for review