I had been reading various reviews of holiday destinations on the net and seen several references to Corsica being France's hidden gem. However, the chances of getting there by air looked quite slim as there seemed to be only one flight a week from the UK to Corsica and that only during August so it appeared that if we wanted to go to Corsica we would have to go by road and ferry.

In March we put an order in for a Berlingo with Barclays of Warrington, very odd as we live in Essex but that is another story.

Further searching on the net led us to find that ferries to Corsica started from several locations on the French and Italian coasts. We decided on the route from Toulon to Ajaccio (a-jack-see-oh - Tracey) courtesy of Direct Ferries. They suggested Corsica Ferries as being the operator of choice so we booked a return trip via Direct Ferries. We booked passage for our as yet to be made Berlingo and a cabin for both passages as we had opted for overnight sailings. A tip - if you are getting on a bit etc. it could be worth considering a four berth cabin for two of you - no clambering about in the semi-dark (to go to the loo) to and from the upper bunk. We had a two-berth on the way out and a four-berth on the way back. Upper bunks are OK for younger agile members of the community but not for unfit geriatrics.

We required a secure car park at the hotel in Bastia as together with our brand new Berlingo we would be carrying two electric mobility scooters. Hotels in Corsica are, in general, older buildings that do not have car parks so our choice was limited. We chose the Best Western Bastia Centre and the secure car parking was a boon, not that crime in Corsica appears to be anything to worry about but built up areas in Corsica are solid with traffic and parking spaces are very, very much at a premium.

Whilst travelling from Calais to Toulon we used the autoroutes for convenience and speed. In fact we have a transponder supplied by Sanef (one of the French autoroute companies) which lets us through the péages without stopping or queuing - just adds the toll charge to the credit card. In fact Sanef have now just opened a UK branch under the title of Sanef Tolling.

One of the reasons for choosing to sail to Ajaccio and staying in Bastia was that we would arrive in Ajaccio about 7am but couldn't register at the hotel until mid-afternoon, so the journey over the mountains was very welcome as a time waster and served as an introduction to what turned out to be a fantastic holiday venue.

Boarding a ferry to or from Corsica is a very laid back affair compared to the more regimented approach at Dover and Calais. When the time came to board the vessel, Corsica Ferries Mega Express (Mega Express and Mega Express ll are sister ships), out came two men armed with hand held computers, a barcode reader (for those with tickets rather than ourselves who had an email printout) and a belt mounted label printer. They stood at the front of the queue and two lines of traffic passed very quickly straight onto the ferry, each checking operation taking literally a few seconds - yes the cabin allocation was also taken care at the same time. No buildings, nothing, just two men standing out in the open. Of course the journey is ‘within France’ but we saw the same system in place at Bastia where ferries sail to Italy as well as France. Those two countries are WITHIN the EU and operate the open border policy which does not seem to be the case for the English speaking members.

Our initial impressions of Corsica were based on Ajaccio and the local area as we drove towards Bastia. A lot more traffic than we had expected, in fact Ajaccio is probably the most congested town we have been to, and I mean VERY congested - much worse than St Tropez, Madrid or Marseille. What had we let ourselves in for?

As we started up the mountains the traffic thinned out and there were more and more Berlingos and Partners, mostly Mk2s and quite a few of their distant relatives such as Renault Kangoos. We had intended to stop for lunch in Corte but gave up that idea as it was once again wall to wall traffic and double parking. Instead a baguette and pack of ham from the local Casino supermarket and off to stop in a lay-by (of which there are many).

As we got further up the mountain it became obvious that the top two gears, fourth and fifth, were likely to have a holiday due to gradient and distance between blind corners. Mind you this didn't seem to slow down the locals! We 'met' more than one Berlingo/Partner being driven in a four wheel slide around blind bends! They really are (or a considerable percentage of them are) budding WRC drivers - and there’s no difference in enthusiastic driving between the sexes.

Tracey did all the driving whilst on Corsica and found the driving quite physical (even though we of course have power steering) and mentally very tiring. It is NOT a good place for people who are nervous drivers or passengers or who are put off by vertical drops at the side of a normally Armco-less road.

