At a sharp left turn, I dropped into my first Sardinian forest trail. It wound along the edge of a hillside at about half height. It wasn't too rough and although there were odd gaps in the canopy to see the surrounding hillsides and valleys, it was mostly in shadow of the morning sun.
After a large col, the route I'd chosen dead ended at a locked gate with a sign saying the rest of the road was "Privado". I returned to the col, which had multiple options, but every one was another locked gate. Having little choice I retraced my steps back to tarmac.
A look at the map showed this road went in the direction I wanted for awhile, then I would have to make it up to rejoin my GPX route. Every attempt to follow a forest trail ended shortly after it started. Mostly because they became so steep and rough, that I was concerned for my sump without a spotter, so I ended up following the really narrow tarmac road, which turned out to have it challenges as well.
The first river crossing came after a really steep descent. The river had washed out the entry point, leaving a big step and the exit was downstream about 50m away. I put the landy in reverse and pulled the hand brake on, then shut off the engine whilst I went and had a look. Someone had popped two lines of cemented stones for the entry, but the exit was steep with a boulder on the left surrounded by a hole. I went back to the Landy, started her up and engaged low ratio in 1st gear. A creeping steep descent got me into the river beds, with a slight scraping of the tow bar, then the up was a veer to the right and a tight turn back left once the front tyres were on the flatter bit. I felt the left rear tyre drop into the hole, which twisted the chassis a fair bit, but the Landy just rolled smoothly out onto flat ground. Three more river crossings, some very tight hairpins and narrow overgrown sections took me to the hamlet of Conca e Moru. A mountain hamlet of what looked like summer homes as no one was around.
A flattish piste then took me to the main road, (SS125), which I followed back north to Olia Speciola.
As it was such a beautiful day, I thought to stop at a seaside town and get laundry done before heading back into the hills. Ironically for me, the place I picked turned out to have a few farms and miles of empty beach. I followed winding trails through the coastal pines until I parked at a grassy dune, behind which the sea was crashing gently onto the beach. Coffee time called and so out came the chair, the table and dome nibbles!
The GPX took me back up into the hills for the afternoon. What followed was just fab. Steep switchbacks, requiring some shunting in a 110, climbed up to a col then traversed ridge after ridge until it eventually descended to a village on the eastern side of the island. Some great views, some interesting trails and a fair few pics taken.
Once back on tarmac, it was time to start looking for a park up. The coast would be warmer, so I dropped to Zinnibirri Manu, which turned out to have a beautiful white sandy beach under red granite crags and a huge grassy parking place. Sorted for the night!
