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The Corsican Brothers Great Bike Adventures in Sardinia and Corsica
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| Day 1 | Alghero, Sardinia - After plane rides from Atlanta to Rome to Alghero, we took a short 25-mile warm-up ride along the hilly coastline. Amazing views - like Route 1 in California with no cars. |
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| Day 2 | Castelsardo - quiet roads past fig trees, wheat fields. Two major climbs - a great farmhouse lunch. Sat next to a stuffed wild boar. The first of climbs with magnificent ridges that create spectacular vistas; trees that lean to one side due to years of blowing wind. Optional ride to 13 th century church built by Benedictine monks. 54-mile day of strenuous climbs and great descents. The sense of space and nothingness is at times surreal. Evening toast with local Sardinian beers. |
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| Day 3 | Santa Teresa - 73 miles - A sweeping ride along the coast with granite mountains on one side and the blue Mediterranean on the other. Four major climbs with the Janis Brothers doing the extra loops as usual. Caught in a rainstorm the last 20 minutes of our ride. The rest of the trip was perfect weather. We tried the "piglet dinner" specialty and decided once was enough!! Walked into town for a local festival and had gelato. |
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| Day 4 | Our boat ride was cancelled due to high winds. We took a 25-mile short bike ride to some beautiful coastal views. Les delivered one of his famous rock throws (275 feet to the sea). Great visit to a cork factory and lunch in the mountains at a farmhouse. Dinner in the evening was highlight of 30-40 Italian tourists who sang with us with much enthusiasm - Volare, O Sole Mio, etc. We were presented home-made cookies and cakes along with a wonderful spirit of camaraderie. We also passed the tee shirt with a very complimentary presentation about the Janis Brothers from Barry. |
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| Day 5 | One hour ferry ride to Bonifacio - a spectacular day and our first stop in Corsica. We rode our bikes up a short, but brutal, climb to our hotel - 18% grade - very, very steep. We took a 25-mile ride along the huge cliffs and down to the bay. Truly a unique and amazing city to visit. The brothers played bocce ball after dinner with our guide, Andrea. Great fun. |
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| Day 6 | 61 miles with extra loop of long climbs, great descents and several steep sections ending with the 18% grade again to our hotel. The main riding was gorgeous and peaceful as we went to Corsica's rugged interior. Cork trees everywhere with spectacular granite overlooks. Our best lunch of warm goat cheese and tomatoes with grilled eggplant on a gorgeous Mediterranean beach was as good as it can get!! As we rode through the day, we felt we were in the ancient past, surrounded by cork trees, fields, sheep and goats. We would stop riding at times and just listen to the birds sing and smell the sweet clean air. |
| Day 7 | Propriano - 62 miles - We pedaled during the morning to the gorgeous western coast up to the fortified village of Sartene. The village itself was breathtaking. Vineyards, farm land and mountain scapes are just amazing to your eyes and senses. The "extra loopers" of the Janis brothers plus the honeymoon couple of Peter and Elaine did the extra climb. Then Lenny convinced us all (mostly Cristiano) to do the "ultimate" extra climb. We ascended to several small Corsican villages high in the mountains. It felt like we were back in medieval times - quite, serene, mystical - 7 steep miles of switchbacks - every turn bringing a "magical" feeling to each one of us. |
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| Day 8 | Portigliolo - 52 miles - Incredible views of the Mediterranean with visuals galore to dazzle the senses. The extra loop took us through a lush forest with again, tough climbs and long descending rides. We had an interesting archeological tour at the ancient site of Filitosa - over 7000 years old. We discussed the peaceful environment then and the Bush-Kerry election now with our German tour guide - Hans. Afternoon was 7 mile climb - very hot and sunny (85°) day. Coastal cliffs, forests, lush mountains, pink granite formations, medieval bridges - every village was like a scene out of a story book. |
| Day 9 | Ride to Porto - 55 miles - Wonderful coastal red roads with white sandy beaches below us. After lunch, a steep 5-mile climb. Astonishing areas of red and pink granite spires that soar above the sea. A great extra loop up a valley to a small mountain village - across a medieval bridge and another beautiful climb and descent into the town of Porto. |
| Day 10 | 72 miles - Calvi - We slowly climbed out of Porto and then traveled for the next 3 hours along the mountain ridge roads (no cars). Unmatched scenery of valleys, granite formations, the sea, cows grazing on the roads & streams of pure water. Truly the most visually breathtaking day of the trip. We ended the final extra loop (the Janis Brothers and the honeymoon couple) with the "Chapel Climb", Andrea, our guide, promised us the effort was worth the view. He was right. Calvi and the sea were magnificent. The climb was probably the all-time steepest, but worth it since we survived!! We descended into Calvi for a round of Pietra - Corsican beer. Happy, exhilarated and emotionally high. |
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| EFI for the 11th year in a row. | |
| Highlights and Comments | |
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500 miles - we did it all on Hybrids (all others on road bikes - maybe we will switch next year) |
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Lenny giving us the traditional Janis Brothers red shirts and hat - also a special, actual biking shirt - new improved design |
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Our guides - Cristiano and Andrea |
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Cheese - everyday and every way - breakfast, lunch & dinner |
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Singing Italian songs at the restaurant dinner with 40 people - all as one |
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Barry's speech about the Janis Brothers and what we brought in spirit to the rest of the group - especially Lenny |
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Les' eyes "lit up" with his two large chocolate ice cream desserts |
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Larry - only 4 Advil a day |
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Per Peter - "The Janis Brothers" are the critical mass that make it happen" |
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Gelato ice cream cones |
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Bocce ball |
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Doing the Chapel Climb |
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Lenny drinking Grapa with Cristiano and Andrea |
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Les singing "Blue Suede Shoes" at dinner |
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Rock climbing (dangerous) stunt by Lenny |
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Larry's elbow scrape after falling to look after his younger brother, Les. His red jacket was also not damaged |
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Lenny again the winner for most mature brother - 11 years in a row |
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Lenny's great filming of our adventures |
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Three French women who visited the Janis Brothers in their room the last night - ooh la la!! |
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This bike trip Adventure to Corsica and Sardinia was very much like Alexander Dumas' famous book "The Corsican Brothers", joined at birth and separated, but forever together in spirit and brotherly feelings towards each other in an eternal bond. The Brothers will meet, again, next year to continue their "Great Biking Adventures" |
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