November 4, 2023
Alghero to Ittiri
Heading Inland
We woke to mixed skies and lessened winds, but could still see whitecaps on the ocean. We were in no rush to depart since it was a relatively short ride up to Ittiri and the forecast looked good until later in the day. We went back to the coffee shop around the corner before departing just before 10.
We stopped at the bike shop we’d visited yesterday in hopes of checking tire pressures, but it’s a Monday to Friday shop, and today is Saturday. So off we went, heading inland with a nice breeze at our backs.
It was an easy exit from Alghero through farmland, with lots of olive trees. On the outskirts of Alghero we saw a line of world war 2 era concrete pillboxes. Unused, I guess. As far as I understand, there was no fighting on land in Sardinia. But it was heavily bombed.
My creaky bike saddle is still creaky. Rats. It’ll need replacing in Cagliari, I think. Yesterday’s bike shop had very little inventory. I think he mostly did tune-ups and sold jerseys.
Our first climb started before long. It was never too awful, but kicked up in a few places. It was lovely to be riding on a nice quiet road. Although it was a short day distance-wise, it was a pretty good climb - 720 m in 32 km according to Strava. At times, we had a nice tailwind.
We made a coffee stop in the quiet village of Putifigari. We’re in rural price-land now. Coffee cost only 1.2 euro each. Two other guys were drinking a homemade mint soda made with mint cordial and soda water. It looked like Scope to me. There was a military ceremony playing on the cafe tv. Apparently it’s Armed Forces Day in Italy, which is not a public holiday anymore.
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After coffee we turn onto a blissful rural road. Far more sheep than people. We saw two people on mountain bikes and one tractor. We encountered one (retired?) sheep dog on the road. We’d been warned they could be defensive, but this one just wanted chin scratches.
We stopped for a leftover porchetta sandwich en route. Still delicious even after 24 hours.
We saw cork oak trees as we gained elevation. A first for us in Sardinia.
There was about 30 seconds of light rain on our final climb into the town of Ittiri. Not enough to pull out the rain jacket.
We arrived at our agriturismo, Su Recreu, at around 2 pm and were greeted by three of the agriturismo’s many dogs, all delightful and in need of attention. We later met two more dogs. Despite a check-in time of 4 pm and the fact that their restaurant was full of Saturday lunch guests, we were greeted warmly. A beer and snack were provided and a windy and cool rain shower started just as we were safely lucked under a roof. The rain didn’t amount to anything at that point, but it stayed windy.
Dinner at the agriturismo didn’t start until 8:30, so we went to our room for some quiet time. The rain returned later in the afternoon, and we abandoned plans to go for a walk.
Dinner was worth the wait. There was only one other table besides us - a family of eight celebrating an adult son’s birthday. We paced ourselves pretty well, and didn’t fall into the obvious trap of filling up on antipasti. The multi course meal consisted pretty much entirely of products from the Su Recreu farm: veggies, cured meats, cheese, olives, and fresh meat. Only the wine isn’t theirs. It was quite meaty - we ate tiny pig trotters as an early course before two delicious pasta courses, then porchetta and lamb as the main courses with amazing crunchy roasted potatoes. Dessert was seada, a Sardinian specialty that is a cheese filled deep fried pastry drizzled with honey. It was all capped off with espresso and a myrtle digestif that tasted like an herbal berry. It was an incredibly memorable meal. We got to bed a bit late with our bellies very full.
Today's ride: 32 km (20 miles)
Total: 325 km (202 miles)
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Tyre pressure gauge, only weighs a few grammes , dual Presta and Schrader, mechanical, no batteries to worry about!
6 months ago