There are endless articles, trip reports, tales, legends that all pretty much say the same things. Some of these things are true, others are more reflective of a person's fears and perceptions than anything else.
Still, when something is so popular and when the acclaim is so widespread (this applies to locations as it does to anything else, a motorcycle, a watch, a restaurant...) my instinct is to give it the bras d'honneur because obviously I'm better than everybody else.
But over the years I've come to understand that we all more or less equally suck, and that if something is popular, then it's not because the masses have figured out something I haven't, it's because it really is good, and people like it when things are good, easy and reliable: that bike really is faster and easier to ride, that restaurant really does do good food, the Rolex Submariner really is a cool watch.
And Corsica really is paradise on earth.
Back in 2011 three of us went over on three heroic Hondas, having no expectations of what we'd find. We didn't do anything special to prepare, Witold had done some advance recon on certain routes, but that was about the extent of it.
No special equipment and really no idea what to expect; because of that, it was a moment of pure discovery, frankly with fairly low expectations going in, precisely because of all the hubbub that we'd heard over the years.
It's fair to say that day after day that trip left us gobsmacked, and we knew we wanted to go back for more.
The following year we added two more friends and switched rides for 80% BMW, 20% Honda. There was a moment of quiet realisation that we had grown up, and that we now understood the appeal of the Bavarian airheads. Our second visit to the island was a resounding success, with higher mileage, new places and an even deeper appreciation of the experience.
Sure, there are beautiful beaches all around the island, but mountains and forests are what that place is really all about. Monte Cintu is listed as an "ultra-prominent peak", and there are plenty of high altitude spots that offer spectacular scenery and plenty of portals to other dimensions.
Ghisoni is apparently one such place, and we had been through Vergio during the Korsikatreffen. At 1477 meters, that had already seemed very impressive so I really would love to find out how high we can get, if you know what I mean.
We haven't been back all together since that time, and after one of those winter talks when you daydream about sunlight, long warm days and bikes in a campsite, we all conceded that maybe it was time we went back again.
So, with all the humility we can muster in the face of fate and its sense of irony, the plan is to go, the four of us, with our airheads and have a grandiose experience. Now, no sooner was I done typing that, that we already lost Gianluca, and that's too bad. The others are more or less ready and I hope they truly want to do this. I would like to think that I can go, but I probably won't be able to in the end. At this point I'm just putting this up because it would feel like a waste of time having written all this only to throw it away.
I don't know why I bother anymore. Anyone wanna buy some motorcycles?
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