Bonorva to Ozieri

November 12, 2023

Heading for Olbia

We both had a great sleep here in our B&B. This is our first real B&B where we’re in someone’s home and not in a completely separate living space (although we have a locked door and a nice ensuite bathroom). We had breakfast with our hostess and two nice cats. On offer were packaged cornetti, juice, and coffee/tea only. All the other places we’ve stayed have had yogurt too, and usually fruit.

We woke to grey skies, and it must’ve drizzled as we ate breakfast, because the streets were damp as we departed. But it was already a warm 18 C. We have a short and mostly downhill ride to Ozieri, where we’ll get the train to Olbia.

When we went to remove our bikes from the living room, Sue’s front tire was flat again. We pumped it up and hoped for the best. 🤞

Our kind hostess had us store our bikes in her living room.

Our street in Bonorva. Sardinians make bolder colour choices for their homes than North Americans. Bubble gum pink is quite common.

Not only did we trend downhill today, but it was mostly with a nice tailwind, and it warmed up even more as we descended. Yesterday we reached over 650 m, and today we’re heading for sea level. Woohoo!

It was an easy exit from town. Beautiful rock formations appeared right away. After zooming down our first hill we were largely on an open plain today, with wider vistas than we’ve seen for the past while.

We saw multiple nuraghi on today’s route, including the biggest one we’ve seen yet, Nuraghe Santu Antine. It is three storeys tall, and it once had multiple towers. It also had a nice gift shop with a cafe for our morning cappuccinos. There was even a tour bus stopped at the nuraghe. This is our first sign of other tourists in a while.

We had one very fun encounter today - we got caught up in a sheep drive coming towards us on a provincial highway. There was a farmer using a truck to push the sheep along, aided by a hard-working dog. We were happy to pull over and let them pass us.

Mushroom season is in full swing. There is a festival coming up next weekend in the colourful town of Torralba, including a motor bike and mushroom ride.

As we exited the cafe, we saw three road bikers all bundled up in jackets and tights. One had a headband under his helmet. It was 20 C. I don’t think they’d like cycling in Canada!

Downhill on new pavemen on quiet Sunday roads. The best!

Another friendly dog. We haven’t met a mean one yet. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Our guide dog was definitely familiar with the nuraghe. This one had a courtyard.

They were great stonemasons way back when.

Some of the newer homes around here are in worse shape than the Bronze Age structures.

We also chatted with two hunters at the cafe while we gave Sue’s tire a bit more air. They were in search of wild boar, but hadn’t got one.

We reached Ozieri Chilivani a couple of hours in advance of our 3:20 pm train. We visited a bargain grocery store in this sad looking town. We enjoyed a great picnic lunch on a bench in front of the town church, including fresh buns, gorgonzola, salami, and tomatoes.

We popped across the square to the train station over an hour early. We had no trouble buying tickets from the machine (in English!), and our bikes have tickets too. Since nobody was around, we crossed the tracks instead of using the stairs and underpass. We were the only people around - it seemed a bit like the zombie apocalypse. We saw nobody else in town. But about 15 minutes before our train was due to arrive, lots of people showed up. Three trains arrived all at once and each sat there for at least five minutes. I guess that allows for people to change trains. The bike car was well marked and easy to access. Unlike the mainland, the bikes aren’t hanging - they had a bike rack to rest in after we folded up a couple of seats. It was an easy one hour train ride. We arrived in Olbia to high winds, happy not to be biking. It was nice and sunny though.

We chose the easy way of getting our bikes to the right platform. Crossing the tracks seems less problematic when there’s only a train every few hours.

Safely on the train, with lots of time to board.

Outside the Olbia train station. This is the first time we’ve seen graffiti like this.

The reps from Sue’s bike rental company Bike4More met us at the train station to retrieve her bike and return her travel duffel bag. Despite multiple flats, the Cube rental bike worked out very well - it was heavy, but was up to the task of negotiating our sometimes unpaved route choices.

We are staying right in the heart of Olbia, whose name means ‘happy town’, according to an interpretive sign in the piazza. It’s busier here than we’ve seen in a while. We even saw other people out on the town! We purposely chose a restaurant that said ‘no pizza’. We shared porchetta and lamb for dinner - both were very good. Olbia is livelier than the past few towns, but it’s still pretty quiet. We were the only guests in the restaurant, and enjoyed a creamy limoncello drink on the house at the end of the meal.

Today's ride: 38 km (24 miles)
Total: 652 km (405 miles)

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Jacquie GaudetThough we love the pizza in Italy, we try to save it for the inevitable days when pizza is the only choice. Seems we aren’t the only ones who think that way.
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