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Spring break in Belgodère / Lozari (Haute-Corse) from 21 to 27 April 2013

Presentation

After Porticcio and the South Shore of the Gulf of Ajaccio in 2010, Lozari and the Balagne region will welcome the Club des cent Cols for its spring event from 21 to 27 April 2013.
Balagne is a vast conch, open to the north-west on the Mediterranean and dominated by a series of peaks, some of which are over 2000m high and often covered in snow in April. Its relief is tormented by a network of secondary ridges on which perch the many beautiful old villages that bear witness to an ancestral human presence.
Calvi (population 5,400 in winter) and L'Île-Rousse (population 2,800) are the two main economic centres of the region, based mainly on tourism. Each has a port with links to Nice, Toulon, Marseille, Savona and Genoa in Italy.
Agriculture is the other side of the economy, with sheep, pig and cattle rearing and, more particularly, wine-growing, which boasts some highly reputed estates here.
There are only a few ways out of Balagne, and all of them are through mountain passes, the main focus of our attention, except at the northern end of Balagne, 8 km from L'Île-Rousse on the N197, where the hamlet of Lozari nestles in the commune of Belgodère, between the sea and the mountains, the location of our accommodation.
To discover the region in pictures, see this slideshow by Nadine Giraudeau (5633)

Accommodation and registration

We will be staying at the Belambra (ex VVF) "Golfe de Lozari". The holiday village is made up of a series of small buildings, no more than one storey high, set in a pine forest and separated from the sea by a golden sandy beach. A dream come true!

For more information, visit the club's website: http://www.belambra.fr/Corse-Belgodere__Location_-Golfe_de_Lozari/Ete

The tour will start on Sunday 21 April and finish on Saturday 27 April. Sunday lunch will be included and will be provided in the form of a packed lunch, as a cycling circuit and a mountain bike trail are planned for that day. The same applies to Saturday 27/04, the end of the holiday, when a packed lunch will be served, as well as dinner for those who have to catch a boat back to the mainland.

Maritime transport

Everyone will have to look after their own shipping which can be made from various ports in France (Marseille, Toulon, Nice) or Italy (Savona, Genoa, etc). The ports of entry to Corsica are, in order of importance: Bastia, 62 km away, Calvi, 32 km away and L'Île-Rousse, 8 km from the club. Boat rotations will be scheduled towards the end of the year. The earlier you book your ticket, the cheaper it will be!

The companies serving these ports from France are as follows:

La Méridionale : www.lameridionale.fr/
SNCM: www.sncm.fr/
Corsica Ferries : www.corsica-ferries.fr/

Programme details

The list of all circuits is available, as well as separate lists for road routes and mountain bike trails. From these lists, interactive maps, route sheets and altitude profiles are also available for each route. For those using GPS or mapping software on their computer, geolocation files can be downloaded. Depending on the weather, dates may be changed at short notice.

General comments

A few general points about travelling by car or bicycle on the roads:

Almost all the circuits or routes require a delayed start. The most frequently used roads will be the N197 between Lozari and L'Île-Rousse and the N1197 between Lozari and Ponte-Leccia. These are modern, recent roads and therefore fast. So travel time by car is reduced. What is an advantage when travelling to the departure points becomes a danger when cycling. Traffic is fairly light, however.
This is not the case for the Corte Ponte Leccia or Ponte Leccia Bastia axis, the N193, the island's main road with dense, fast traffic and heavy goods vehicles. Be careful and vigilant on these stretches of road.
Other roads have little or no traffic. Travel time by car will be longer, but cycling will be much quieter.
Most of the mule passes are cycleable, and the vegetation is less aggressive than in southern Corsica. Nevertheless, some approaches can be made on foot, either pushing or carrying, depending on individual ability.
There are 7 road circuits and 8 mountain bike trails to choose from. Each circuit (with one exception) or route is based on a single itinerary. There is water in most of the villages you pass through, provided you ask where the fountain is. Beware, however, that there are no inhabited areas or water points in some areas.