After Porto Torres, which is a main shipping port as well as a ferry terminal, there is a long line of sandy beaches running up to Valledoria. From there rocky headlands take over and the road turns inland.
I turned down to go look at Isula Rossa, which I remember as being a pretty place. The foundations are still there, the red granite, the fishing port, but it's become a heavily regulated tourist trap. I left within 10 minutes.
Cala Sairraina is old school. One cafe, a beach, red rocks and blue sea. Perfect. It was also completely empty and silent for the time I spent there. There is a lovely place for sale on the way down to the bay, but no details are on the card.
At Capu Testa, it's possible to see the Isles des Lavezzu and the southern coast of Corsica. The chalk cliffs below Bonifatu in Corsica are home to the WW2 German U Boat pens. They were dug out of the cliffs and an old walkway still exists to go wander through them.
The Isle Lavezzu are a reserve for protected marine and wildlife. You can get boat trips out to them from either main island and the scuba diving is stunning.
This part of Sardinia's coast is where the granite boulders can be seen. Wind and water carve them into fantastic shapes. The continue up the Corsican coast and generally form some beautiful crescent moon bays with white sand.
The ferry wasn't running until the end of Feb, so Olbia was next call. I followed the coast up past Fortezza Monte Altura near Palau. There is plenty of land and property for sale up around this area, I suspect it'll be expensive with this being a heavily touristic area. But there is no doubt that there would be worse places in the world to be.
I passed through San Pantaleo, which is a bit of a climbing spot. Nice big granite rocks sit above the town. They stand out for miles. From there, it was a winding drive down through boulder fields to the coast and the huge bay where Olbia sits.
Once at the ferry port, I managed to sort an overnight ferry to Livorno for 110 euros. Leaving at 22.00 and arriving at 7.00am. So food and entertainment required for another night on a ferry.
To kill a couple of hours, the lowering sun caught the light on a huge line of cliffs. So I went to investigate. It turned out to be the island of Punta Cannone. It's basically a limestone oblong sticking out of the sea. What catches the sun is the steep lines and ridges of its too half. Impressive faces that must have some great routes on them. I also wandered around a couple of marinas looking at boats again.
