We leave Solanas beach after a quiet night and make our way along the coast, stunning views and its an easy winding drive. The first couple of possible stops don’t really suit so we continue on to Notteri beach and park up across from the inland lake and the incumbent flamingoes. We then follow the dirt road towards the beach area and along a man made walkway through the lake and onto the white sand beach. The sand is so fine and soft, the water that blue green colour that is so clear. There are quite a few sun-baking even though its quite windy, but the sky is clear. Our walk takes us along the beach to the next rocky point where another long white beach can be seen stretching along the coast. Later in the day we head the other way towards the marina and onto another rocky point with an old fort. The marina is quite big and there are plenty of luxury yachts and motor boats moored. We manage to stumble upon an M32 yacht racing set up where they were rebuilding the catamarans from containers for the M32 Villasimius cup, quite a few Aussie voices can be heard amongst the crews. These are high speed yacht racing and for more check out youtube for the action. Later that day we are joined by another 2 vans, both German and kite board sailers, seems its the wind here that is the attraction.
We wake to a stunning morning and head off to explore the point and beyond up through a winding steep track to the old lookout tower originally built to watch for pirates. The views are just amazing, perfect if you have a boat with all the small coves and rocky points. Its a very steep descent down a rocky narrow path to the adjacent bay, cala Carbonara and a very nice beach, if we had a 4 wheel drive we could drive down here but not in our van so we cross that stop off the list. By the time we make it back through the scrub we are pretty well knackered and time for some lunch and a bit of a rest up.
We decide to check out the coast north of here before heading back to Cagliari and then further south. Its a goodbye to our Swiss neighbours and there 2 young kids, seems to be a lot more younger people travelling here. The wind has picked up a bit as we head past the marina and we make our way to Villasamius and follow directions to a water source care of the App wetap. What we find is a multi tap set up with pure spring water that has been the towns source of water since the 1800’s. Its a few trips with the 20l container and manual fill through the floor hatch but job done. Adjacent is a eurospin supermarket and we top up our stocks plus grab a roast chook at the rotisserie van nearby as well. All set now and we then follow the coast road with a couple of stops that don’t really work for us before we reach Fontana Beach down a dirt road and come out at the beach parking. There are a couple of motor homes here but the wind is howling through and we park up to contemplate our next move. Bit of a nanna nap always helps😄. Its only 25km back to Notteri so we agree the wind is getting stronger and may as well drive back to last nights park, which we do. Funny as once we get here there is no wind at all and a walk along the beach is also calm so good choice all round.
Its time we moved on and we want to be in Cagliari before the weekend so we make our way back along the coast, stop at Solanas again for lunch and while away some time so we get into Cagliari around 4pm. For a city its an easy drive in, not a lot of traffic and most of the roads are wide and in good condition. Our sosta stop is about a 30 minute walk from the city centre so we park up amongst the other vans and head off on foot. First past the marina, along the promenade and up to the old castle top. We both feel its ok but not grabbing our attention much. We do pass a couple of the real old world Italian bars that are authentic, the castle top has some fencing around parts, quite a lot of graffiti and seems to be in a limbo. There is a lot of work on the imposing front entrance at the lower level so I suppose its being slowly upgraded. Its definitely not up there with Palermo.
Its a fine but cooler morning and we head off in search of the fish markets, its about a 30 minute walk and we eventually reach the indoor markets of San Benadetto. A multi levelled market that has everything you could wish for in food, an amazing array of fruit, veggies, fish, meat, fresh pasta and sweets. We walked out with heavy bags and totally enjoyed that off the main track experience.
Checkout is 12pm and its 3 euro per hour after so we are out of here at 11.55 and head down the south east coast only about 40km to Nora where there is a lovely beach and ancient Roman site. There is a big free carpark in front of a wetland with Flamingoes so we plonk ourselves here with another motorhome nearby, pull out the chairs and enjoy some sunshine. Later a walk up along the beach front to the Roman site is pleasant but we don’t want to pay so its a look over the fence and a have a read of what was there. A major Roman site originally with a number of baths. By evening we have another van us.
This morning does not look, rain is forecast and by 10am its pelting down. Not much point moving on so we head to the supermarket and back again, its books out and feet up for the rest of the day. The rain does not stop all day and all night, next morning its still pelting down and we are not going anywhere in this so its housework, books, chess and Italian lessons for the day. By evening we have about 12 neighbours all doing the same thing.
The weather is a little better this morning, intermittent showers and wind. We pack up and leave heading further south along the coast. The heavy rains have affected some of the off road parking spots so we pass a few before we reach the bottom of the island. We have a winding seaside drive for about 25km with views of the rocky coastline but nowhere to stop until we get to the bottom. My App WeTap gets another tick as we find a water outlet in a small town and manually fill the tank in the rain. Another stop is on a narrow peninsular where we have lunch but the wind is too strong to stay. Eventually we end up on a dead end road in a small cove with shelter from the coastal trees. Just the 3 vans here tonight and its very quiet and peaceful.
Its Wednesday morning and the weather has improved much so a quick search for a laundromat and we head off to Cortoghiana about 15km away. A very strange town, we could be in a Communist country not italy. There is a long wide straight road and either side are plain concrete flats, all the same, 3 stories high and definetly weird. The laundry lady is nice though and we get our washing all done and dry after about an hour. There is a Lidl about 10 minutes away so we shoot over there and get our shopping done as well. After some lunch in the Lidl carpark we drive to Portoscuso, although passing through a refinery. There is a new camper park spot there but the facilities have yet to be activated, anyway we park up and take a walk around the small town and marina. There is a large circular fort at the top from the 14C, apparently built as a lookout for pirates from Africa who would try and steal the annual Tuna catch. After a bit of a nap we decide its too noisy here in the town and head back to Matzacarra for the night.
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