Two islands, twelve kilometres of water between them, and nine days on some of the finest roads in the Mediterranean. The ninth Europe Challenge started at Porto Rotondo on Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda, crossed the island from east to west and took the ferry over the Strait of Bonifacio to Corsica. There the route climbed the Col de Bavella, ran through the red rock of the Calanche de Piana and over Cap Corse before finishing in the Balagne.
We gathered at Sulia House in Porto Rotondo on 10 October. The first driving day went south through the Gallura to the SS125, the Orientale Sarda, with a detour down to Cala Gonone and over the Genna Silana, before we reached Lanthia Resort in the Ogliastra. The next day took us through the Barbagia and along the flank of the Gennargentu to Bosa, then over the empty coast road to Alghero, where we stayed at Villa Las Tronas on its own headland.
From Alghero we drove the hills of the Anglona and the north coast to Santa Teresa Gallura, where the whole group boarded the ferry. Bonifacio only comes into view at the very last moment, its houses built up to the edge of a white limestone cliff. After lunch in the upper town we drove through the granite hills of the south, past Figari and Sotta, to Porto-Vecchio.
The Col de Bavella took us across the island, up through the Solenzara valley to the red granite needles at 1,218 metres. Via Zonza, Sartène and Propriano we reached Villa Urbana in Porticcio for two nights. The free day that followed left a choice: a mountain loop over the Col de Verde and the Col de Sorba, a day on the water, Napoleon’s Ajaccio, or simply the pool.
The Calanche de Piana, a UNESCO World Heritage site, squeezed the road between towers of red rock. Over the Col de la Croix and the single-track coast road to Calvi we reached Les Paillers de Bodri near Corbara, our base for the last two nights. The final loop led to Bastia, over Cap Corse past the black beach of Nonza, and back through Saint-Florent and the Agriates, ending with a farewell dinner cooked for us on site.