01/07/2024
During our hike we’ve met a lot of amazing places, possibilities to sleep, animals (alive but unfortunately also dead), wild nature, obstacles on the route, love, kindness and last but not least go(o)d people.
Sardinia was my first hike with a sleeping in a nature for more than just one night and without tent.
And how did it actually “happened”? I sent Lu a screen saying that I saw plane tickets to Sardinia for a friendly price. We were chatting about it for a while and trying to decide whether it would work out for us according to our vacation at work. It looks like everything should be just perfect, so I enthusiastically sent to Lu a screenshot of the purchased tickets, I will receive a reply within a few minutes… Link to mapy.cz with the planned route. I am incredibly happy.
PS: Just to clarify that we are not totaly crazy and that it’s not like that we’re buying cheap tickets anywhere you can fly cheaply, but Sardinia is just below Corsica, where I spent a few months of my life in total. I liked Corsica a lot and we both plan to go there on the GR 20, but so far it hasn’t worked out for either of us and when I talked about Sardinia with anyone who has visited both Corsica and Sardinia, they told me that Sardinia is even better. Simply … Sardinia was on both of our bucket lists like many other places.
Below, you can find the route in GPX, which we completed.
Day 1 [27th March 2023]
Oliena >>> Cuile Tuones [ → 4,7 km; ↑651 m, ↓21 m]
Since we will fly in the morning and from Vienna, our journey starts already on Monday, March 26. We are going to Brno, where we have a meeting with Kýťa, we are going to dinner, beer together. We are quite enjoying this luxury, because we will not have it in the mountains for a few days from now on. We don’t even take a trekking gas stove this time, because we only have 7 days and we don’t want to waste any time looking for a cartridge. Plus, it was a fairly spontaneous idea, so we don’t even have any dried food. After dinner, we move to Kýťa’s appartment as soon as possible, we enjoy our last shower for a few days, we hardly lie down in bed and our alarm clock rings, because our train leaves at about 4:50AM and we still have to move to the station, which takes quite a while at this morning hour.
Both journey’s, to Vienna and then to Cagliara, were relatively quick and we are figuring out how to get to the place where our route is going to start – Oliena. At the airport, I went to buy a coffee and try to grab a piece of cardboard or at least paper and a marker/pencil. We got a piece of paper and an ordinary pen, Lu wrote “Cagliari” as clearly as possible and we go to try to hitchhike, because the bus connection is not exactly the best. We thought that it wouldn’t be that easy from the airport, so we try to leave, but we still have the thumbs up and it doesn’t even take 5 minutes and we’re already boarding. Unfortunately, the lady does not speak English, but her son translates everything for us, she was there to pick him up at the airport, because he has been living in South America with his girlfriend for several years and only goes to Sardinia on vacation to visit his family. They are incredibly cute, but unfortunately they don’t go very far. He drops us off at a gas station and advises us where we could take a bus from or where we should try hitchhiking next. We are not so lucky the second time, they stopped almost in the middle of the highway, two rather strange guys in a dilapidated car that can barely fit the two of them, let alone us, because there is a real mess. Neither of them speak English, but they still offer us hashish or a marihuana, the driver drives quite frantically and both smoke one cigarette after another. We still need to buy water and we’re looking forward to getting off, so we’ll be dropped off at a shop by the highway. In addition to the fact that the local police chased us away from the place where we were hitchhiking, we replaced two other drivers and the fourth one dropped us off at the bus stop from which we should get to our destination by bus, so we go to buy a ticket and find out what time it works for us. We have about 15 minutes and we’re sooo hungry, so we have a snack and we are waiting. If nothing happens even after half an hour, I go to the kiosk again to ask about the bus, if it’s running late or something, but they say it’s standard that buses tend to be late. So we decide to give the thumbs up again. It wasn’t easy at all, but it was worth the wait. We go with Luc, who looks like an Indian, he told us that he lived in India for some time and that he dated with a lady from the Czech Republic. When the Luca found out that we want to cross the mountains, alone, without a tent, he takes us to the lookout for a beer and tries to talk us out of it.
He has an acquaintance at the next table and he wants them to talk us out of it too. Finally, he takes us to his friend’s garden, where they grow their wine and various other fruits and vegetables. They offered us theirs food, theirs homemade wine, coffee, and we get to know his friend’s partner and her 80-year-old mother, who is terribly cute and the only one who agrees with our expedition. They are all very nice and offer us to sleep at thein place and that they will take us to the mountains every day and then come for us – it scares me a little – what happened in the mountains, here. When they see that we won’t back down, they give us their phone numbers to call when the weather gets bad so they can come get us. What exceptional personalities, Thanks a lot for people like they are.
