June 2, 2019
Bosa to Torre del Pozzo
We woke to a perfectly still, sunny day and there was not a cloud in sight. We had a killer view over the Temu and our upcoming climb on the hill opposite Bosa from the balcony of our second floor living room. Fishermen were out fiddling with their nets on the quay and boats were manoeuvring on the river as they prepared for the day.
Our destination is a tiny town on the coast called Torre del Pozzo. There will be two climbs, the first is 7km and the second is about 4km. In between it will roll up and down. The highlight of today will be the murals in three small towns situated up on a plateau, beginning at the top of our first climb.
We pushed off after a nice buffet breakfast with steaming hot cappuccinos. The one lane bridge over the river is a godsend and a nightmare for this little town. It allows transit across the river, but the snarls of traffic, pedestrians, and bikes entering and exiting is an ongoing gong show. Luckily, most people are fairly chilled about getting around so it all works out in the end.
We started riding uphill as soon as we crossed the bridge and from there we had a good look at Bosa’s location. Overlooking the town is the Malaspina Castle, built by a wealthy family in the 12-13th century.
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Two uses in Nanaimo; Malaspina Galleries on Gabriola Isl., & of course, Malaspina College, ( before it became VIU)
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After 7km, we rolled in to the first of the three small villages, Suni. Our virtual tour guide, Andrew (whose gpx files we are following) took us past this mural. It just happens to be Sunday and many townspeople were walking to a nearby church, all dressed in their traditional black clothing.
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Shortly after leaving Suni, we came to Tinnura and that’s when we had to jump off the bikes and take a closer look at the murals. They are all done by a single artist, Pina Monne, who lives(d) here. She depicts the daily lives of people in this region from times gone by, on the buildings whose plaster walls make a perfect surface to showcase her talent. There are more murals than shown here, these being a sample. She has done hundreds of murals throughout Sardinia, but her career really took off after doing the murals here in Tinnura and the next town, Flussio. She is a multi-talented artist, excelling as a ceramacist as well as a muralist.
I peeked around a corner and found these lovely little ceramic vignettes of Sardinian life mounted on a wall. They are about 20”x 30”
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We rode on and at about 21k, we started up the 4k hill. The countryside is really beautiful and green, a mixture of fig trees, junipers, oaks, cork and olive trees, oleander, agave, cacti and assorted other shrubs. Queen Anne’s Lace and thistles make up most of the foliage along the shoulder. My eye is constantly and sub-consciously on the lookout for different flowers. On one of the downhills, I noticed some very healthy Acanthus mollis (bear’s breeches) so came to a halt to get a picture. These ones are invasive, but then what plant isn’t invasive over here? More significantly, these flowers inspired the design of the capitals on Corinthian columns. Next time you see a Corinthian column, look closely and you will see what I mean.
If you are from my neck of the woods, you aren’t likely to see these columns anytime soon so here’s a picture from Syracusa in Sicily where we toured last year. Isn’t that a beautiful interpretation of the Bear’s Breeches?
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My mind was doing its usual wandering as I rode slowly up the hill, when I noticed this very relaxed goat sleeping on top of a concrete wall. She had her head resting up on the huge chunk of olive wood, one eyeball was fixed 0n me and her nostrils were twitching to check me out. She was non-plussed as I spoke softly to her and took her photo.
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Unbelievable! 🤣😂
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The mouflon story is sure to highlight a very baahhhd- ass 🐑!
Can’t wait to hear all about them! 😉🤣😂
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Make no mistake about how I ride hills...SLOWLY. And I take breaks. This shady spot off the corner of a hill was perfect for a banana and water break. We can always hear the motos approaching and, as a former BMW GS rider, David had the phone ready when he heard this guy coming around the corner. Now, that’s a nice lean and (almost) knee drag, fella! Incidentally, the knee lean is something we also employ to descend hills.
We stopped at the hilltop town of Cuglieri for a cool down and drink then it was on to Torre del Pozzo for the final 15km of the day. There are no photos because we were descending at 45-50km/h for a good 12 of those km’s. It started with a few twisties, then it was a straight shot downhill with one bend on the road all the way to the coastal village of S’Archittu and the even smaller, Torre del Pozzo.
We were warmly greeted by our host at our B&B that overlooked the ocean and the actual torre at Torre del Pozzo. After cleaning up and re-hydrating we strolled to see the tower.
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The local buildings in Torre del Pozzo are quite unlike any we have seen so far in Sardinia. I inquired about this from our young waitress at dinner after she said she is from the the village of S’Archittu. In her best english she told us these are very old houses here and not only are they different but so are the people. By now she was laughing as she told us she lives just a few hundred metres from the restaurant, where people are normal and their houses only have one door. I think something was lost in translation but it was a funny story told in the sweetest way by a beautiful young Sardinian waitress.
Today's ride: 43 km (27 miles)
Total: 864 km (537 miles)
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