Sardinia hike 2, day 3. To Ristorante Il Golgo.

Hey all,

The six litres of water yesterday turned out to be a smart move – would not have died of thirst – I did come into contact with a few people during the day – but was fully out of water by the time I got here. The restaurant that is at the beach where I hoped to buy water was closed – it must have just opened for a special one off event for the group of Italians who came and left by boat yesterday. Found a bottle of water this morning in the camping area that I avoided yesterday because of the pigs. No idea where it came from, but I figured I could at least make coffee with it – which I did – based on the crystals left in the percolator I reckon it was probably sea water that someone had got for washing with, but I took it with me anyway, so that I could laboriously percolate the whole lot of it if I ran out of my own water and got lost.

Was sitting there this morning having the sea-water coffee and a cigar in my deserted canyon/beach – and a group of Italian high school students began to wander in from the direction I was going in today. Was funny to watch them – could not understand what they were saying – but funny anyway. They filed past over the course of about 20 minutes. First, a group of the jock types out in front, carrying on for the benefit of the cute jockettes with them, who did their best to pretend they weren't impressed with all the showing off. Then various nerds – 1^st class nerds in little groups of two or three, 2^nd class nerds all on their own, looking forlorn, the poor things. Then a teacher. Then a bunch of normalish non-descript middle of the road students. Then the rebels, stalking along looking dark and sinister – these were the only ones who were game to say hello to me. Finally, the artsy types, listening to their ipods and doing their best to look distraught, but struggling with it because the surroundings were so beautiful. A grumpy looking guide finished off the procession. High-schools: exactly the same anywhere on the planet.

Anyway, had a fantastic sleep last night – did not set the alarm and slept till 9:30 – my body needed it – have come down with a cold so been sneezing all day – only woke up once in the night to pull the sleeping bag over me because I went to sleep before I got in it. And a pretty straightforward morning – up the long canyon that ended in the beach, on an obvious track that was used by cars for the later stage – how the high-school group got most of the way there. Glad it was an easy day because my foot is still a problem – limping on it, and too much rock-hopping would have been difficult. Saw this enormous eagle, but it was gone too quickly for me to get the camera out – but just huge. Also a couple of Austrian dudes on big and well sorted Husabergs who pulled over to look at the map and had a quick chat with me.

Had my last Cuban sitting near the top of a bronze age castle/monolith thing – they are everywhere here. Was a nice place to sit down and have a coffee, the last of my water, and a smoke – be my last decent cigar for quite a while I think, given the state of my finances. Anyway, could see the church off in the distance which was basically where I needed to be, so polished off all the water.

At a restaurant with a camping ground now – inside a fence – which I am kind of happy about – this area is infested with wild pigs, wild donkeys, dogs, God knows what else. At one point a pig, a black and bristly little ruffian, charged across the road in front of me, grunting furiously. He then paused on the side of the road and glared at me with a dark malignant eye peering out from under his floppy black ear. I glared back and waved one of my walking sticks at him in what I hoped I was a threatening manner. His ear twitched.

Had dinner at the restaurant because I reckon my body was due some vegetables – now in the hammock again. Joy. Tomorrow is a short day – is a day trip there and back, according to my guide book – another beach with some big spire on it that climbers love – but I think I will try to find somewhere to camp there for the night, then walk back past here to the nearest town the day after, back to Dorgali, then soon back to responsibilities, looking for work for a couple of months so I am not stone broke by the time K gets here in December.

Photos: 1. A bottle of sea-water: what a find! 2. The wall of the canyon. 3. At the very top of the monolith castle thing – a collapsed room. 4. It was really quite big – would have been impressive before it became a ruin – the collapsed room is to my back as I took this photo. 5. Still there – there is a reason they eat so much wild pig – sit still for five minutes more or less anywhere, then shoot one. 6. Another shot of the ruins. 7. Some bronze age carving thing that was just outside the church. 8. The wall of the church itself – not a fantastic shot, but I like how low-tech the construction is.

Cheers, B.