Sardinia, April 2024 −  Travels −  Captain Tom

Sardinia, April 2024

I'm going to Sardinia again after a long time. I was last there in 2023.

The long journey is very exhausting, but the island is worth the effort.

This time I'm there with Marcellus and Extreme-Tours. We have three hotels. One on the east coast, another in the far south-west and another in the far north-west. So we circumnavigate the whole island. We experience a lot, see many free-roaming animals (cows, sheep, pigs, goats, horses), get the best food and we also have quite good weather. Only one day is slightly affected by a few showers and strong winds.

A wonderful week.

1The participants

We are 11 participants from different regions of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

We ride in three groups independently of each other, but meet up every now and then at some places and of course in the evenings at the hotel.

Beat, Hermann, Marcellus, Michi, Jörg, Gerd, Michael, Karl, Tom, Achim, Erik (fltr)
2All pictures

Once again, a lot of photos were taken on the tour.
I have sorted them all chronologically into a 4-minute video.

All pictures in 4 Minutes
3The journey to Livorno

It's 800 miles from Berlin to Livorno. Together with Gerd, we drive first to Sterzing (shortly after the Brenner Pass). The next day we continue to Livorno to a campsite. We park trailer and car there for the week.
The other participants don't have quite as far to travel. They come from the Munich, Frankfurt/Mannheim and Graz areas.

Tom and Gerd are ready
The alps get in sight
Beer in the evening sun in Sterzing
Marcellus has loaded the trailer
We have a brilliant view to the Jaufen pass in the morning
Marcellus and Michi have picked up Beat
They go over San Bernardino pass
Offloading at the campsite
Marcellus arrives
Motorbikes get prepared
Ready for the tour
Joint dinner in Livornon
We embark in the evening
Inside the ferry
Parking in the ferry
4Olbia-Cea

We arrive in Olbia by ferry in the morning. First we look for a place to have breakfast.
Then we head north along the Costa Smeralda. There is a lot of fog and we can't see very much.
It gets better as we turn south. In the afternoon, we reach the Baja resort in Cea on the east coast. We will stay there for three nights.

Click here for a map with the route of the day

Karte 2024_04_07

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Sunrise over Sardinia
Fog at the cost
Achim gets ready
Gerd gets off the ferry
Gathering in front of the ferry
Breakfast in a small coffee bar
Fog
Costa Smeralda
Morning coffee in Cannigione
Tom and Gerd
Construction site - I get through
The other two need to remove the hard bags
Pizza for lunch
Cork oak trees
Sheep
Cows
Gerd and Michi on Passo di Correboi
Boots beer upon arrival (Gerd, Michi, Tom)
Nice dinner
5Cea-Southern loop

We drive a loop along the coast to the south and then return through the mountains to Cea.
A first highlight in the morning: a closed bridge offers an opportunity to cross the river. Some of the participants take advantage of this. Not me.
Later, fantastic coastal views. However, the traffic before Cagliari gets heavier and heavier and we decide to turn off. As a result, we miss the flamingos of Cagliari.

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Karte 2024_04_08

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Hotel Baja Cea
Closed bridge
River crossing
River crossing
View from the other side of the river
Morning coffee
Cows
Hermann in front of a yellow meadow
View to the coast line
Jörg is excited
Flamingos at Cagliari
We find a cheese store with nice food for lunch
Lunch
By chance we all meet in the afternoon at a coffee shop
6Cea-Western loop

Now we head into the mountains. We take a nice loop to the west. Up there we also expect to see free-roaming pigs. However, we only see one small herd.

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Karte 2024_04_09

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Sunrise in Cea
Cea beach
Cows on a very narrow road
We see a rock which looks like a building
But it is just a rock
Goats
The ride from Flumendosa river up to the mountain village Gadoni
Morning coffee in Gadoni
Gadoni
Pigs
Lunch
A turtle
It is very hazy as we drive along the magnificent road over the two passes Passo Ghena e Silana and Passo Giustizieri to Baunei.
View from Baunei
Afternoon coffee in Baunei - unfortunately the goat's milk ice cream parlor is closed
At the end of the tour the beach Lido Orri
7Cea-Calasetta

We continue to the very southwest of the island to the island of Sant'Antioco.
The weather forecast reported rain only in the north. We should get away with dry weather. But that didn't turn out to be the case.

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Karte 2024_04_10

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View to mountain villages
We need rain gear
Heavy rain shower
Morning coffee in the monkey bar
Achim, Erik, Beat
A cactus hedge in brilliant sunshine
An another rain shower
The Sardinia radio telescope is one of the 10 largest free-moving radio telescopes in the world. Its dish has a diameter of 64 meters. The telescope in Effelsberg in the Eifel region has a diameter of approx. 100 meters.
Lemon tree
All groups find different lunch opportunities
Lunch
Lunch
Brilliant shore in the south of the island
Afternoon coffee in Sant'Antioco
Dinner in Calasetta
8Calasetta-Stintino

We drive along the entire west coast from the far south to the far north to the Stintino peninsula.
There are many beautiful views of the sea and the coast. Gerd, Michi, Hermann and I see flamingos for the first time.

Click here for a map with the route of the day

Karte 2024_04_11

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Sunrise in Calasetta
Sunrise
Calasetta
View back to Sant'Antioco
View to the mountains at Monteveccio
Old mining legacies
At the coast...
...we spot surfers
We find flamingos
Flamingos
Tom in blue and yellow
Hermann finds italian friends at lunch
Painted houses
Su Ferru e Su Caddu
Lighthose Faro di Capo Caccia
Kite surfers at Stintino beach
View from the hotel
Dinner
9Stintino-Olbia

The last day.
We drive along the northern coast back east to Olbia. We have a funny incident with cows and at Capo Testa we have a magnificent view of Corsica.

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Karte 2024_04_12

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Red sky in the morning
The motorbikes are waiting
Stintion beach in the morning
We drive 6 miles behind a police car. The officer makes no attempt to wave us to pass.
Castelsardo
Twisty ride between Laerru and Martis
Morning coffee in Chiaramonti
Gerd stays behind for a while to take photos. Michi and I drive a little further along a very narrow but well-maintained country road and then we wait. I look to the side at a gate and there are lots of cows looking at me.
A farmer drives the cows out.
The cows run quickly towards Gerd, who suddenly finds himself surrounded by the herd.
Lunch
Marcellus visits the railroad station of Pausiana
Old train
Station building
Red rocks at Costa Rossa
Close to the road a lot of Livingston daisies
Nice coast at Capo Testa
Livingston daisies
Lighthouse at Capo Testa
View to Corsica (Bonifacio)
Corsica in a distance
Break with a snack and some water
In the evening all of us meet in Olbia
Dinner in Olbia
Sunset at the port
Onto the ferry
10Journey back

Back in Livorno, we first head back to the campsite. The trailers get loaded there and after breakfast everyone heads home in different directions. The guys from Graz and Michi even go straight home on their bike.
We have 800 miles ahead of us. Home is pulling. We don't stay overnight and arrive in Berlin around midnight after 14 hours of driving.

Sunrise close to Livorno
Leaving the ferry
Final group picture
Trailers get loaded (Hermann, Achim)
Gerd
Erik and Jörg
11Summary

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