To Cala Gonone

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08 May 2011

We had a couple of adventures with the van today.

To begin with we moved a few miles north to visit Capo Ceraso to ascend Monte Mandriolo, but the road soon became unpaved and quite rough. We reached the end of it but had a lot of trouble turning the van round so gave up the rest of the expedition.

Instead we moved to another cape, Capo Coda Cavallo or Horse’s Tail, where we had spectacular views of the islands and a lovely sandy bay as we sipped coffee on the panoramic terrace of a bar.

We then drove by a long lagoon and after lunch walked along the fine white sandy beach, la Cinta, which separates it from the sea. The antics of kite surfers enjoying a stiff breeze kept us amused. The lagoon is supposed to have a colony of flamingos but we didn’t see any.

Our next stop, 30 miles south was at the old town of Orosei with many fine churches and palaces from Sardinia’s Spanish period. Unfortunately whilst driving around the town I took a wrong turn and finished up trying to go along a street that was narrower than the van. This resulted in long winded and intricate reversing which gave the locals some entertainment and frustration.

We then moved into a mountainous and remote part of Sardinia and went down a long hairpin road to Cala Gonone on the coast where we hope tomorrow, wind permitting, to take a boat excursion to some bays further south which are only accessible by that mode of transport.

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