There's a protest in Ajaccio and things could get ugly. Not because of rioters objecting to frozen pay and pensions, or students demanding an end to tuition fees. No, here in the Corsican capital, the furore is over a car park, and it's not the demonstration that could get ugly but the town centre itself.
In the central César-Campinchi square, a planned 678-space multi-storey car park would mean a patch of trees being cut down. It's the sort of thing that happens in cities across the globe, but here protestors are hanging signs on the trees trunks that read CUNDANATU A MORTI (sentenced to death). A spokesman for the group tells local press that, ecologically, this would be disastrous and describes cutting down the trees as "slaughter".
It's protests like this that explain why I go walking in Corsica. Here they don't just love nature – they love nature and will do all they can to protect it. Eco-projects abound, from new plans for a marine reserve on its coast to stop overfishing and protect key species – which has miraculously been fully supported and even called for by resident fisherman – to an ongoing programme which last month saw the reintroduction of red deer (poached to local extinction in 1969).
Their passion is hardly surprising. Corsica is a beautiful island. It has wonderful beaches, pretty villages, natural pools and hilly woodlands veined with meandering streams.
The best-known way to explore its interior is the challenging 180km GR20 – one of the most famous walking trails in Europe. It stretches from Calenzana in the north to Conca in the south and is considered one of the most difficult long-distance treks on the continent (there are exposed scrambles, and at some points ladders and steel ropes to assist walkers). The whole thing takes at least two weeks, and involves staying in refuges or camping along the way.
But coastal Corsica also has a lot to offer walkers. Ajaccio itself is flanked by green foothills covered in an aromatic carpet of vegetation and herbs. Beyond them, a rocky ridgeline dramatically pierces the sky and below are beaches of golden sand.
I was looking for a more relaxed holiday than the GR20, so stayed around Ajaccio to discover more of its precious green spaces through shorter, easier hikes.
As I headed up through suburban streets to the trailhead of my chosen route, the Chemin des Crêtes (Path of the Ridges), I passed statue after statue of Ajaccio's most famous son – Napoleon Bonaparte. Given the hero worship of this leader, the fighting spirit of its eco-activists begins to make sense. The route begins opposite the Bois des Anglais, a patch of woodland left over from the island's short stint as a British colony over 200 years ago. At less than 10km it's a much easier prospect than the more famous trail, but as it cuts along the peaks above the coast it offers stunning views for very little effort, and you can finish up with a very civilised drink in a bar in the seaside village of Vignola.
Along the sandy path, there were lizards darting about my feet and birds perching on the edge of spiky cacti. The sign at the start promised that blue arrows would line the walk, but these seemed to have been worn away or covered by overgrown scrub. The path narrowed and cleaved through prickly plants, and I was funnelled onwards.
A crossroads offered a choice of direction, but sure that height equal views, and in spite of the intense sunshine, I opted to keep climbing. Thankfully intuition turned out to be an accurate navigation tool and I reached a wider forest track and the chemin proper.
Here the views began to open up, back to Ajaccio and over to the sea. The land is carved into an elaborate jigsaw of beaches and inlets in a delicate mix of blue and gold. And as I moved though the bushes, a eucalyptus haze added its shades of blue to the air in front of me.
My pace was slow; a mountain biker whizzed past me, his spokes clattering as small stones ricocheted off. Then two glamorous joggers trotted up, speaking in their unique Corsican tongue, obviously in training. Every April (this year's event takes place tomorrow, 29 April) locals and competitors from further afield run the Napoleon Trail on this route. It's a great racetrack, but I think going at a more leisurely pace is the real winner. You have time to explore oddities along the way, such as the bizarre rock formations, some like bony fingers reaching up to the sky, others resembling faces with stony gazes fixed out to sea.
Who could blame them? With the full extent of the gulf of Ajaccio revealed, and the Iles Sanguinaires creeping out onto the horizon, my gaze, too, was fixed out on this tiny rocky archipelago, that breaks off from the mainland at Pointe de la Parata. They're called the Isles of Blood because of the reddish colour they reflect into the sea.
You can get a good look at the islands' wind- and spray-scoured shapes on another, shorter, walk here. Take the number 5 bus from Ajaccio to the start of the waymarked path (in the car park) and it's a 40-minute round trip to the end of the Pointe de la Parata peninsula. Come in the early evening to avoid the tour buses and watch the light play as the sun sets.
The next day I opted for an even more relaxing stroll: following the promenade west out of Ajaccio until it becomes the Route des Sanguinaires. This was coastal walking at its best – no complicated navigation, no hills to climb, just a pleasant route beside the beach with ample stops for swimming and eating. I found myself lingering at St-François beach, only 10 minutes into the stroll, to dip my feet in the water.
As I sat staring out to sea I considered how tomorrow maybe I'd drive the 20km to the mountain village of Vero for the 1km waymarked Casteddu Loop, or head a little higher up to Bastelica (around 30km) for some real mountain scenery on a four- or five-hour circular route from the ski resort of Ese. I could even bag the 2,352m peak of Monte Renoso. Or maybe, I thought as the waves lapped at my feet, I'd linger here on Ajaccio's beaches a little while longer …
• EasyJet (easyjet.com) flies from Gatwick to Ajaccio from £100 return. The Hotel Napoléon (+33 4 9551 5400, hotel-napoleon-ajaccio.fr), in a quiet street handy for the beach and the centre of Ajaccio, has doubles from €88. For more information on walking in Corsica, see visit-corsica.com, and corsicaforhikers.com
Phoebe Smith is the author of The Camper's Friend (Summersdale, £9.99)
