We had a good sail up the east coast of Corsica to Porto Vecchio a distance of around 28 miles. The westerly wind at between 10 and 15 knots was great for Splice and she romped along covering the distance in about four and a half hours. Porto Vecchio is at the end of a long gulf and the wind was blowing strongly up the gulf as we motored the last mile in to the marina, we tied up stern to with no problem but Chris was unimpressed when they charged us E73 for a night at this time of the season. As this was France our Italian SIM cards wouldn’t work so we set off on the 20 minute walk to the Hypermarket – it was more like 30 minutes and the Chandlery we passed on the way still didn’t have the impellor we needed. There was an SFR shop in the place as promised and we were able to buy a SIM but at E35 for only 4 G when our last purchase in Sardinia was E10 for 8G. Mobile ‘coms’ in France are clearly more profitable for the companies!
We walked up the steep hill into the old town that evening and wandered around for a while before finding a table. The place was very busy and in the end we just settled for somewhere that was well populated and the menu had some Corsican dishes. The starter of ‘Goats-cheese salad’ was very nice and we both ordered the roast pork Corican style. This turned out to be thick cuts of pork with dark gravy and potatoes. It was OK but the cooking didn’t seem to be even and after a while we both gave up and left some. Not the best meal recently but you have to try the local stuff. On the way back down the hill Carolyn got talking to another British couple (she picks up strangers all over the place) and Sarah and Rich came on board for a nightcap. With Sarah’s history in dinghy racing and Rich’s engineering skills they might well be future cruisers, we hope we gave them a flavour of the lifestyle.
Chris was even less impressed with the marina the next day when the toilets turned out to be dirty, have broken doors with no locks and no loo-paper. He complained to the reception whose answer was to produce some paper towels!! We won’t be going back there and have since heard others have had similar experiences. Anchor off in the bay and take the dinghy ashore if you need supplies but there are much nicer places to visit.

Photo: The harbor at Porto Veccio with the old town on the hilltop