As mentioned above, the standard of driving in Corsica is 'different'. On the main N roads it is quite acceptable; there are the ultra cautious that cause traffic chaos/queues everywhere; the brave 40-60 year-olds and as I wrote earlier, the budding WRC drivers who don't believe in driving anywhere without having the right foot pressed hard down on either the throttle or brake. You would be surprised how agile Peugeot 206/207s are when in the hands of a Corsican. Mind you some of the Berlingo vans can hold their own around the twisty bits of which there are quite a lot. Yes, on D roads watch out for the locals!

So far I haven't mentioned the scenery. It is amazing - think of a mix of the Spanish Costas, the French Riviera and the French maritime alps - Corsica has it all (in buckets)! There are wonderful mountain ranges, pseudo alpine passes, amazing beaches (no good if you are looking for amusement arcades, however), beautiful harbours, amazing tree covered hillsides and an absolute plethora of bars and restaurants to suit all tastes. What else could one ask for?

We think its absolutely essential to have some means of transport when on Corsica as the public transport appears to be well hidden from those 'not in the know'. Fuel is just a little dearer than in metropolitan France and there are a lot of fuel stations in the major towns, so many that on the southern outskirts of Bastia there is an Esso and Vito station side by side and a Total station immediately opposite! Don't expect to find rural service stations too often though.

In town parking is the alternative word for Hell! We were lucky in several respects. We had guaranteed parking at the hotel and also I am a Blue Badge holder which gave a reasonable chance of pole position parking. YES, the local constabulary DOES issue tickets to those not displaying the badge - we saw instances of this although in general the police are not exactly in evidence. (Thanks to the metropolitan France and Corsica chappies for painting the blue badge parking spaces a nice shade of blue which matches our Berlingo but also makes finding the spaces easier both in real life and on Google maps).

France is renowned for its acceptance of bikers but go to Corsica and you find a real bikers paradise. During our stay, I guess we averaged four touring bikers at the hotel each night. One enterprising French couple really had it sussed - husband rode the bike to Bastia and wife drove the car with all the luggage and her riding/pillion gear. A very sensible compromise I feel.

As far as eating and drinking is concerned we can only speak of Bastia. There must be literally dozens of restaurants in the town centre leave alone those on the outskirts and in the more residential areas. In fact I have just checked with TripAdvisor and they list 94 restaurants but don't list the ones we ate at! Menus tend to be international but with some seemingly good fish dishes and plenty of different Italian fare. Prices tend to be similar to metropolitan France. A good 3 course set meal would start at about 13.90 euros.

International beers are available in Corsica but not at all outlets. What does always seem to be available everywhere are the three local beers: Pietra, Colomba and Serena - but we found we had to specifically ask for Serena. Of these, we liked Serena the best but doubt we could ever acquire the taste for Colomba, and didn't drink enough Pietra to acquire the taste. Pietra was, however, the drink of the locals whilst Serena could be the only brew that came anywhere near resembling a conventional ale/lager what have you.

Corsican wine is not normally available in our supermarkets, nor in French hypermarkets. However, given the chance to try a glass or bottle, this is a very under stated wine growing area. We found even their cheaper wines (house wines) were very good.

Coffee was as you expect it - strong with a truly continental taste.

As one would expect in a French departement there is an abundance of super/hyper markets. All the usual names, Carrefour, E Leclerc, Casino and Géant Casino are well represented as are Spar shops both large and small, which makes shopping for a midday picnic easy - and of course you have the fantastic choice that the French are so lucky to have.

Paying car parks seemed to be of the ‘pay before exit’ type (a la multi storey in England) but with machines that took notes and coins AND gave change. Needed to hunt for the machines on occasion though.

Pedestrian crossings. Unusually for a European road system, seemingly in Corsica the pedestrian has the supreme right of way on a crossing. Quite different to mainland Europe. Be aware though that many of them tend to amble across as though they have all the time in the world. Also, drivers of all persuasions gave way to other drivers crossing in front of them or attempting to join the stream of traffic. It could become quite confusing at roundabouts as to who had the right of way although normal ronde-pont rules were supposed to be in force.

