We were up really early at 05.45 as we wanted to leave the hotel before 07.00. Having showered, we were downstairs with the car packed by 06.20. The hotel had said we could have an early 'small' breakfast, but they had laid almost everything on for us, fresh rolls, fruit juice, coffee and all the trimmings.
We left the hotel before seven and followed the satnav into the middle of Livorno and found our way straight the port. The signposts for the ferries were almost non-existant, so the satnav was a real help. We lined up in the queue and a man appeared, checked our reservation number and stuck a small sticker on the windscreen. Unbeknownst to us, he also stuck an advertising sticker on the rear screen!
We started loading at around 07.45 and we were fairly near the front of the queue. Top tip, do not think that getting to this port early will be of any advantage, if anything, I'd suggest arriving almost at the last minute - more on this subject later. We drove onto the main vehicle deck and then drove down a ramp to a lower deck, and then down another ramp to an even lower deck. The cars were all just crammed in as close to as they could.
This proved to be a problems as we then had to climb stairs back up six decks to a level where there was seating - no lifts just very steep steps.
The facilities were quite good, it was possible to get breakfast, a juice, a croissant and a coffee for 3.90 Euros. The seating was quite comfortable and as the ferry was fairly empty, plenty of room.
The crossing was very smooth and took 4 and a half hours. When we arrived at Bastia, we decided to start heading down all the stairs so the we didn't have to hurry, but 3 decks down were halted by a member of staff. We then stood in the corridor for 25 minutes whilst they unloaded the rest of the ferry. Finally, we were allowed down the last 5 flights of stairs to the car. Here lies the problem, first on the ferry, and very definitely last off - not a great idea. Arrive as late as you can and you will get off the ferry way quicker than those that arrived in good time.
Once off the ferry, we followed the Calvi signs through Bastia, quite a large and busy town. The suburbs of the town seemed to go on for ever following the coast south. Eventually, we reached the town of Borgo and turned west to cross the island. The road gradually climbed up the hills through countryside covered in wild flowers until we could see the range of mountains in the middle of the island, still covered in snow. Eventually we crossed a col and started descending down to the western side of the island. Suddenly, we found ourselves back at sea-level closely following a rocky coast.
Staying on this road, we passed through the town of Ille d'Rousse and continued the last 20km to Calvi. We easily found the campsite 'La Pinede' well signposted about 2-3 km before Calvi.
On arrival, we wandered around the site to choose a pitch, then returned to collect a car pass and let them photocopy my passport.
We set up in the shade of eucalyptus trees, the campsite is called 'The Pines' I think it should have been named 'The eucalyptuses'. It was quite warm and it didn't take us long to erect the tent, pump up the lilo, assemble the kitchen and connect the gas.
We drove into Calvi to find a supermarket having been uninspired by the shop on the campsite. To say it was heaving would be an understatement. We bought some essentials, some wine, some olives and some more wine and returned to the campsite and ate fish fingers with rice and sweetcorn - the simple pleasures of camp life!
We seem to have camped next to a small watercourse, which as I type, is clearly full of frogs. I suspect we may curse them later as we settle down to sleep.
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