They wished us luck and drove us to Oliena, where our first steps began at approximately 4 o’clock in the afternoon. It was less than 5 km and 650m elevation gain to the first stone house. We sweated a lot on the way and when we got to the place, the sun was just setting down, so we were suddenly very cold, we changed our clothes, found out that it was possible to get into the house and went to look for wood to warm ourselves, the problem was that we didn’t bring a trekking gas stove, so no matches/lighter. You can also get to the shepherd’s house by car and luckily there was a man walking his dog, I saw him smoking, so I went to ask him if he would lend us a lighter, then I went to him once again and asked him if we would keep the lighter, I think he saved us from freezing and we had a romance as a bonus, first at a beautiful sunset and then in a shepherd’s house with a burning fireplace.
Note: We found out that there was nothing to be afraid of, the only thing I can think of as a reason why they tried to discourage us was that it was March/April, it was still cold in the mountains during the night, and there was still snow on some peaks and we weren’t prepared enough dressed and without a tent. However, we slept almost every night in some stone house, where we could get warm thanks to fireplaces.
Day 2 [28th March 2023]
Cuile Tuones >>> Monte Novo San Giovanni [ → 24,95 km; ↑1 346 m; ↓ 1 101]
It was pretty cold in the morning and we didn’t want to get out of the sleeping bag at all, and since we didn’t take the camping gas stove, the super cold oatmeal didn’t help us at all. Since we didn’t know how it would be with the water, we scooped into PET bottles right at the first tap, but the water didn’t flow from it, but literally dripped – we scooped one PET bottle, which was 1.5 liters, for about half an hour, alternating we are with the one who holds the bottle and suffers from a numb hand. At that moment we really regretted not taking any gloves, but we were flying to Sardinia – for warmth.
We successfully collected water and continued on, we didn’t have a clear plan for today, Lu had searched for other stone houses on the way where we could spend the night, but our ideal idea was to reach Monte Novo San Giovanni. We didn’t meet anyone on the way we walked, moreover, Sardinia was probably attacked by a wind storm recently, because we were meeting fallen trees all the way, the way was therefore not marked at all in places and if we didn’t have mapy.cz, we would be lost. Sometimes we feel like we should use a machete.
We have wonderful views and our only company are cows, sheeps, goats, pigs (domestic and wild), donkeys and horses, what more could you ask for… For example, the little house we just met – a house that stands completely alone under the rocks and , which someone probably uses only in the summer or only as a farmhouse, because it is abandoned, cows graze a short distance from it and beer is cooled in the trough. I mean this, it wasn’t just a dream.
Unfortunately, we also meet unalive animals along the way, or their remains…
During the day, we saw several stone houses which could be used as a sleeping spot, but looking at the clock, we are confident that we will make it to our planned destination. We also managed to do there and we arrived there just in time for the sunset, which was incredible. At the viewpoint, you can sleep in a wooden house, which is on the very top, and we saw both the sunset and the morning sunrise from it, this place is nothing else than perfectly splendid.
Day 3 [29th March 2023]
Monte Novo San Giovanni >>> abandoned/unfinished houses in Arzana
[ → 36,40 km; ↑1 419 m; ↓ 1 406]
We are getting up together with the sunrise, and when we are leaving, the goats, whose territory is Monte Novo San Giovanni, say goodbye to us. In Sardinia, we implemented the tactic of keeping the clothes we slept in, putting on all the other clothes and as soon as we warmed up a bit, which didn’t take long, we can get changed.
We meet a lot of donkeys, shepherd’s houses and beautiful horses that we can’t get enough of, along with the mountains behind them.
We also meet other corpses, now unfortunately it is a whole cow that is gradually decomposing and we knew about it long enough before we even saw it.
Today we pass just below the mountain Bruncu Spina, where is also a ski resort, today we also “crossed” few parts of the slope that was sprinkled with snow. In fact, I didn’t feel good at all in those places and I went there super slow and scared, because our shoes don’t have a drop, so I feel like I’ll make one wrong step and go all the way down. Our only support was hiking poles, thank goodness. Around 7:30 in the evening we arrive at Punta La Marmola (for us Ms. Marmeláda) and more than that, we have about an hour to get off it and reach our next stopping point. It’s supposed to be right around that hour and it’s by the water, but we found out that everything is fenced, and what isn’t fenced is across the water – we’re already totally frozen and it’s getting dark. We take out our headlamps and try to get over the stones to the other side – I can see the darkest scenarios of us bathing in the icy water and soon freezing.
