The last full riding day of the trip….alas!!! Not sure I am at all ready for this to end!
After yesterday’s absurd hotness…..the BBC put out a warning….(& these are shade temperatures, not in full sun on baking tarmac roads!)…
….so we set off early. (In fact, the BBC were a day late…..for these were yesterday’s temperatures…not today’s!).
And what a glorious ride!!
For the first 50km or so anyway. Certainly the best riding session in Sardinia…on a windy, up and down coast road…which climbed high up into the hills with spectacular views.
These were spoiled somewhat by the sea mist which formed…but not only did this add that mysterious quality to the view…but cooled the air significantly. There were a few moments…when it almost felt cold! Such a contrast to yesterday!
And a float down to Alghero for a welcome cold coffee!
Two options from here….a windy road through nowhere…or the more direct SP42, which cut 8km off the day! After yesterday’s racing-heart worries, he was keen to finish…so we took the direct route.
Not great riding…but it did mean we pulled into Porto Torres shortly after midday! The earliest finish for yonks!!
Lovely wee apartment to finish, opening off the courtyard of a beautiful 12th century church.
Otherwise…Porto Torres is a bit of a strange place…half port/very industrial…and half newish town which seemed very empty!
We enjoyed a couple of lunchtime beers…before I hopped back on the bike to find the local beach. And what a surprise!
Absolutely fabulous beach!! And one the best swims of the whole trip! And out of the water..the temperature was just fine today. So a great few hours in and out of the water on a perfectly textured bit of the beach (….most of the beach was sandy, and jam-packed!). Diving rocks. Crystal clear water. Perfect holiday for Nae’s towel which I have been looking after! (Observation: thong bikinis are on the ascendancy…possibly now on the majority of bottoms on the beach….but there are probably a few too many older and flabbier bottoms which probably look better unseen!…or is that sort of comment called body-shaming?!)
Beach time was followed by more celebratory beers (surprise!). I think I have mentioned before about beer pricing (and this applies in Italy and Greece and indeed all around the Balkans too)….but I got hoisted by my own petard today! Draft beer here in Italy is 4 or 5 Euros…usually for 400ml. BIG 660ml bottles sell for around 3 Euros. (…go figure!)…so we are experts at ferreting out the big-bottle bars! Today however…the 3 euro big bottles of Ichnusa were a bit warm..so we gave up and opted for smaller ice cold 330ml bottles.
And when I went to pay the bill…I said that the total could not be right! But it was! Small 330ml bottles were not the slightly cheaper 2 euros I had been expecting…but exactly the same price as the bottles double the size!! Strange commercial logic….!
A great dinner followed…before an early night, in preparation for an especially early start tomorrow.
Very pleased to know your riding is almost complete with mostly managing to dodge the heat wave temps! Imagine days on end riding in 40+ temps!!