The tropical cyclone season in the Atlantic is creating havoc with the weather in western Europe - storm Amy in the UK, major floods in southern Spain and torrential downpours in the Alps last week as we headed south. For the moment we are just a little too far south and east to be directly affected, though last night and most of today it's been blustery, a strong wind blowing in from the northeast. Given the direction you might expect it to be chilly, but the wind is mild - hairdryer weather.
It's blown all the big clouds away, we have a sparkly blue Mediterranean day on our hands. Which is good, Stintino in Sardinia's northwest corner demands a stunning light.
It should have been a simple drive on a dual carriageway from Olbia to here but we decided to call into Lidl in Sássari on the way. Our arrival coincided with the 1pm lunchtime rush hour, the traffic was horrible and the Lidl car park full. We took a detour to Porto Torres and managed to do a big grocery shop at a Conad with a huge, and almost deserted car park. We needed to restock, partly because the provisions from home a running out but also we are mixing campsites with beach parking so need to exist off-grid for a few days.
We are parked at a beach with dedicated a motorhome area. There isn't a service point which is probably a deliberate ploy on the part of the municipality to discourage long term residency. The beach is about 100m down a walkway across some small salinas
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The nearby port of Stintino is an embarkation point for Isola Asinara, these days a wildlife sanctuary and national park, but up until the mid 1970s the site of a high security prison housing some of Italy's most notorious Mafioso .
The town is about five kilometres from the parking area but connected by a well designed bike track which winds through the maquis. The coastline is dotted with ruins, crumbing mortello towers, an old 'tonnara' and sinister looking concrete machine gun emplacements, relics of WWII I guess.
Sistino itself is a classic drop dead gorgeous small port...
A grid of colour washed traditional houses gathered around a big church
A small harbour packed with pleasure craft and traditional lanteen rigged fishing boats..
There is a kind of perfection about such places, they have a timelessness about them that gives you hope for the future.
We were looking for somewhere that would serve us a light lunch, bigger than a snack, smaller than a meal. Gill had found a place online that served aranchini. Sadly, when we arrived the owner explained that they only produced them at the weekend when there was sufficient demand to make it worthwhile.
He then explained that Maria in the kitchen was cooking a cauliflower pasta dish, but it wouldn't be ready for another 20 minutes. In the course of the conversation it turned out the family was from Palermo. If a cook from Sicily is offering you freshly cooked pasta it would be foolish to refuse. We went for a short walk while Maria did her magic.
It was worth the wait, the presentation belied it's deliciousness. It may have been served up like a take away, but it was cooked perfectly.
We finished with a macchiata at one of the cafés on the main street then headed back to the van by mid afternoon.
There are lots of free 'sleeping spots' in Sardinia. Beach car parks, tracts of waste ground here and there where it's ok to stay overnight in a motorhome .There is a caveat, throughout the island 'camping behaviour' is banned, meaning sleeping in your moho is fine but getting your folding chairs out and sitting beside it isn't. Judging by comments on the Park for Night app the local police enforce the bylaw strictly.
By the time we returned from Stintino around thee-ish the van had been sitting in the strong sun for hours. Outside was a pleasant 25°, the strong wind had dropped to a refreshing breeze, inside the van it was 28°, not comfortable at all. We got back on our bikes and headed down the bike track in the opposite direction from Stintino. The asphalt ended after a few hundred metres and became a dirt track leading to a string of remote beaches stretching along the empty coast towards Porto Torres.
The view eastwards is not so picturesque as the one towards Isola Asinara. When we drove through the industrial area of Porto Torres yesterday it became obvious that the place is the hub for Sardinia's oil and gas imports. Viewed from afar the place looks reminiscent of Teeside, particularly the tall chimney decorated in red and white stripes like a giant barber's pole.
Beyond, the low hills of Sardinia's north coast stretch away into the misty distance. We explored this area in 1998 camping with the kids. Castle Sardo and Isola Rosso, they're lovely places. It was tempting to revisit them, but our mid-September departure means we have less time than usual. We have to be back in the UK by the 6th November to ensure we have a 90 day Schengen visa break before we head for Spain in early February. So aside from revisiting Alghero, we are concentrating on exploring the unfamiliar south of the island. I am hoping for sheltered white sand coves where I can get my SUP out, I had hopes for the beach next to where we're parked, but yesterday's yellow warning for wind put the kibosh on that plan.
In truth it's a bit too exposed here anyway. There's a kite-surfing school based on the beach. As a rule of thumb places that are great for kite surfers are going to be a nightmare for paddleboarders, particularly ageing novices!
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