During our time in Corsica we did not see any loutish behaviour - everyone got on well together - even on the Saturday evening after Bastia had won their match and the supporters were in town with their flags and banners - it was all very good natured.

We must make comment about the road surfaces in Corsica. The surface is very smooth and grippy - I suppose the same as you would expect in mainland France. Even on the very small little used roads that we went on, the ride was much superior to that which we expect these days in the UK. One of the things that we have been disappointed with the Berlingo is the road noise created by the Michelin Primacies. We left Calais and within a couple of miles looked at each other “where has the road noise gone” and the ride was so much smoother without the bumpiness one has got used to in the UK in recent years. This smoothness and quietness continued all the way through France and Corsica until we got back on British soil. We had only gone a couple of miles along the A2 from Dover docks when we looked at each other “we’re home, back in the UK”. Rougher ride and tyre noise return!

Before we went to Corsica we considered that in this ‘out of the way’ departement the standard of living together with the age of their cars would be different from mainland France. In fact the island seems to have a very good standard of living and cars and vans more than about six years old were the rarity rather than the norm.

Historically Corsica has several links with our own (British) history. Britain supported the Corsicans in their bid to rid themselves of France prior to the French revolution. In fact Lord Nelson himself was involved in the siege of Bastia which ousted the French. Prior to this, Corsica's most famous freedom fighter and first President, Pascal Paoli, sought refuge in England before the French Revolution and later in life spent his remaining years in England. For some years, at the end of the 18th century, Corsica was regarded as a sub-kingdom within the British Empire - in fact there are samples of the Corsican flag which shows the Moor’s head on a cross of St George..

Before we arrived in Corsica we were genned up on Corsicans by a frenchman during our overnight stay in Dijon and his description was quite accurate. They are essentially a rebellious lot who are not over enamoured with France and have more of a liking for Italy. However, they do like the French way of life and are willing to put up with France for these benefits.

Before we went we were a little apprehensive about the language difficulties. We shouldn't have worried - everywhere we went, even in some of the most out-of-the-way places, our stilted French was replied to in superb English, a lot better than you get on occasion from the locals of this country!

Well what did we think of the towns etc. that we visited. Just a very short list.

Ajaccio - very busy, too much traffic which moves at less than walking pace during rush hours.

Bastia - busy but nothing like as busy as Ajaccio. Place St Nicolas even though it is an asphalted area has a real atmosphere and is very popular with locals and holds a boot fair type of market on Sunday mornings. Opposite there is a busy ferry port - right in the centre of town. Very good choice of eating and drinking establishments.

Corte - again very busy. A university town probably worth a visit especially if you are travelling on two wheels.

Erbalunga - very pretty harbour village, big free car park, several eating and drinking places but most tend to be ‘quite upmarket’. ‘The Pirate’ restaurant right on the harbour has a fantastic setting but its prices put it way out of what we can afford.

Marine de Farinole - fantastic beach, bar and restaurant (including hotel at 50€ a night). Gives the feeling of being on a distant tropical island - wonderful.

Mariana Plage - on the east coast about 25 miles south of Bastia and away from the mountains. Good free parking, very good beach, good bars and restaurants. Well worth a visit.

Pino - not much to say about the place but it is a very good stopping point to recover when driving up the wet side of Cap Corse.

Saint-Florent - a fairly up market town with a large marina full of all types of boat. Good selection of eating places (but not much good for snacks). Several good beaches nearby.

Santa Severa - pretty little harbour village with a couple of bars and restaurants. Quiet and laid back.

Would we go back? You bet we would. In fact we are already making plans for next year (finances permitting) as it is definitely not your cheap package holiday. Next year we are thinking of basing ourselves in the south of the island. When we return to Corsica we will try and be a week earlier as the Corsicans seemed to be getting ready for winter - as an example the railway system had started their winter timetable which didn’t really tie in with our needs. The railway journey from Bastia to Ajaccio is reputed to be very good as it goes up and over the mountain range.