Start 07h56 · Arrival 14h04. Just 5.6 km, 4h22 of actual walking and 6h07 in total. The terrain demands constant attention, the rocky sections slow you down, and concentration replaces plain endurance.
When I wake at Carrozzu, everything is soaked. The forest holds the damp, the tent has taken on the dew. But the mist of the day before has gone, the sky opens little by little, and you sense straight away that the day could be a beautiful one.
With Benjamin, we're starting to find our routines. Packing up is smoother, the bag goes together faster. It's still far from slick, but we waste less time. We leave Carrozzu with one name in our heads: Spasimata.
« Once you're up top, everything opens out. The sky is blue, the view grows wider, and you rediscover that sense of vast space that makes the GR20 so powerful. »
The footbridge — I'd built it up into something almost mythical. The reality is… less impressive than I'd expected. Striking, yes: the setting all around is superb. But the big rush of adrenaline I'd been waiting for isn't really there.
The real shock comes afterwards. The vegetation vanishes, the rock takes over completely, the sun reveals the walls, the slabs, the waterfalls and the boulders. You step into a vertical Corsica — hard, luminous and wild, nothing like the Corsica of beaches or villages. At times it feels almost unreal.
The climb takes care. Sections where your hands come in useful, stretches that are fixed with cables, others left more open. It isn't very long, but it's intense. You move cautiously, choosing your holds. Anyone uneasy with exposure could clearly find it daunting.
Lake Muvrella could have made the perfect break. On paper it has everything: the setting, the calm, the water, the relief all around. But at that hour the shade and the chill still hold sway. The body cools down fast. We don't linger.
The final stretch up to the ridges is steep and stony, but the reward is immediate. Once you're up top, everything opens out. The sky is blue, the view grows wider, and you rediscover that sense of vast space that makes the GR20 so powerful. For a moment, you almost forget your legs.
Then the descent towards Haut Asco brings us back down to earth. The stones return, again and again. The terrain never really turns comfortable, right to the end.
We drop the bags with the feeling of having lived a stage that was short on kilometres but rich in sensations. A little disappointment over Spasimata, a great deal of beauty afterwards, the technical, the mineral — and a fine ridge before the descent.