Just another day driving around Sardinia. Today a bit along the East coast. It's hot! Actually it is only 17 degrees Celcius, but with all the physical activities today, it feels hot. Off-season, no easy going boat trips are available for visiting stunning beaches. I've marked a lot of beaches on my navigation map, before the start of the trip. Today's beach could be reached on foot. Let's go for a 'little' hike...
Where's the limit?
We had a little walk around our basecamp town for this week: Santa Maria Navaresse. In summer this sleepy town is booming, now it isn't. You can see people are a bit bored here, some empty beer bottles are the proof of recent life. The local accommodation needs a bit of maintenance and the beach...I actually liked it.
First we took our tiny car up to Baunei, a nice little mountain town with good views over the towns below and the ocean. After Baunei, we took an asphalt road further up. It starts with a few steep hairpin bends and before starting this road in Baunei, we were a bit surprised. You can expect cars rolling backwards from the road. Afterwards the road into Supramonte di Baunei was quite easy. I saw several points where there was a nice view. Like we already discovered earlier this week, on Sardinia they don't really create stop points along the road when there is an amazing lookout. I jumped out of the car several times (not while driving) and tried to get a glimpse somewhere. At a certain point I was climbing some pointy rocks and reached them by walking over a cable. Holding onto a rock overlooking the valley below with the sickest views. I could not share the view, because I needed both hands to avoid falling down into the deep. Why am I doing this? Let's continu the ride. We discovered a dirt road that should lead to a lookout which was pointed out on Google-maps. The dirt road had so many sharp little rocks sticking out, it was maybe not the best road to drive with a tiny car and normal tires. While focussing on the tiny sharp stuff, all of a sudden some big fat stuff was in front of the car...a big cow was curious. After a little flirt between the cow and the Lancia, she dumped us and also dumped something else...big shit. We continued the road by walking. I lost my girlfriend during my road to discovery. She had another encounter in the bush and thought it was me scaring her. But it was another fat cow. I decided to open a wobbly fence for a little walk down to a cave. The little walk became quite a walk and at the end, I could not reach the spot...the wooden staircase was totally destroyed. Should I take the risk? No, let's climb up again. The only thing I discovered actually, is that I climbed all the way down to Baunei. Stop wasting time, we still have a goal to reach today.
Let's go for a swim
After all the climbing, I got pretty hot and steamy. The target was the hike of Sentiero per Cala Goloritzè. On the route there should be a swimming pool, Google mentioned. I should have taken more time and look at the pictures... While driving through the Altopiano del Golgo, we did not see anyone else. I was like being the only humans on the planet. We were getting close to As Piscinas, should I take my swim shorts on already? When we reached the place, I was a bit surprised. It were definitely pools...but not the ones for a nice refreshing dip. It were mud pools full of wild pigs. I was happy. I walked in so many areas were you could see the trails of wild pigs, and never really saw them. Here there were 4 adult ones and 3 babies. The males were rolling in the mud. The pools looked pretty nice, it could be heaven for the pigs. I did not expect to end up at a pool party today. This is when Snoop Dogg's song came up in my mind and mixed the lyrics a bit... "When the pigs are in the pond, ma". Damn, I was still hot. Let's jump back in the car and take the dirt(y) road. Hide the car in the bushes and start walking to the beach.
A 'short' stroll to paradise
The starting point of the hike is at Su Porteddu. During off-season the parking area is closed with a big fence, this is why we had to hide the car between the bushes. A few other humans arrived on this lonely planet. Actually, the beach we are hiking to, was on the front of a recent version of the Lonely Planet guide. I saw a few vans, it seems a good hiding spot here. Officially the hike to the beach from here is 3,52 km long and should take 1,5 hour in 1 direction. So 3 hours return. I was asking myself why it should take so long. Well, I can assure you...it feels more like the road to hell instead of the pathway to paradise. Ok, I'm exaggerating now. We start at 400 meter above sea level, followed by a 1 km trail up to 500 meters above sea level full of sharp little rocks to test your hiking footwear. From there it will be a 2,5 km hike down with all kind of surfaces to walk on. It is a pretty nice hike with beautiful trees, some hiding spots in the rocks and good views on the surrounding mountains walls. It made me realize we are on the East and the sun will soon dip behind the mountains. This was the reason to accelerate. She asked me why I walked so fast and I told her I was running away from the darkness. Probably she thought I meant her... But I was just chasing down to see the beach with the last bit of sun today. I got at some point out of sight from my girlfriend. She called me on my mobile and told me she fell on her head and she was bleeding. The connection was bad. I asked if she was attacked by a wild boar and she got stressed... "What?! Are there bears here??" She repeated that she was bleeding and asked me to come back. After knowing her for almost a year, I knew she was lying. Karma also helped me a bit, there was no reception anymore after this point.
Time for a flirt
Normally I like to go down... But today it was not that smooth. My girlfriend was walking on her favorite brand of shoes, but even she mentioned this trail is not made for OnlyVans. I took a turn and tried to enter a cave. All of a sudden my girlfriend made a funny noise. I had to slow down and be a bit more careful...
Are you still reading the same post? Yes, it didn't mix up with something else. I will tell you how the story continued. I had to kneel a bit. I met this curious bird and we flirted. Robin wasn't shy at all and we had a lovely chat. I never met a bird like this, she tried to talk with me and constantly looked me deep in the eyes. It was such an intense contact, she even started singing for me. Did she really tried to impress me to mate? This was so much better than mud wrestling with Miss Piggy and the kids...
My girlfriend felt like she was loosing my attention and it was time to conVINCE me to continue the last part of the hike. The sun was almost gone and I had to see one of the most beautiful beaches of Golfo di Orosei.
Getting stiff
We reached Cala Goloritzè just in time. The last rays of sun hit the crystal clear and blue waters. You would not expect it, but this place was the 'busiest' place of today. We saw at least 5 other humans on this Lonely Planet scenery. Let's enjoy the moment. Relax after the local safari and the meetups with wildlife. Is it time to get wet now? WHOOP, There it is! The 75 meter high rock sticking up in the air: Punta Salinas.
After spending 20 minutes on this remote beach, we decided to head back. It was getting darker, clouds came in and it was still a challenging walk back. Walking and climbing back the same rocky trail, 500 meters up. Accompanied by a few goats. I tried to beat the average walking time of 1,5 hour. But I had to slow down a bit. The knee of my girlfriend hurt a lot, no more OnlyVans for her. And I felt pretty stiff. We could improve our flexibility by using better gear. Even walking up a steep clay trail was too much. After just more than an hour, we reached the car. We where both so stiff and tired. Let's check out those pigs again. Turn on the speakers and show them your moves. When the pigs are in the pond, ma...Drop It Like It's Hot!
You can imagine, our butts hit the floor only once at the end of this day...and stayed there.
