Long Way Island

Travelling across Corsica and Sardinia....The Long Way Island!

...the first day of a hot August in 2009. After spending the whole night trying to load all the gear onto my dear old "Giulio" (our maxi-scooter), the time had come to fire up the engines and set off on the fantastic adventure that awaited us!

We leave Como to reach Livorno as our first stop, where the ferry to Corsica is waiting for us. All calm until we stop near Parma to rest our backsides and realise that the side bag has spent more than 200 km leaning against the exhaust pipe! The result? Burned! This mishap slowed us down a lot and we risked missing the ferry, but in the end, after doing about a hundred kilometres on the hard shoulder (because of the long queue of cars) under the scorching sun, we reached our destination! We set sail half an hour late (luckily) and after chatting with other bikers and securing the bike in the hold, we had lunch (not bad) and then allowed ourselves a nap while waiting to arrive in Bastia on the sea crossing that would last about 4 hours...

Once in Bastia we had an unknown island ahead of us, and without having booked any accommodation and without even knowing where to go, we headed at random toward Calvi. Unfortunately Corsica isn't as small as it seems.....but the roads are truly made for motorcyclists! Nice and wide, no potholes, road markings we Italians can only dream of (as we would see in Sardinia...). After many kilometres inland, we finally see the sea on the northwest side of the island, and we stop at a small kiosk (fabulous!) to refresh ourselves and enjoy the setting sun, while a couple is busy fixing an old motorbike....We resume the ride toward Calvi which, however, unlike our expectations, brings us to the little town late in the evening, forcing us to give up the tent and look for a hotel.

Full! Full! Full! No hotel with a single room free....unfortunately the only one available was a 4-star hotel (whose name I don't remember), paying €140 for a single night, breakfast not included....(and with a terrible room to top it off...). Without dinner, and dead tired, we spend the first night snoring....

Second day, a whole different story! Breakfast in a lovely little square and off again toward Bonifacio! A calm trip under a scorching sun that showed us the island's various landscapes. Once we arrived, and while waiting for the ship to Sardinia, we take a stroll around the little town and take the chance to have lunch. The avenue full of bars and little shops at the port is distinctive (full of yachts!). After setting sail we wait an hour of crossing to find ourselves in Santa Teresa Gallura. From here you can immediately see the signs that reveal the difference between the two nations. On one side we had order and cleanliness, on the other the not-so-"orderly" strip of asphalt.

Without wasting any pointless time, we head toward Arzachena (in the direction of Olbia) where we'll find the fantastic Isuledda campsite (truly a fabulous village, where I had already spent two other summers as a kid) and promptly get to work pitching the dear old tent! (finally!)

3-4 days pass before we leave the village, spending the days enjoying pure relaxation, the stunning sea of the most beautiful beaches (the Caribbean-like Capriccioli beach!) and a few evenings out in the streets of Porto Cervo.

Time to set off again! We load everything back onto the "Poderosa" (another nickname for my two-wheeled rocket!) and set off toward Alghero. After many kilometres chewed up on spectacular roads (knee-down bends!), we stop for lunch at a kind of farmhouse in Tempio Pausania, where we're welcomed with a great spirit of friendship and hospitality, and with full bellies we decide to do a single long stretch because the sun is starting to disappear early.... Unfortunately the summer of 2009 was dominated by the wildfires that burned many hectares, making the landscape sad and hateful.....but once we arrive at our destination the location seems promising! We find a nice campsite (nice, apart from the invasion of grasshoppers and cicadas, or whatever they are, that Alghero is famous for!) and pitch everything.

We spend a few days here too, enjoying some sea and visiting the fantastic Neptune's Caves, which are nothing short of a fairy tale! Made up of long stairways perched over enormous cliffs and caverns full of monstrous stalactites! And also to pay a little visit to the village which, although by day it doesn't give the right impression, in the evening becomes quite striking, all lit by an intense yellow light and full of alleys hugging the sea! fabulous!

And now? what to do? Despite the urge to chew up kilometres, the thought of not pushing further on troubles my partner, who isn't entirely convinced about reaching Cagliari, but rather about returning to Olbia where a dear friend awaits us. Unfortunately I love challenges and, however much they can sometimes hurt me, this time I wanted to face up to those who, sceptically, didn't believe in our trip. So destiny is sealed! off to Cagliari! A splendid, gruelling roll southward under the oppressive heat of 40 degrees that seems to awaken and in turn increase the enthusiasm of "going beyond"! The arrival in the city is rather disappointing.....I didn't like Cagliari at all, so much so that without even stopping we detour toward the far more reassuring Villasimius.

Travelling in August can have its upsides (holidays, heat, little rain — which we'd never hit for the whole trip!) but also the dark side of not finding hotels and free pitches..... Nothing discouraging for us, who with a lot of patience have always managed to find accommodation. A very cute village, tent unfortunately in the sun, coin-operated showers that lasted 30 seconds at most, awful beach, but a few kilometres away you find truly fabulous beaches! In the evening we go to the town centre and after a nice stroll we even make a quick stop at the open-air cinema! nice!

Beyond us, the sea! so we have to come back north! Returning toward Olbia (to our friend) looks like a walk on the map, but...wow! what an effort!! You climb up quite a bit into the mountains, and because of the new highway the petrol stations are scarce and we risked being left on foot! we just barely made it to a petrol station lost outside the village! Here too, however remote the mountain villages are, it's really hard to find a free room! Only when we reach Dorgali do we manage to find comfortable hospitality.

Just a quick stop, enough time to sleep the night, and the next day we arrive in Pittulongu, in Olbia. Our friend gives us a wonderful gift and lends us a room for a night! so we can allow ourselves some relaxation and go dancing in the "aperitivo zone" at a beach party. the too many wrong negronis and the kilometres of the day itself make us collapse into the deepest sleep....

Time to go back.... After saying goodbye to our friends we return to Santa Teresa and board to go back to Corsica. The sun sets quite quickly and we have to hurry to find accommodation! A quick spin to Ajaccio (we couldn't stop because of the zippered side bags and backpacks) and then around 11 p.m. we find a rather ugly campsite that at that moment is paradise! €10 a night seems pure madness, but it's even more so (and on the opposite side) after eating a €20 margherita pizza!!