Circular, Oletta - Bocca di Pardinu

Date of your route : Jun 24, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Quite a nice hike, which I followed from time to time using GPS in addition to the markings, particularly in the village of Olmeta. There were no other hikers, but it was warm. There were a few brambles, but they were easy to avoid. Thank you to the author!

Machine-translated

A pleasant and varied route: undergrowth, scrubland and very little road. My GPS confirmed the directions and signs.
Well-maintained trails, allowing you to run on certain sections. In the scrubland at the end of the route, you can admire the landscapes and the view of the Gulf of Saint-Florent.
I recommend this short hike.

Machine-translated

Hello Marie Jo,
Thank you for joining us on this route and for your very positive feedback. And well done for your common sense when dealing with our 'wild' animals.
Kind regards

Machine-translated

Date of your route : Sep 30, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A beautiful hike surrounded by nature. We enjoyed the peace and quiet, and the view of the village of Oletta and the valley. The path is narrow but well maintained. No scratches (even though we were wearing shorts!). We had an unexpected encounter with Marguerite and her friends, but everything went well. We spoke to them kindly and they agreed to take refuge in the scrub to let us pass
Thank you for this discovery.

Machine-translated

The image really speaks for itself.
Firstly, there are a few scratches, which are far, very far from the ordeal you describe.
Secondly, in Corsica, outside of motorways such as "L'ALDILONDA", the "GR20", the "SENTIERS DU LITTORAL" or other routes maintained by public institutions, all hikers, hunters and horse riders who walk our paths lined with scrub wear long trousers, even in summer.
Wearing shorts is not "prohibited", even if the VISORANDO charter recommends "dressing appropriately". But we all know that it is possible to come back with a few scratches.
Finally, I must come back to your outrageous and misleading comments
You maintain that "...this hike presents a risk", which is fine, since the VISORANDO charter recommends "reporting any risks encountered" on a route.
Except that a "risk" is a "potential danger", i.e. a threat to a person's safety or life.
I cannot therefore allow you to "warn hikers" on Visorando about a risk on this hike. You have no right to do so, as there is no such risk.
Talk about inconvenience (over 510m, less than 10% of the route - I know every metre of it because I created it) if it makes you happy, but no more than that.

Machine-translated

So you must have missed a few spots when cutting. Here's what my wife's legs look like on day 2: https://ibb.co/pZS4pVC

No lies, no particular motivation: I just want to warn hikers that this hike is risky. Maybe it's pleasant when the path is a little clearer, but when it's not, it's torture.

Machine-translated

Hello, and I am sorry that you chose our Bocca di Pardinu hike.
However, I do not accept your excessive and completely untrue criticism of this route.
"Horrible. Two hours of hiking with your legs being torn apart by brambles."..."The path is virtually impassable."..."You spend your time clearing obstacles from the path."
For you, perhaps, but for all those who might wish to take this route, I will set the record straight. What I can prove, of course:
- From the start at the edge of the D82 to the end of the trail - the road to the village of Olmeta - there are 1.2 kilometres, 0.180 kilometres of which may be overgrown with brambles.
- From the road to the last houses in Olmeta, 1,300 km, including 0.0 km with the possibility of bramble growth
- From the last houses to the summit of Bocca di Pardinu, 1.130 km, including 0.150 km with the possibility of bramble growth
- On the descent from Bocca to the D82, 1.200 km, including 0.180 km with the possibility of bramble growth.
That is, if I count correctly, 4,830 km of track for 0.510 km of potential bramble growth, with no obstruction of the path.
Do you know why I can be so sure of what I'm saying? Quite simply because I worked on the route on 29 May and, using hand tools, I cut back everything that was overgrown along the 510 metres mentioned above.
And in 20 days, with almost no rain, it is impossible for brambles to invade nearly 4 km of trail (including 1,300 km of tarmac).
So if you want to say that this route is impassable, I won't try to stop you; everyone is free to write what they want today, which contributes to making the world as we live it.
However, I can say that this is a blatant lie, the motives for which I cannot understand.
The only reasonable possibility, in my opinion, is that you took the wrong route.
For future walkers, I would like to point out that the annual brush clearing - using thermal tools - will take place on 23 and 24 June.
NB: the vegetation is magnificent at this time of year and we deliberately leave the flowering rockroses (which are not prickly at all) on our paths until the end of spring.

Machine-translated

Date of your route : Jun 17, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★☆☆☆☆ Very disappointing
Ease of following the route : ★☆☆☆☆ Very disappointing
Route interest : ★☆☆☆☆ Very disappointing
Very busy route : No

Horrible.
two hours of hiking with our legs being torn to shreds by brambles.
Unsurprisingly, we didn't meet anyone, as the path is virtually impassable.
There were a few beautiful views, but we didn't even get to enjoy them because we spent all our time clearing the path of obstacles.
What a shame, two hours wasted.

Machine-translated

Date of your route : May 20, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Very beautiful route

Machine-translated

Hello and thank you for your feedback.
Now it's my turn to tell you about my experience with this route, which I began developing in September 2017 with a friend who shares my passion. It was completed in 2020, opened in 2021, and published by the local tourist office in July of the same year.
I created the description in 2023 for publication on the national Visorando website in order to attract more visitors, which means less maintenance is required.
This is very important to me because, as you may have noticed, we are not on the coastal path. Climbing up to Bocca di Pardinu with a brush cutter, thermal pruner and consumables can only be done once a year at most. And if we start maintaining the land in April, we have to come back in May and June. That's not realistic.
But you can help maintain this or another path by bringing, like most hikers, a pair of secateurs and/or a pruning knife to cut back "anything that sticks out".
Reminder:
- I am a 100% volunteer and no one is forcing me to do what I do.
- I do not receive any payment from Visorando, to whom I pay an annual subscription, as I'm sure you do.

Machine-translated

Date of your route : Apr 29, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Interesting hike, beautiful views.
Unfortunately, the paths are not maintained and are sometimes overgrown with vegetation.

Machine-translated

...and thank you for stopping by and for your favourable opinion. It's very encouraging.
Have a nice day

Machine-translated

Date of your route : Oct 23, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

First of all, thank you to the author for this hike, which is very well marked.
The view is remarkable...

Machine-translated

Thank you for your reply.
Perhaps you could also mention that the gates must be closed properly 😉.

Machine-translated

Hello Nastasia, thank you for stopping by and for your comments.
I visited the course on Saturday 26 August and was as surprised as you to see how quickly the vegetation had grown back, even though we had no rainfall in August.
For next season, we are going to take the bull by the horns and clear the most overgrown sections to a width of 2 to 3 metres.
As for the stray cows, they graze freely in the area and remain wild animals that are best avoided... unless you want to end up like you did, with a "horn in your nose". This is not surprising because, unlike the wild boars that live in our scrubland, cows are not frightened by the sound of voices or footsteps.
Thanks to your experience, I will add a warning message about this.
Thank you for everything

Machine-translated