I had an interesting day planned. The route would take me through villages and small towns, up some big hills and I’d camp at my destination – something I haven’t done since I was in Wales last year. I was riding across the island to link up with a small part of the Trans Sardinia trail, and this was the second day of that. At the end of today, I’d be on the trail.
What I didn’t expect was such phenomenal views of the Sardinian mountain landscape interspersed with small villages along the way. Every day here has brought more and more beauty and natural environments.
I was going to stock up on food in Senorbi as that was the last place that I’d be sure of getting any. My phone kept disconnecting from the network for some reason, so it was hard to find the supermarket. I had lunch in a cafe and asked for directions, then promptly walked out without my helmet or valuables bag, got ‘This Moment’ and rode to the supermarket. I realised as soon as I got there, so back I went.
The nice people at Cafe Carpe Diem had put them aside for me. I’m just lucky they didn’t carpe the bag.
All of this faffing around ensured a late-ish finish and that was perfect timing for me.
The last 10kms were breathtaking. The hills were absolutely amazing and the valleys narrow and green.
By comparison, the earlier part of the ride was only stunning 😁
Some Italian drivers disgraced themselves today with their impatience and recklessness. There was one incident that even surprised the other drivers on the road at the time. Generally, the Sardinian drivers been great though.
My experience of riding in northern Italy in May last year and driving here years ago, prepared me well. They drive with such bravado that you can almost see the testosterone dripping off the cars as they whizz by. They take the racing line on winding mountain roads regardless of whether it’s a blind corner or not. And this kind of driving isn’t just the province of the young. I came around a blind corner this afternoon to be confronted with grandpa and nonna in their Fiat Panda, completely on the wrong side of the road – completely ! He didn’t flinch, he just kept going at about 30km/hr. Luckily he was so slow – I could get out of the way.
Those donkeys in the picture at the top of this post were interesting. One of them (second from the left) wasn’t confident and tried to stop the others coming over to me. The young one in the foreground ignored him and came over for a stickybeak while his mate continued to protest.
I made it to the village of Ballao and found a small market that had some water and that was a major relief. It’s the one thing you can’t do without each day – and evening.
I knew about a Camping spot in an old churchyard just off the road out of Ballao. It was a wild camp that Tristan Boogaard had documented on Komoot. I had to lift my bike and gear over a small fence and then a stone wall to get in. It was perfect – just out of sight of the road and level.
What I didn’t count on was the dogs barking all night and protecting their flocks on the nearby hills. Later, I found the dogs a little intimidating. For a while, they seemed to be barking at every noise I made and I was wondering if they were going to come down and investigate.
That’s the thing about wild camping. With others, it’s fun and sociable – by yourself, it can be a little lonely.
So, I set up camp, had a quick wash and cooked noodles and vegies for dinner before retiring to my cozy little tent.
The dogs continued to bark and I thought an early exit in the morning was a good idea.
