Its Monday morning the 10th June, last night was 10 weeks in the motor home, time surely flys by. One thing I haven’t mentioned about Sardinia is the wild flowers, the road side is covered with different colours and in general the vegetation is green and lush, not really what you expect on these islands so its a welcome view. Our drive today takes us north again about 50km in the end. About midway we stop down a narrow rd of about 3km at a beautiful bay called Cala Sardinia, the parking is very tight a lot of cars coming in so we regretfully turn around and head back to the main rd. Our next stop is stunning at Rena Majori beach, bays either side of a rocky promontory where we park. Quite a number of vans here but spread out and once the beachgoers leave we are left alone and in blissful peace. We end up staying 2 nights enjoying walks along the beach and sunning ourselves.
Next morning the wind has picked up again as it seems to do here in Sardinia, we head off and make our way across the top of the island, stopping at a supermarket to fill up and then finding a water outlet up the hill next to a church where we top up the tanks and bottles. We find a lovely small bay at Laconia but the parking is full with beach cars. Rather than drive on we park up back a bit in the shade and wait for them to leave, which they do eventually and we move up on the parking above the bay for a peaceful night. By 8am next morning its already getting busy so we move up the road to shower and get ready for the day, just too busy and uncomfortable.
We are now heading into the Costa Smeldera and land of the rich and famous, we pass Palua, a full on tourist town with amazing views from the hills above. After a few stops we end up at Porto Rotondo and a lovely park right on the waters edge. Its beach afternoon and a couple of bike rides. First is up the road to the point past numerous fenced villas and the occasional small passage to a bay. One of the bays is called Shirley Bassey Bay as she lived there for many years. The marina is full of yachts and motor boats some very large multi million dollar ones, its still quiet though and most seem to be getting ready for the season. Another peaceful night is spent on the water, just the sounds of the sea.
We leave Porto Rotondo and head to the Arancia Gulf. Plenty of resorts here but we don’t really find anything suitable and head over towards Olbio and a Lidl I have logged into the GPS. Manage to snag some terrible traffic and spend an hour or so crawling along through the city before relieving Lidl of some of their well priced wine and gin to replenish our stocks. We happen to find a nice spot to stop at Porto Ottiolu just near the marina and across from a small beach. The wind is strong so we chill out and wait for it to die down before a walk around the small town and marina. A nice spot well worth a stop and a nice small village built on the side of the hill. Again a peaceful night that we share with 4 other vans and the traffic doesn’t start until 7.30am next morning so all good.
Once we leave and head further south the traffic is more than we are used to here in Sardinia, this is a popular area for resorts and campsites and spurs us to drive on leaving the crowds behind. We stop in a lovely pine forested area just back from the beach at Cala Liberotto and check out the beach for a while. Its a nice bay but plenty of seaweed and quite shallow. Those pine trees are perfect for the hammock which gets a run, unfortunately good for mozzies as well and Im a magnet so after an hour or so of bites its back in the bag. Still its a nice spot, not crowded and by morning I think 6 motor homes had lobbed here.
We have now booked our ferry back to mainland Italy, from Olbia to Civitavecchia near Rome for 8.30am on Friday 21st June. Its a 5.5 hour journey so should be good and we get in in the afternoon so we can make our way once we disembark. So we have nearly circumnavigated Sardinia and will head about another 100km south and that will do us before heading back to Olbia. The drive today is only 90km but we head up through the mountains as no roads go along the coast. Its a very winding slow ascent but the road is very good, unfortunately its Sunday and every twit is out flying around the corners, of course the bikers love it and we are passed by countless groups of them. Our destination is a beach side motor home parking with power and amenities so we can clean up, empty and fill as you do. Its called Tancau Sul Mare, has a nice long beach and large eucalyptus trees so we feel at home. Vic spends the afternoon on the beach and I relax in the shade, shame I couldn’t get my hammock out, too many vans here. Anyway we enjoyed the stop but one night is enough and we don’t think going any further south is worth it, apart from a 5 km trip to Arbatrax for the rocks. That was ok but not worth a major detour. An english guy we met suggested a detour to Pedra Longa bay on our way back and its about 20km from here so we head there and check it out. Very small parking areas and its obviously popular with rock climbers and tourists in general. Really stunning spot but not somewhere we can stop so we have a good look around and head off back across the mountains and those winding roads. Our tour of Sardinia is winding down and we head back up the coast retracing our steps thinking of our next move once we cross into mainland Italy.
On the way back we stop at Cala Liberotto again and camp amongst the pine trees, then onto La Caletta Marina and finally back to Porto Ottiolo before making our way to the port on Thursday. You are allowed to camp for 12 hours before the ferry and we join a packed carpark and a very busy port for the evening. The trucks and movers are all fired up early the next morning about 5am. Our ferry seems to be the odd one out and we have maybe 20 camper vans lined so its basically 1/4 full. An uneventful trip across and we are now back in mainland Italy.
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