Mare e Monti

Corsica: North-west , France

William Mackesy’s account of this walk

Spelunca Gorge (day 8)

This superb gorge walk (on the Mare e Monti route) between Evisa and Ota is one of Corsica’s finest day walks, and that is saying something.

Walkopedia walked it downhill from Evisa (ie in reverse from the MeM direction). After a gentle stroll down Evisa's main street, you turn right by a large tomb onto a path of such antiquity that, given that it is the best nearby way down into the gorge, it could have been in use for 5,000 years.  A 600m+ descent gets you to the river at 240m, often on fine old paving and some embanked switchbacks, and often hidden in the forest, which opens up in places to bushy maquis. Viewpoints open up of huge pink cliffs receding to 1,300m or more.

The gorge bottom walk is a delight, shady old paths always enlivened by the rushing river. There are superb swimming spots near the three sets of bridges, the last a slender Genoese effort of sublime grace.

Thence it is a good and reasonably gentle climb to Ota and, in our case, an ecstatically enjoyable lunch Chez Felix, admiring the remarkable view across the river to a vast bowl of dramatic cliffs and towers.