| A deep cleft of ruddy granite beginning 5km to the west of Corte, the Gorges du Tavignano offers one of central Corsica's great walks, marked in yellow paint flashes alongside the broad cascading River Tavignano. You can pick up the trail from opposite the Chapelle Ste-Croix in Corte's ville haute and follow it as far as the Lac de Nino, 30km west of the town, where it joins the GR20. There's a refuge, A Sega, 15km along the route. From the trailhead in Corte, the old mule track steadily climbs the steep left bank of the river across a bare hillside scarred with the remains of old farming terraces. Massive rocks border the river below, which you can scramble down to in places for a secluded swim. Some 5km into the walk, the gorge proper begins and the scenery becomes wilder, with rock faces surging up on each side. Passing through patches of dense maquis interspersed with evergreen oak and chestnut trees, you gradually rejoin the river, crossed at the Passarelle de Rossolino footbridge after around two and a half hours. Once on the right bank, the mountainside grows steeper as the path skirts the Ravin de Bruscu, swathed in forest that was severely damaged by fire in 2000, then winds gently above the stream to the refuge, reached after five and a half hours from Corte.
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