Bonificio

Bonificio is an ancient town built on the southern limestone cliffs next to a fantastic natural Harbor. It bears a similarity to Mdina in Malta but is about 1000 years younger dating to 800 AD

It's ancient buildings are made from the local stone, many carved into the rock itself. Having my wheels enabled me to access the town surprisingly well and there was only a few bits inaccessible to me. It would of course be different if I wanted to enter some of the shops and restaurants but there is a lot happening on the street. I was able to see the sights and eat ice-cream

Corsican mountain villages

The central mountainous areas of Corsica have a mass of charming villages terraced into the hillsides

Moments in Corsica

Iim not finding the time to do proper posts of my adventures and I'm coping with intermittent coverage so I will post some pictures with comments instead

Just off the boat a bit north of Bastia on the peninsula. The Italian island of Elba sits on the eastern horizon

Great shared use of a shed: funeral directors on the left, butchers on the right

Heading into the central mountains I came across this beautiful meadow filled with autumn squill and what I think are crocus.

That night I slept next to an old beech wood. I love the twisted roots and an underlying carpet of cyclamen

I found this lovely wasp spider in my van the next day. It must have come back on my wheels from my jaunt in the meadow

The view above the beech trees

Genny looking at 1600m

Corsica Roadtrip

Jersey to Corsica is quite a drive. I love the way Google maps suggests it is 20 hours by car, 3 days on a bike or 10 days walking. It took me 48 hours followed by a 10 hour boat journey, but I took it leisurely

This has been my first proper road trip with my VW van and my wheels in the back. I have a roll-up mattress, one ring cooker and a Euro bank card

Driving through France was OK but poor weather. I took it easy, stopping loads and crashing in the back. It worked great but I'm not very organised with everything piled in as opposed to a converted sleeper

Arriving in Toulon (ferry port) with most of a day to spare was great with my wheels. Where normally I would be limited to 50m walks, I spent about 5 hours exploring the town and like it a lot

Toulon old town is now separated from the arbour

Like Jersey and a lot of coastal towns Toulon has largely separated itself from it Harbour by building inapproiate blocks of pile-em-high flats. I think this robs the town of its purpose. Moving away from the waterfront the old town is generally charming with twisting alleyways and limestone buildings. The town nestles between the sea and the limestone cliffs like a lot of Mediterranean towns. To me they look achient but I'm sure they aren't

There is good graffiti in Toulon

Toulon is full of interesting doorways:

Finaly the overnight ferry

If you find yourself here, don't take the right-hand turning

I don't know why but I've been itching to get to Indian Creek. In Feb last year I made
an attempt to get to this quiet cove in Antigua but chickened out at the 11th hour (see post)

You can see Indian Creek from the Block House up at Shirley Heights. It looks like an Estuary but as there are no rivers in Antigua it isn't

The access is challenging for my wheels. Its a long drive with the final few kilometres on dry rough tracks.

It ends in a steep 50m decent over bare rock, storm cut channels and loose scree

This last section is what stopped me last year but determined, I forged my descent. The lessson learned is that Genny will descend to places it is unable to return from

I'm asking a lot from a mobility aid as I think a land-rover in 4 wheel drive would struggle on this section but finding limits and identifying solutions is how progress is made. I got out of this by dismounting and putting Genny into the Segway riderless balance mode, then guiding, pulling it up, clearing the worst of the rocks from the path. Riderless balance mode is a Segway function that allows you to get the Segway up steps for example but does it in driverless and at limited speed. It requires an exaggerated front to back lean to drive Genny. This is an issue as the foot-plate becomes the limiting factor crashing into anything standing proud on the path in-front. The solution is to weave Genny in a zig-zag path avoiding all obstacles, but it requires a lot of strength and may well be beyond many users caperabilities. A solution could be a folding foot-plate that I notice is used in many of the other Segway powered chairs. You would still need to dismount the chair but I'm sure it would make those difficult off-road situations considerably easier

In this instance the no-entry access chain was down indicating that although the way ahead was open, you weren't welcome. When I did get to the end of the path and onto the beach it was rough loose rocks and not sand, making access to the sea impossible anyway

In the blue

I spend my days in Antigua either swimming or hanging out on the beach. This is not charistically my style as someone compulsively busy but it seems to work here. Moving from too hot in the sun, despite palm tree shade, to the cool blue waters is like coming home. As a race our evolution moved from the safety of the waters to the land and we cary the memory of the liquid womb. For someone with mobility issues, the supporting walm, salty water is a homecoming. Weightless is freedom

I always excelled at swimming just finding my element.  Moving through water is a meditation and warm saltwater is my ally. Antiguan waters are safe from strong currents and warm enough to spend considerable time in. I don't snorkel, I find the breathing laboured, preferring a simple eye mask that doesn't cover the nose, holding my breath

Lost anchor

The more time you spend in the sea the more you see. The anchor was lost from a friends boat and we hope to salvage it over the next few days

I am charmed by the turtles who make a living grazing the intermediate zostera beds. How they are sustained by such meager sustenance surprises me in their passage from egg to adult in this less than stable world

There seem to be several types of rays that visit these warm waters. Reminiscent or creatures from another universe they cruise the bottom to feed

Out beyond the safety of the reef the waters are clearer and the rise in energy supports a different range of species. Fan corals wave in the shallows whilst shoals of brightly coloured fish feed amongst the rocks

Beyond the natural Harbour made by the reef and to the east lies the 'Pilars of Herculese'. These beautiful limestone pilars are formed by the hydrolic action of the sea and are a challenging swim. They can also be reached by path but the best views have got to be from the perspective of the sea