There are a lot of stone houses on the site, but you can’t get into any of them, after a proper survey we decide to move on.
Lu’s headlamp is dead so we continue with just one, we’re quite tired so our journey continues in total silence until we hear a clank (I was basically walking with my head down so I know that both of us can see on the way), in at that moment I raise my head and dozens of lights light up against us … we were both quite taken aback before we realized that a herd of sheep was standing against us. After a while, a dog will run towards us barking, but luckily it’s a shepherd’s good dog who just wanted to show us that this is his land and sheep, and he will happily run back to his house and we continue on. In total darkness, we come across a relatively large building, in which there is no light. We went all around it and finally found out that there were keys in the door, so our place to spend the night today is clear. We “clean up” our sleeping area, happily take off our shoes, have dinner and today we will sleep like babies.
Day 4 [30th March 2023]
Abandoned/unfinished houses in Arzana >>> in the middle of the road behind Margiani Pubusa
[ → 22,80 km; ↑937 m; ↓ 1 092]
We leave the house at half past nine in the morning and find out that we are just in time. A car arrived with two guys in it, who are starting to get around here, we thank them for the night and continue on. We meet a lot of cows with horns, some of which don’t look very friendly, and we have to walk right through them. In the end, they are quite friendly, but probably not used to human company.
A sign that warns of something we can’t quite imagine…
Today we pass “Ferda” (Pedra e Liana), we are quite exhausted, but we take a short trip to the Fontana Perda Liana, because we don’t have much water anymore and as it turned out, there was quite a problem with water – most of the places where water was marked on, on the map, it wasn’t like that at all, luckily we had Sawyer with us and we were literally scooping up water even from puddles that didn’t look very inviting.
For tonight, we planned to stay at Margiani Pubus, where there is a lookout, or a telecommunications tower and, of course, a house under it for the people who take care of the tower and sometimes sleep there.
Unfortunately, no one was there today and the house was locked.
We tried to look for the key, because it was far to the next place to sleep, but unfortunately nothing, the sun is starting to set down and there is a strong wind at the top, we get dressed and try to continue to see where we can go, but we hope to find some flat surface. In general, the only place we evaluated that could be slept on was on the pathway for cars, but we assume that it is not quite usual for someone to drive there every day, so we spread our living there.
Day 5 [31st March 2023]
In the middle of the road behind Margiani Pubusa >>> Cuile Baulassa I
[ → 30,68 km; ↑605 m; ↓ 840]
We wake up with the singing of birds, we are trying to eat our cold breakfast and continue with our journey. Around 11:30AM it’s already pretty hot and we’re just coming to the perfect spot for swimming – the previous bathing and washing place was in an icy stream, so now we let ourselves be tempted by the “stagnant” water, which in the end is about as icy as the first one afterwards, but also nevertheless, her visit was very pleasant.
We pass through the beautiful archaeological area of Gairo (Area attettare Is Tostoinus), where there are many other stone houses, natural grill, fire pit, stone bridges, etc., just an ideal place for a picnic with family or friends.
Another very interesting part for us is the route that leads through the cave, it is only a short section, but something absolutely new for us, tunnel in the cave.
Tonight we have planned to spend the night in another stone house near Ulassai – Cuile Baulassa I. We are already completely exhausted from our stone shelters, because it is so cold in them that we have to get it a bit warmer by fireplace each time to avoid freezing. We have a bit of a problem finding firewood at this place, so we are considering sleeping outside, but when we see places ruined by wild pigs, we rather stay in a house.
Day 6 [1st April 2023]
Cuile Baulassa I >>> Ulassai [ → 13,51 km; ↑412 m; ↓ 420]
On our last day, we had planned to visit the waterfalls (the biggest in Sardinia) unfortunately no waterfalls took place, because as we found out later, it hasn’t rained in Sardinia for more than 3 months and that’s why it’s terribly dry here and overall, the locals here are currently quite struggle with water scarcity.
We were the last to visit the lookout tower before our final destination, where someone did a lot of work, but unfortunately he didn’t finish it. On the ground floor of the observation tower, someone started working on preparing the rooms, running the electricity, but then gave up. On the “first” floor there is a normally habitable area with a sink, stove, oven, table and chairs, a chest of drawers and a bed, and at the very top there is Plexiglas to prevent drafts, so the entire space is habitable with a very nice view, and I am even more surprised, that someone didn’t finish this wonderful place.
