For a day that seemed to lack direction at breakfast time, things worked out not too badly. 🙂 Neither of us were very clear about what we wanted to do, both having different ideas that didn’t excite the other. We eventually got ourselves together, into the car and on our way. Phew!
We decided to drive a little way north to Orosei to have a look at the beach there and a swim. However, when we arrived, we found the beach while beautiful wasn’t very suitable for swimming or walking. There was a fairly high surf with a sharp kick up on to the sand which was too soft for a good walk. A few people were swimming, but a red flag was flying with a yellow meaning swim with extreme caution.
Looking south down the coast towards Cala Gonone where all the boats depart from that explore the coast. Too rough today for the boats!
We walked the beach for a while, but it soon became apparent that this wasn’t going to work. So it was back to the parking lot where I found markings for a GR route! I was very surprised, and we decided to follow the route for a while. It ran along a quiet shaded road parallel to the beach and beside a salt water marsh.
And needing a good walk after all the time driving Bear we decided to follow the GR markers along the foreshore. They eventually took us to an entrance into the estuary where many of the tour companies were storing unused zodiacs and other boats. Lots of them as they move into their quiet season.
We walked on a little further until we came to a place where the GR 200 continued off along the beach. We decided to retrace our steps a little ways, and then turn inland.
On our way back to find the small bridge crossing the marsh we stumbled onto Bears great grandfather!
Once across the salt marsh we sorted out the country roads that would take us back into Orosei and set off to see what we could find.
Small paved roads and even dirt roads made the way really pleasant.
We thought that we might have a dog problem at one point as many of the dogs were roaming freely, but our experience carried us through ok. Most dogs are pretty friendly and usually only aggressive when protecting their turf. A few are not…friendly.
We eventually made it into town around 13:00. Time for a light lunch!
We found a place that seemed to be frequented by only locals. We asked to sit and were presented with menus. There were good opportunities to practice Italian as English wasn’t spoken. Annemarie ordered a caprise salad and I finally had a prosciutto e melone. I’d been looking and waiting for a while! But wait. Instead of cantaloupe it was a honey due melone. Not expecting that, but it was amazing!😋 Chilled, sweet and refreshing in the heat.
After lunch we walked in the heat back to the beach along a different route. We passed a super gate! Real imagination.
We eventually made it back to Bear and began the drive back to our home base in Dorgali. Along the way Annemarie suggested that we drive down the cliff below Dorgali on the Med to see what it was all about. We understood that it was basically a tourist hub generated to quarter and send all the day boats south along the coast. I eventually agreed, but not before stopping for views of Dorgali and beyond.
We drove through a tunnel and then began a serious dissent following a series of heavy duty switch packs all the way to the bottom. When we arrived, we managed to find a parking spot and then walked down towards the waterfront. We immediately noted that red flags were flying on the beaches and the surf was up quite considerably. No swimming here. But it was beautiful!
We walked down to view the harbor. The wind was up and no tour boats were on the water. As an aside, we have decided not to wait to see if we can get on the water tomorrow, but rather will head north to the World Heritage designated site called Arcipelago Maddalena. More about that tomorrow.
The Harbour was pretty nice, and it was well protected and available for swimming. But it was getting late in the afternoon, so we reluctantly decided to have a gelato. A tough decision!
Then we raced back up the cliff face with all the other crazy drivers and soon returned to our accommodation.
It’s now time to catch the sunset and then walk up to town for some Japanese food. Again, looking to diversify our meals.
Cheers!
Geoff🍷
Distance Walker - Wandering & Wondering! 