Sunday 17th February 2002

We had an earlier start with no supermarket stop as the Super U is closed on Sundays.

We started our walk in Lumio, starting at 10.30. After a very steep ascent, we reached Les Ruines d'Occi, which bizarrely had a new church (locked!) in the middle - and where we took lots of photos. There were spectacular views of the bay of Calvi and the Marine de Saint Ambroggio.

Descending to Notre Dame de la Stella, we met a group who were picnicking. In the heat of the sun we saw many lizards basking and skittering across the dry-stone walls running alongside the path.

On from the church we chased three cows that had strayed onto the path a good distance towards Lavatoggio. On the way we passed another tiny locked church, and the church in Lavatoggio was locked too.

Over Lavatoggio we saw one, then two, birds of prey - one circled some 20 feet above where we stood, and we clearly saw the telltale feathered wing-tips and forked tail. The wingspan was at least 1m, and as the mate swooped up to join the first bird Helen saw triangular markings on the shoulders. Osprey perhaps?

We soon came to Catteri, and after what felt like another hour Sant'Antonino. This village is a most impressive hilltop outlook which dominates its surroundings, although it has tiny passageways which pass for streets. Here the very sweet church was unlocked.

After half a day of gorgeous sunshine, the cloud began pouring over (and sitting on) the mountains, so we returned rather faster than we went out. On the way back we met a nice friendly couple of 60+ who wanted to know how much further it was to the top. They'd done the same walk in full years ago. We did see one of the birds of prey again, standing on a rock - and a helicopter, which was so out of context as to be unreal.

We had dinner at l'Oasis and Helen phoned home.

4890--5-21-21: Les Ruines d'Occi (1)	4890--6-22-22: Les Ruines d'Occi (2)	4890--6-23-23: Jeremy, on the edge of a cliff, and a stone circle at Les Ruines d'Occi
4890--6-24-24: Les Ruines d'Occi (3)	4890--6-25-25: Les Ruines d'Occi (4)	7808--3-14-13A: There's a lizard in this picture...
7808--3-15-12A: View from Lavatoggio towards San'Antonino	7808--3-16-11A: View from Lavatoggio towards the coast	7808--4-17-10A: Church in Lavatoggio
7808--4-18-9A: Lemons growing in Lavatoggio	7808--4-19-8A: Helen outside the church in Catteri	7808--4-20-7A: Catteri - complete with cat!
7808--5-21-6A: Fantastic blossoming tree on the road to San'Antonino	7808--5-22-5A: Tiny shrine on the road to San'Antonino	7808--5-23-4A: Entrance to the church in San'Antonino
7808--5-24-3A: San'Antonino	7808--6-25-2A: View of San'Antonino