GR20 – Day 13 – De Ciottulu Di i Mori to Tighjettu

With a short stage lasting only 4 hours of walking according to our guide book, we had the luxury to sleep until 6:00 a.m. We could have slept even longer but then we would have to walk under the scorching mid day sun and so getting up at 6:00 a.m. and leaving at 7:00 a.m. was a good compromise.

The route was a short uphill and then a steep drop. The descent led us down a ravine on a series of granite ledges and short gravel sections. It was not the most pleasant downhill, it was quite taxing on my knees, but at least it was a safe one, relatively where fall would not result in bad injury or worse.

At 9:40 a.m. we arrived at Auberge U Vallone where we stopped for breakfast – mint omelette and coffee. It was a very nice place where we immediately felt welcome. We were offered to sit inside, in a shade, and there was a free coffee refill which was especially welcome. The entire place place was neat and clean, and if we didn’t have a long hard stage ahead of us tomorrow it would have been so easy to stay here and relax for the rest of the day.

Instead we headed into the heating sun to brave the last uphill of the day towards Refuge Tighjettu. The uphill was on a steeper side but it was uphill and in the terrain of crumbling rock the uphills are often time easier.

It took us 45 minutes to get to the Refuge. We were among the first ones in, and it was already hard to find a site big enough for our tent. Most of the sites were small, single person tent size, but in the end we scored one tucked little away bellow the Refuge with flowers blooming around and a decent view into the valley.

We really liked the refuge, the way they built it in the hillside with an extended porch standing on tall beans and under the porch there were tables for hikers to enjoy the shade and cold beverages sold in the store. It was a good place for hikers to mingle, northbounders and southbounders exchanging information.

Tomorrow the most advanced stage of GR20 awaits us with multiple chains and areas we were told that have no chains installed but we would wish there were there. It’s an eight hour stage on its own with a possibility to ascent Mount Cinto, the highest mountain of Corsica in an additional 1.5 hour round trip.

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NOTES

If there is chance of rain, take extra care when you first start descending on the slabs. Some are smooth and can be slippery when wet.

Auberge U Vallonu is a very nice place to stop and have a snack or late breakfast. They serve variety of omelets, coffee, sandwiches, soft drinks, and they have snacks to resupply. They also had bread which hindsight 20/20 we should have purchased because they were out at Refuge Tighjettu and for the hardest stage we will eat cookies and baby food.

Camp sites are limited at Refuge Tighjettu, if you have larger tent you might want to be there somewhat early.

As of June 24, 2019 camping was €7.00

People who run Tighjettu were also very friendly, the Refuge is very nice both outside as there are tables with plenty of shade, and inside.

The store at Tighjettu was out of bread but carried sausage and crackers, and strawberry jam filled cookies, and potato chips, baby food, Nutella, jam, and several other resupply options.

Dinner was €20.00 and we got a course of delicious salami, several kinds, served with bread followed by a generous serving of spaghetti cooked to absolutely perfection with plenty of bacon and sausage and mushrooms to give it the taste one craves after a day of hiking. And than there was a baby food for desert. And since this is for sure a party Refuge, the host gave us shots at the end, sprayed to our mouth from a sprayer bottle. Fantastic dining experience.