Across to Sardinia, and back to good old Espania

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We seem to have fixed our gas problem. After ringing our gas specialist in England (Danimal), and the fancily named 'European gaslow outlet', who was very good, we just filled up as usual, and the blockage has fixed itself. Back to 5 cups of tea a day again.

The campsite at Riva Trigoso was really nice, and cheap, so we stayed 2 nights. The small town was entertaining, but the beach was black sand and a bit crap. The view from the bar area was outstanding, so we had to use it often HaHa.

Next stop was Livorno, via the outskirts of Monaco and Montecarlo. These looked good from a distance, but for us were a photo opportunity and not a visit.

The crossing from Livorno to Olbia, Sardinia, was a night crossing. Being tight for money, we didn't get a £90 cabin, and regreted it, as couldn't sleep, and Charley was with us, not in the camper. It was cold and the ferry took 10 hours. Everything on board was shut from 20:30 to 06:30.

When we arrived at Olbia, we headed for Stintino, but there was not much apart from beaches and the Sosta (Italian Aire) was shut. We then headed to Alghero, and a campsite recommended by a friend of Fionas. It was really nice and we stayed 3 nights, it was a beautiful old town. Charley had a swim every morning.
Next we headed for Cuglieri, which had lots of pine trees and mossies. We got bit but not too badly.(errr 5 bites each, I think they were waiting for us so they could have dinner early).
On the way to the capital, Cagliari, TomTom, still with a Billy Connelly voice, still not funny, took us on some very small windy roads, which we then realised we could have taken bigger and shorter routes. Not sure what all that was about. But this is where we spotted our first sighting of the wild boar. We nearly found the biggest desert in Europe, but guess what, when we got there it was pouring with rain. Remember Ayres rock Jez. We then had a night in another car park at Fontanmare, which was deserted, apart from this strange habit of lots, and I mean lots of cars driving into the car park, stopping for 2 mins then driving off. There was a pizza restaurant there which made some of the best pizzas I have had. met an English chap who gave us some tips on where we could stop the night for free next to the beach.

When we arrived in Cagliari the next day, the port area was cordoned of for the World Cup Triathalon. We stopped and watched. But the camera packed up, and we lost all the photos. We didn't stay in Cagliari as the Sosta wasn't there, so we continued on to a nice beach and bar at San Pietro. We stayed the night and decided we would leave Sardinia, and changed our plans to return to Italy, and go to Spain, Barcelona, instead. Sardinia is beautiful and very green at this time of year.

Next day we headed for the ferry to take us to barcelona, at Porto Torres. We liked Porto Torres and would have liked to have stayed, but we booked the ferry for the next day 06:00 sailing, and spent the night in the docks, along with a couple more motorhomes.

We arrived in Barcelona, after a 13 hour crossing, made a bit more interesting as on board there were a number of motorcycle gangs/clubs, one being the South Poland, Free chapter. 2 of which drank nearly the whole journey. God knows how they drove at the other end.

The drive from the port in Barcelona to our overnight stop, which was a bit of wasteland in a place called Sitges, was a nightmare of Barcelona traffic in rush hour, and winding cliff roads, and the added factor of not knowing what was at the end stopoverwise. Sitges turned out to be really nice and we had a good stroll round before deciding to look for a campsite proper.

Next stop Campsite at Calafell, which was an excellent campsite smack on the beach. Charley was back to his morning swims. We had 2 nights here, and might have stayed longer, but for my sister getting in touch and asking if we wanted to use her flat in Llorette de mar. We were off like a shot. More of that later.

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