It was a cloudy start to the day after a little overnight rain and although the sky soon cleared, the clouds regrouped in the afternoon. After climbing back up to the town we shopped for dinner ingredients, this being a Sunday, and enjoyed an easy downhill ride to a bridge where we sat and ate our lunch. We needed the energy boost as it was a hard uphill battle after that, through the peaceful hill villages of Sainte Lucie de Tallano and Levie after which the gradient eased a little through San Gavino di Carbini where we photographed the bike gate and on to Zonza.
This time the campsite was on the far side of town and 3 km downhill where we were dismayed to find it hadn’t yet opened for the season. Another site lay about half a kilometre on, so we approached it with trepidation, being very tired by now and not at all liking the idea of toiling back up the hill to hunt down a hotel. We were surprised to find a very lively site hosting a large group of Czechs (not the freewheelers!) as well as lots of independent campers. Christine recognised two Swiss cyclists she’d spoken to on the ferry from Nice so we shared experiences with them before cooking another late meal which we finished eating in darkness.