Santa Teresa Gallura to Badesi

May 27, 2019

We woke up to the sound of the wind and pouring rain, which is saying something because the hotel here in Santa Teresa Gallura is built of granite! OK, so we had the bathroom window cracked to let the moisture from our drenched gear escape. In any case, it meant we had a decision to make about today’s route or if there would even be a route. We rarely ride in wet weather and yesterday’s ride confirmed it's just not our thing.

Gear is all dry, ready for another day on the road.

The breakfast was held at the restaurant where we had lunch yesterday so we dashed out of the hotel, ran across the street and dove inside for our breakfast as the sheets of rain ran off the roof of the outdoor patio. A fuller than full buffet of hot and cold, and savory and sweet items was waiting for us. Naturally we took our time, indulging in several courses as we discussed how to best tackle the day. We decided that Plan A was to catch the 10:45 bus to Castelsardo and stay there for the night. Plan B was to ride west to wherever the weather permitted.

These A.R.S.T. buses serve all of Sardinia and are a viable, inexpensive option for travelling off the beaten track.

A plan is just that, a plan, and reality often gets in the way. Today, try as we may, we couldn’t fit our bikes in the luggage storage on the bus. Usually this is not a problem but these buses had very little luggage storage space. So we bid our arrivederci’s to the bus driver and headed off in a westerly direction which just happened to coincide with the direction of the prevailing winds. Our approach was to break the day into segments and make weather-dependent decisions as we progressed.

We set our minds on a 20k ride to Vignoles, nothing more than a spot on the map where we might take a break. We did a quick stop for a 2L bottle of water, bananas and peanuts, then pushed off onto the soggy roads under heavy grey skies.

Looking back at Capo Testa, near Santa Teresa Gallura.

This section of the north coast is a protected forest, featuring a mix of shrubs and the ever present, gorgeous, umbrella pines. It is peppered with gorgeous secluded little coves with beautiful fine sand and in summer, I suspect it is crawling with beach lovers. We certainly can’t stop at all the beaches but I was delighted to discover a magic carpet of flowers when I decided to take a few minutes to see the beach at Riu Li Saldi.

The colours and textures of this floral scene took my breath away.

Mother nature comes up with the most pleasing colour combos.

Eryngium maritimum helps to stabilize the dunes.

We were told the pinks ones were allium.

The coastal road undulated up and down through the pine, juniper and cork forest. The rain stayed away for the most part while the wind nudged us along. By the time we pulled in at Vignoles, a family camping place, the clouds were looking particularly heavy and were hanging low over the hills.

We took a break at the bar/restaurant and made a reservation at a small town, Badesi, about 30km away. When we had out-stayed our welcome at the cafe, we shoved off in the rain towards Badesi. This would be the hilliest section of the day but the carrot at the end of the final uphill, according to our paper map, was a 6km descent into Badesi.

We could see the rain pouring from the clouds all around us.

The road didn’t have a shoulder and was in good condition for the most part.

We were riding in the clouds as we ascended the hills.

We finally made it to the summit before that glorious 6km descent and were deflated to see a big ‘Deviation’ sign that instructed us to carry on up the layer-cake of a road all the way to the village at the top of the mountain. We could see the descent right in front of us and were a little tempted to jump the barricade but the thought of spending time in an Italian jail didn’t appeal to either of us. So, up we went for a final kilometre of climbing in the clouds.

At last we were rewarded for what turned out to be 1200 metres of climbing. We stopped for the view over Sardinia’s longest sandy beach (actually there are 4 named beaches in this stretch) and then headed down the spaghetti road to Badesi.

We could spot bits and pieces of the twisty descent in the trees below us.

That tip of land in the distance is Castelsardo, where we had hoped to go on the bus this morning.

Badesi is located on the hillside overlooking the beach. We located our B&B, run be a lovely young couple, and settled in quickly. Neither of us was as drenched as we had been yesterday and we were pleased to have done a decent 57 km ride. Tomorrow, we are off to Castelsardo and are looking forward to seeing the weather improve.

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Today's ride: 57 km (35 miles)
Total: 605 km (376 miles)

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Comment on this entry	Comment	3

Rachael AndersonYou guys sure are tough. We had threatening weather but managed to find cover when the deluge happened.
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5 years ago

Scott AndersonRachael’s right. I’m starting to feel envious of all the fun you’re having. It’s hard to top an upward deviation at the end of a long wet day.
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5 years ago

Keith ClassenSounds like Type 2 fun. No problem for people from the “Wet Coast”. On the plus those dark clouds make for great photos.
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5 years ago