The prior evening we were joined at the refuge by a group of ten or twelve hikers, traveling with a guide, his son, and their dog. As we discovered that morning, this group had started from the old (now alternative) beginning of the GR20 in the Forest of Bonifatu. The group had arrived a bit late in the evening, but the guide had reserved their place at the refuge in advance (which was why we couldn't join the main dinner).As with the previous day, just about everyone at the refuge started out on the trail at the same time, while we took a bit longer to avoid the crowd. We understood by now that people got an early start in order to get a better camping spot for the next night. For this stage we were not concerned about that, since we planned to stay at the Hotel le Chalet in Haut Asco.
We started off in the cool shadows of the Spasimata Gorge, down the steep, wooded slope to the suspension bridge over the river. We ascended the slabs on the opposite side of the gorge, passing the slower half of the guided group, and eventually catching up to the young English speaking couple. About half way up we took a break for a snack, pictures, and the last view of Calvi.
Continuing on, we soon reached the first (and smallest) alpine lake on the GR20, the Lac de la Muvrella. This was just about everyone's spot for lunch, and there was plenty of space for each group to spread out, eat lunch, and enjoy the warm sun. We all watched as, one by one, each group finished their rest and started the short, steep climb up a gully filled with snow to the gap near the peak of Muvrella. When it was our turn we proceeded slowly, step by step in the rotting spring snow. We stopped in the narrow gap to take pictures, joined soon after by the young couple. Markus commented on how quickly she had ascended, and the young German made a comment like "yah, she's a real snowbunny". We explained to them how we had started to give our fellow hikers nicknames, and of course her nickname was now "Snowy". Although it took us a few more days to come up with it, we gave him the fitting nickname "Tintin".After leaving the gap and negotiating around a few narrow points in the trail, we made our way to the Boccu a u Stagnu. There wasn't much of interest between these two points, just a relatively level stretch of slab and scree. I noticed on this stretch that I had lost the point on one of my trekking poles, which wasn't such a big deal given the rocky terrain but still was a bit irritating.
The descent from Boccu a u Stagnu was even steeper than the descent the previous day, although it was shorter and we had Haut Asco (and Monte Cinto) in view the whole time. The last part of this stage was through a welcome stand of laricio pines, the only shade we'd had since the morning. I did a fair job of getting us a room with two beds (it only took two tries). We stashed our gear in the room, then went down to the Hotel porch to watch hikers arrive and to have a Pietra or two.After our early happy hour we took advantage of the shower, washed some clothes, then went to the gite d'etape to buy some more supplies for lunch (cheese, bread, sausage, fruit). Back in the hotel bar we watched France beat Switzerland in their World Cup match. Everyone in the bar was a GR20 hiker, and regardless of (predominantly European) nationality we were all happy for this contact with "civilization". As the match was ending (and the French were clearly going to win) I noticed Good Tent quietly leaving. I asked them later if they were Swiss -- they were French but had been living in Switzerland I guess long enough to be rooting for the Swiss in the World Cup.
We moved en masse from the bar to the dining room for a hearty Corsican dinner of mutton stew, vegetables, bread, and wine. I don't remember what else, but we were famished and ate everything they brought. Everyone in the dining room was in high spirits because of the accomplishments of the first three days, the food, and the wine. That night we slept like the dead in comfortable beds with sheets and pillows.
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