We arrive at Ulassai around two o’clock and we are terribly hungry. I am looking for a selected gluten-free pizzeria in Cagliari, but first we want to try to find one in Ulassai, unfortunately everything is closed.
We are trying to find out the connection, but after previous experience we want to try hitchhiking, because the connections are not very frequent. The first who stopped for us were some tourists who wanted to go for a walk in Ulassai and promised us to meet in an hour at the same place, we went to charge our phones in the meantime, I had a coffee and we hurry to our destination to be there early, but no one arrived. Because we feel stupid towards them, we wait another half hour before lifting our thumbs to try hitchhiking again.
It didn’t take long before two guys stopped us. After a while we found out that they are two climbers who we watched for a while when we were coming to Ulassai. The guys are very nice, they have the same interests, so we have a lot to talk about and, as a bonus, they go all the way to Cagliari, thanks God.
They recommend a gluten-free pizzeria to us, we immediately look for where it is and what time it opens. We still had about 2 hours until its opening, so we went to at least walk around the city and at the same time we are trying to solve accommodation via couchsurfing, but it is Easter Monday, so there are a lot of people on vacation and couchsurfing just doesn’t work. The opening of our coveted pizzeria is finally approaching. To our disappointment… the restaurant is closed over the holidays so we have to look for an alternative. We are both extremely hungry and unable to search for anything or go far. I suggest asking a few nearby restaurants about gluten-free pizza. In a few, they immediately tell me that they don’t have it, so I keep trying… In the next one, the waiter tells us that they do, but when he comes to order, he comes back saying that they have run out of gluten free dough… However, we are incredibly hungry and we have Aperol ahead of us , so we find out what they have gluten-free. They say Lu that she can choose any pasta or burger. Lu chooses pasta and the waiter comes back apologizing that they don’t have that kind of pasta. We regret stepping in here, but we’re here, Lu tells him to just bring her whatever is gluten free, the waiter promises that she can choose any burger she wants. We are disappointed, but we were super hungry, so we did not care.
After dinner, we move to our today’s and tomorrow’s refuge. We sleep in Rifugio Sella del Diavolo, we arrive in the dark, so we don’t really know where we are, but we just want to spread out our sleeping stuff and crawl into our sleeping bag.
Day 7 [2nd April 2023]
The day before, before we went out for pizza, we went to the store to get something for breakfast – lots of cheese, of course. Since we went shopping hungry, we have enough for dinner and breakfast for the next day(s).
We don’t want to get out of our sleeping bag, so I just reach for my backpack and prepare breakfast in bed, haha. It starts to rain. Although we are under the roof, but … we are gradually discovering that it is leaky in almost all places. We moved our sleeping place about 10 times before we decided that it is actually raining everywhere and that the best thing to do is hide under the seating in the house. It’s still raining so we don’t want to go outside at all, and we’re enjoying the solitude, after yesterday’s shock from the center of Cagliary… The solitude is interrupted, someone scrambled to the lookout despite the current weather.
It’s finally nice outside, so we are trying to dry our things, pack up and go to see the sea. It’s turned out to very nice weather, so I at least got my feet wet in the sea… obviously it was a mistake, because it started to blow terribly, I got cold and I couldn’t warm up. We are sitting on the beach, just chilling, and thinking about what we would do. Since we walked around the city yesterday, and that was enough for us, we’re just going for coffee/chocolate. Then we hang around a bit more and slowly return to our sleeping place, we walk through all possible viewpoints and have dinner and local wine.
Day 8 [3rd April 2023]
On the last day, we just have to go home. According to Google maps, we looked for a connection to get to the airport. However, we did not check the map in any way, and when we got off, we found out that we still have a long way to go to the airport, and what’s more… We’re going along the highway. Somehow we made it out unscathed, but our lucky day doesn’t end there. We are flying to Vienna again and then we have found a connection from the airport to the main station in Vienna and then a connection to the Czech Republic. We shouldn’t have had any problem with the time, but when we leave for the train, we discover that our first connection has been canceled and that we cannot catch our next connection on any other train.
We try to solve it with the gentleman at the counter but he is not helpful at all. Finally we buy a bus ticket and leave on the first bus, again we are very hungry, so we grab a Mc Donald’s at the main station and then literally run to the train. The journey was long, but we have a lot to remember. Sardinia is a wonderful place and we would definitely like to go back there for another hike.
