Jeff: Week four - A lot of beaches in Sardinia but not a lot of water

So that camper stop was interesting….. We didn’t manage to get on the WiFi but did have good enough data to do most of the admin needed. There was a little argument between some man who kept visiting the site and a Spanish motorhome (we think due to them using the towns drinking water as there was no drinking water in the stop). We have since found out there is a drought here and it appears that this northern part of the island is harder hit and many water fountains and supplies have been cut off. Water has become harder to find up here but in the most part we have managed by stopping in different places for water and being very careful with what we use (and being very thankful for the recirculating shower!).

Once we had service the van (except for dinking water) we headed out of the town and headed to the coast. We tried a couple of stops to get some water and succeeded and then headed to the beach called Spiaggia Di Is Arutas where we parked up and headed out for some sunshine. It was a lovely sandy beach and we chilled there for the rest of the day, although we were bugged by flies (made worse when we ate a late lunch on the beach). We stayed on the beach for the night with several other campers and listened to the sea all evening.

The next morning was a quick run and breakfast before we headed to Bosa which is a town built into the cliff side. Its made more stunning by the mass of colourful houses which spill down the side of the hill. At the top is a castle which we walked through the old town to and had a walk around. While it was interesting and gave good views out of the city you couldn’t really appreciate the views of the city so after exploring again the old town we headed back to the van and drove up the road opposite the town to get some nice views of the town. Afterwards we headed to the van and drove to Alghero which is a large city and spent some time wandering around the city walls and the old town before heading again to Jeff and driving to our stop for the evening. Tonight is a night we have been looking forward to for a couple of days as we are booked in for a agritourism type of meal. It is a small home restaurant and it was us and a couple from Germany and involved 6 large courses of fully vegan food, wine and water. We started with a curried lentil soup, followed by some breaded jackfruit with an amazing tomato sauce, next up was the local dumplings they do here called Culurgione which is usually filled with cheese, potato and mint, and they were fabulous. Next we had some tofu fish and a lovely sauce and to finish was a white chocolate and strawberry tiramisu. Apart from one or two speciality ingredients most of it was organic and locally produced or homemade. It was great but very filling and we stayed awhile once we had all finished to chat with the owners and have some liquor and more drinks, only leaving because it was almost midnight. We headed back to the van full and ready for bed.

The next morning we did have a bit of a lie in after the late night and headed to a beach called Spiaggia La Saline in Stintino where we relaxed for awhile to get over the food comas we had been in. We did get the paddleboard out as the water was fairly flat. We managed to even both stand on the board which is always difficult and didn’t fall in. Afterwards Rich had a go on his own and was joined by Bob the dog who wasn’t that sure about joining him but had a quick go before running back to his owners. After a few hours we headed to the Porto Torres where we planned to stay the night and prepare for a day out tomorrow. We headed to the local Lidl to get things for our packed lunch and had an early night.

The next morning we were up at 6 to get everything ready and have some breakfast before we headed to the ticket office and bought two ferry tickets for us and the bikes to the island of Asinara which is a national park (since 2002) and is famous for two things. One is that it was home to the high secure prison which held many of the Mafia during its time and only one person ever escaped from the prison and island and the other thing is that it is home to many wild albino donkeys. The ferry took around one and a half hours and we were soon deciding which way to cycle as there is pretty much 1 road across the whole island (and only tour cars/some hired electric buggies allowed on the island). We decided to start by going north across the island and it wasn’t long before we saw some donkeys (normal coloured ones) and some of many abandoned buildings. It wasn’t just 1 prison on the island, over the years there has been 10 prisons and a hospital for lepers so it has seen a variety of people over the years and is not uninhabited but has a hotel and a couple of small tourist shops/cafes. We stopped at a beach or two to have a look and carried on the cycle which we soon realised was very hilly and while the down hills were great fun the up hill sections could be brutal. We finanly reached the end of the road and there was a path to the beach which we started going down but soon realised its not that easy to cycle and it was serval km long so we decided to turn around and head to the south of the island. However not long after the path I realised I had a puncture so we had to stop and change my tire. Luckily we carry spares with us now and had the pump as well to blow it up but it was difficult to change and the blaring sun did not help. Finally changed we continued the cycle back, spotting some of the albino donkeys along the way and finally got back to the start where we had a quick break for some food before carrying on to the south of the island. This journey was no better hill wise and did give some stunning views with many donkeys to be seen. We made it down to the other port but we knew we still had to get back to the port so we turned around and made our way back with a stop at a beach for a well earned swim in the cool sea and a swim to a platform where we had a little sunbathe before swimming back, having another snack and cycling the final section of the route. In total we cycled 50km with 750meters of climb which shows it was a difficult cycle and everything ached for us afterwards. We then headed back on the ferry and back to the van. By the time we were back it was nearly 8pm so instead of cooking we decided to get a takeaway pizza (marinara as its vegan) and eat that before we drove on to our stop for the night. We have learnt our lesson – its Friday night so we planned to not to spend the evening in the port but our stop was only about 15 minutes away in the van.

The next morning we had another little lie in and planned a little less active day. We first headed in the van to a little village called Castelsardo which was another town built into a hill with a castle on top. Having learnt about the best views we stopped at the pot to get the pictures first and then decided to head to a local tourist spot called Roccia Dell’Elefante as it’s a rock that is supposedly shaped like an elephant (Sardinia love rocks that look like different things and this is one of sevral rocks they highlight). I will let you decide how elephant looking it is in the photos below. Afterwards we headed to a camper stop to try and service the van as it is getting more difficult and we know for the next few days we won’t be able to but again there was no water there so while we managed to empty everything we couldn’t refill. We tried a water fountain we had read about but it was cut off so we decided to head to the beach and decide what to do. The first beach we headed to had a fair setting up so all the parking was closed and then we headed to the next beach and managed to park and relaxed for awhile while we looked at options. Eventually we decided to head to a paid camper stop (our first of the trip) which was next to a bar/pizza restaurant where we could get some water and spend the night. We settled in and decided that as we were next to a bar it would be rude not to go and have a beer so we chilled in the bar while the sun was going down and had a beer and some complimentary focaccia and olives before going to cook dinner in the van.

The next morning we explored the local beach which was really nice and also had an outdoor gym which we had a go on before heading further up the coast to another really nice beach on the end of the Costa Paradiso stretch of coast, called Spiaggia Rena Majore. There were quite a few campers already parked up but we found a space and settled in for the day and night. We again managed to get the paddleboard out and explore the coast finding little inlets around each headland and also managed to stand up together for a short time (remembering I have to stand up first as Rich can’t manage to stand up second and almost tipped up in when trying to do so). The sun was blaring all day so we didn’t do much but swim and chill knowing that it is due to rain for most of tomorrow so it will be an admin day. We had a nice quiet evening on the beach with a great view of the sun set outside the windows of the van and the occasional noise from somewhere deep in the dunes that surrounded the beach.