This was a love/hate story between me and this level, lasting more than 2 years until I won today (side note: YEAAAAAAAH!)
I was 2 years around 40 off. 3 weeks ago, I found a new route, completely different, cutting 20 steps at once. During the following week, I optimized and reached 2 off. I then needed one more week to cut: In my case, it needed a different routing of a big part of the path.
I can hardly believe I finally got it. I'm soooooooooooooo happy!