Sardinia - on the motorbikes
Knowing we had visitors coming in September so we would be staying closer to home, we had pre arranged another ‘on the road’ adventure, this time back on the bikes once everyone had departed and the destination points for this trip was no coincidence. We’d heard that the roads in both Sardinia and Corsica were stunning, challenging and made for motorcycling - so we figured we should go and see for ourselves: Sardinia and Corsica, Venga! Let’s go!
As it was off season (13 October departure date from Barcelona) we scored an amazing return deal on the 12hr ferry trip; for us both, the bikes and a cabin the outbound crossing (which was overnight) for 165 euros, about A$200. Having learnt various tips from some of our earlier trips we nailed the packing, strapped it on and set off in the dark - all of a 5 minute ride downhill to the ferry terminal.
Upon arrival at Porto Torres, Sardinia northern end of the island the plan was to go around the island anti clockwise (riding on the right of course so always riding on the road side next to the coast), then when back in the north, then once back in the north, take the ferry up that connects to the southern tip of Corsica at Bonifacio - ride anti clockwise around Corsica - and returning to Sardinia simply to ride back to the return ferry to Barcelona. We had 17 days all up.
Alghero - NW Sardinia
Alghero has become quite a touristy destination because of its coast and natural beauties but also as many of the historical buildings, narrow cobbled streets and sites that, as well as plenty of restaurants and bars that all serve as a drawcard to the town.
We also used it as a base to go and explore the NW side of the island and the amazing Neptunes Grotto (underground caves).
Bosa to Pau - SW inland
From there, we headed south down the coastline, via the very colourful Bosa to a small mountain village, Pau. This would be our base to then visit the SW side of the island.
As we were arriving on a Sunday we had researched where to eat and booked an amazing little restaurant in the village which turned out to be an absolute delight. The next day we set off south to check out street art in San Sperate and then to visit an old mineral loading facility, built in the rock face at Porto Flavia.
San Vito via Cagliari - SE inland
Pretty much at the bottom of the island now we headed off to a noisy and busy capital, Cagliari and within a few minutes decided it wasn’t for us, so just kept going to the nearest beach where we had a lovely lunch before heading up to our next stop at San Vito. This mountain road was incredible and we were pumped (and hot!) by the time we arrived at San Vito first order of the day was to get a cold beer. The weather had been, and remained, absolutely amazing for the whole trip. Our winter nor wet weather bike gear appeared on the whole trip, it seems they were having an precidented hot October!
Galtelli - Mid east coast
The Sardinian scenery and roads just seemed to keep getting better, every day! We had built an itinerary to include dramatic coast roads and inland mountain roads for the trip and we absolutely nailed it - we got a blend of both, in fact you couldn’t actually find a boring road if you tried! The next day we went off on a lovely and long gorge walk before then heading further north again the next day to Cannigione where we were ‘relaxing’ for a few days before another few full on riding days once we got over to Corsica.
Cannigione - NW coast
Another upside of off season travel is the cheap and quiet accommodation! Our apartment overlooked the beach and was the perfect environment to relax, sit on the deserted beaches and visit some of the islands off the NE coast of Sardinia. La Magdellan was on such island…about 25kms to ride around and a short ferry hop to get over there but well worth it.
A brilliant 10 days in Sardinia were now over and we were ready to tackle Corsica. We wouldn’t probably have believed it, but the scenery and the roads actually got even better. Corsica, next blog…..
For those who want to share the thrill of the actual riding you can see our ride videos on the youtube channel: vengaletsgo but the below also serves as a useful ‘map view’ of the ride and our stops (in red).
BTW for those with a keen eye - where you see the bike screen and handlebars that’s me filming from the camera on my helmet, if a clear shot Andrew filming with camera mounted on his front frame