And Today

Today's ride was a bit easier. Certainly less climbing, and none of the super steep grades to deal with except for a kilometer up to the chapel that overlooks our ending city of Calvi. The scenery completely changed today, from rocky hillsides of yesterday to the sheer sea cliffs today. The color of the water and all of the little coves and beaches down below was stunning, and nothing like I've seen before. Absolutely beautiful.

Here is the route today. Porto to Calvi.

It is impossible to remember where exactly each of these little bays and coves were in order on the ride, so I'll just include the photos of them here in one go. More than once, I thought a nice swim would be better than continuing to ride.

The sun was just right for this, in that each little ripple in the water looked like sparkling crystals. The photo just doesn't capture it at all.

 

 

Much of the roads were perched high above the sea, and we wound our way to Calvi through all the twists and turns of the coast.

We never got away from the goats of yesterday, though!

 

 Climbing out and away from Porto in the morning. Leaving one big bay behind to find many others.

Since the ride was a bit shorter today, we took our time with stops along the way to check directions and fill up with water.

Mark and I found red slushy, which is the best flavor - red - to have on a hot day.

 

I'm not sure what this one is supposed to be, but B looks like she is having so much fun taking the picture . . .

 

After some absolutely horrible pavement, the likes of which give Sonoma County roads a good name, we took a little break to rest our hands and shoulders (and butts) in the shade of this old chateau. If money were no object, I think a renovation project would be fun . . . 

Think of folks in the office with this one.

 Then in about another 10 miles, we went up a massively steep hill to get to the chapel that overlooks Calvi. I about made an offering of my lunch, it was such a hard climb. But, after the pain in our legs waned just a little bit, the views were spectacular.

 

 

Calvi itself is a beautiful town. Probably the most picturesque so far. A real city, actually, but still very much a city with a feeling of history and place. Also by far our best dinner of the trip, so that might be coloring it some.

Flaming creme brule for Mark!

Not positive what the point is on this one, I think the translation is something along the lines of "refresh my memory about how hard your life is". Kid with a machine gun. So, probably reminding us that our little complaints aren't much in the grand scheme of things.

Until tomorrow . . . .