Col de Bavella - Conca
We set of for Conca at 7.30am following the usual insufficient breakfast of dry bread and marmalade. Our aim for the day was to pick up a shuttle bus from Conca at 1.30pm, giving us time to catch the inter-city bus on its route from Porto Vecchio to Bastia.
The last stage is all about progressively losing height through fast forest sections, interspersed with rocky climbs. Two major climbs are encountered on the stage, but if you've survived up until this point you won't have any problems. We found the stage relatively easy, although perhaps a little longer than expected. Rather predictably, moving out of the high mountains means that the terrain is not as exciting as it has been in previous days, and the temperature increases noticeably as you descend towards Conca.
First sign pointing to Conca!
Heading across rocky slabs with some of the smaller Aiguilles visible in the background.
The final stage passes through some beautiful, lush forest.
The final descent towards Conca is pretty steep and rocky, but eventually you emerge on to tarmac road which marks the start of the village. From there, about 1.5km of downhill leads in to the centre of the village. A good feeling to have finished on schedule without any major hiccups! We celebrated in a local cafe with a beer and a much-desired cold coke!
A welcome sign at the end of the GR20
Finished! Looking slightly more weathered than a week previously!
Getting from Conca back to the car (or Calenzana):
We used this website to work out a bus route that would get us back to the start of the route (and car) close to Calenzana. From Conca, we quickly managed to hitch a ride to Sainte Lucie de Porto Vecchio (about 10 mins in the car). We waited in Sainte Lucie for about an hour before picking up the bus heading north from Porto Vecchio to Bastia. If you need to get back to Calenzana, get off the bus at Casamozza, and then catch the connecting bus coming from Bastia heading to Calvi. This will take you back to the start of the route. As a general rule on Corsica, you need to tell the bus drivers where to stop, they won't stop automatically!
