The Grand Randonnee 20 (GR20) is considered to be Europe's most challenging long-distance walking trail. It is broken up into 2 stages: the GR20 North and GR20 South.

 

Established in 1972 the route traverses the interior of Corsica for 200km, crossing granite mountains and rugged alpine terrain with opportunities to view stunning snowcapped peaks. The outstanding feature of the walk is the diversity of terrain, from lush forests of pine and beech to narrow trails through towering pinnacles, to high windswept plateaus.

 

Pia, a UTracks Traveller, decided to walk this route in 2024. Read on to learn how she fared on this unforgettable journey.

 

 

Corsica, most beautiful island in the world with the most challenging long-distance track in the Europe.

We started the walk from Calenza to Bonifatu, easy low level walk before joining the GR 20.
 
On the second day we started a steady, long climb up with slowly changing scenery from lush forest and rivers with swing bridges to above tree line sharp mountain ridge. Snow was visible on the mountains and we were wondering if we were heading there.

 

Next day we were supposed to climb to the highest peak, but due to late snow and us not having crampons and ice picks, we joined the 2 busloads of hikers taking a ride to Vallone instead. That was disappointing, but the right move according to the stories we heard later.

Not to worry, we had plenty of climbing and scrambling ahead of us. Always with rewarding views. The climbs are steep, very rocky or boulders. All four limbs were required at many times and walking poles were essential.

 

Some sloped rock faces had chains as they could be slippery when wet. Some had not, but the rock was quite rough on those areas. It is not for the fainthearted though, some people get in trouble if afraid of heights.

 

What goes up, has to come down. Due to uneven steps and surface, coming down was harder than going up. Again walking poles were essential to ease the impact on legs, and sometimes sitting down and having a short slide down was a good option.

 

The track was fairly well marked, but sometimes when you are just looking how and where to position your foot, it was easy to get a bit off the track. Also in bad weather, some of the markings could be challenging to find. Most of the time though there were other hikers around.

After finishing the North part of the GR20, we had an extra night at Vizzavona, walking with no packs, having good food and coffee.

The South track is different. It is beautiful in the lush way without the dramatic mountain ridges.

 

There is still plenty of climbing up and coming down the slopes. We also had some very windy days and walking in the cloud.

Days got longer, but flatter towards the end so on the second last day we chose the Alpine option instead of staying on the low level main route. More climbing, but worth it. It is all worth it! It is hard physically and sometimes mentally but the feeling at the end of the 2 weeks is amazing! We were hot, cold and our knees were killing us. Still worth it!

 

Thank you UTracks for helping us to organise this amazing holiday and making it as comfortable as possible with luggage transfers and proper beds in between tents and dorms. Any enquiries we had, the response was very quick.

 

Special thanks to Pia Lehtonen-Davies for sharing her story.
 

> GR20 North Track

> GR20 South Track

> All Corsica walking and cycling tours

 

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