One more day begins in Sardinia but this one has lots of potentially rainy clouds. No way I'd stay inside though leaving the island unexplored. As I try to make my way out of the city traffic of Olbia I see a store reminding me that humour is a virtue:

My route is partially dictated by the weather, I have a bit of rain and cold on the way but definitely worth visiting Stintino at the North West end of the island. So cute but so touristic unfortunately. It attracts so much traffic that its narrow backstreets have become one way labyrinth while at the beautiful beach of Pelosa you have to pay in order to park your bike. Definitely not my cup of tea but here's a couple of images to enjoy the beauty with the contradiction of that old prison:

I stop for swimming at Saline beach, East of Stintino right before that village. Very beautiful and long with ultra white pebbles and turquoise (though smelly at times) water:

Walking on this magic white carpet does wonders to your feet reflexology wise. I take a few pebbles to remember this lovely place:

Riding back to Olbia I tak eanother route just to see how some serpentine roads on the map look like in real life and I totally love it! The SS127 after Sassari is a joy in almost all its entirety. Countless bends are there to guarantee full black and clean tires at the end of the route, of course only in case you are inspired to drive faster than usual and lucky enough not to meet a local guy driving in the middle of the road (been there). Don't let the road fool you that you are some Valentino Rossi even by any stretch of imagination - truth is that this road is very nicely designed and done with proper inclination on every single corner. Keep in mind though that bits of gravel and leaves from trees are there to remind you how vulnerable you are.

Check it out:

The only drawback was close to the end of it and it was...this:

It was all Italian for me in the warning signs before so I ignored them. I am fuming so much in the sight of this that for a little while I think about using my tool kit to unscrew an opening in the barrier but after some swearing I drive back those extra km and put an end to it.

Last day in Sardinia and I decide to leave the seaside in order to spend time exploring the mountains. Besides, I have a heaven to swim in front of my feet on a daily basis back home. Browsing for info about such routes internet provides more than enough and I pick to visit a river with a few swimming spots that on my laptop looked promising enough to check out how they look in real.

Destination: Pitrisconi!

I don't know how they came up with this name for that river but Petra is stone in Greek and Sconi is dust. And I had too much of both. Fortunately the bike doesn't struggle as much as I expected, especially during the last 5 km which are the toughest ones. Dead easy for enduro bikes, not so much for the heavier more street oriented ones. At some point I hit a sharp bump that caused enough G for my Android camera app to consider this a crash and save only the last 30 seconds before the impact so I missed the rest. It acts as a black box. FYI, I had it set at 3G!

There you go:

Before I reach the end of the road to Petrisconi I met the carcass of a poor FIAT Multipla left in the woods drifted by the water for who knows how many decades. Heartbreaking and cute at the same time:

I instantly imagine this car offering pleasant beach trips to a family with small kids back in the 60s, only to be left exposed to the artistic hug of nature today.

At the end of the route to Petrisconi you arrive at a place like this:

It is a really rewarding experience in the woods and rocks with running water putting the icing on the cake.

Enjoy:

Of course the signs of our "civilization" were hard to ignore:

I leave the place with my eyes filled with beauty and make my way back to Olbia under a glorious sky:

Click below to continue: