Text and photography by Maks Groeneveld and Jeffrey Wiese - @outfor.adventures
Sardinia; a beautiful Italian island in the middle of the Mediterranean, below Corsica. The island is about half the size of the Netherlands and has around 1.65 million inhabitants, a third of whom live in the cities. Out there, you find yourself in a pristine and pure landscape. Beautiful coastal towns with bays where the sea is crystal-clear alternate with long beaches and inland you will come across cute villages where simplicity prevails. The island has areas where it is flatter (you almost feel like you are in the Netherlands with an Italian touch), and then the hills and the Gennargentu or Supramonte mountains loom up again, dominating the east coast and the interior of the island with rock formations and picturesque valleys. It is an island where the landscape has a lot of diversity. There is something for everyone here, including cyclists - whether you like to cycle on the road or seek out the dirt tracks. And whether you like the rugged interior or prefer to seek out the beautiful bays.
Sardinia in autumn
When we, Jeffrey and Maks, crossed from Italy to Spain with our motorhome at the end of October, we decided to travel via Sardinia. Being cycling and hiking enthusiasts, we decided to plan two hikes and two days on the bike there. In this month, that's perfect as it's still nice and warm and sunny. It is even just warm enough for a quick dip in the sea after a day's adventure. And what a difference if we look at high season photos on google; the beautiful bays totally lose their splendour because of all the tourism. In autumn, you have the beaches and roads all to yourself and the climate is fantastic!
Sardinia amazed us beyond measure. The fine Italian culture - but just a bit more 'tranquillo‘ – and the wide variety of landscapes are reasons we will definitely return here. We are happy to share our findings and two cycling routes with you in this article.
Cycling in Sardinia
This time we had our gravel bikes with us. But how we would love to come back with road bikes one day! After travelling around Italy for a month, the roads in Sardinia were really a breath of fresh air. Most motorways have a good, smooth road surface and outside the high season, the roads are incredibly quiet. There are plenty of beautiful routes to be found where the roads run nicely through the hills or mountains. Not numerous hairpin bends, but nice long straight rides and gradually making many altitude metres; we love it. Do you prefer hairpin bends and biting calves? Then you can also find great routes here. One of the more famous climbs is Monte Limbara; over 10 kilometres of climbing with an average gradient of 7.1%.
Route tip: we understood from a local that the road between the towns of Tortoli and Dorgoli is beautiful. Coincidentally, we already had to drive this road with the motorhome that day, so we skipped cycling. But we can absolutely understand it. This road runs through the mountainous area of the Supramonte and offers beautiful views. We enjoyed it from the motorhome van!
Gravel biking in Sardinia
The gravel bike can take you in even more directions. So you can tackle mountain roads where the asphalt is just a little less good, such as the beautiful route to Perde Liana - an extraordinary rock massif a little inland from the town of Tortoli. This is another route we rode with the motorhome, but where all we could think was: how wonderful this would have been with the gravel bike! Although we were happy with our motorhome that the summit was so passable, we would strongly advise against this route with a road bike. As you get closer to the summit, the tarmac gets worse, with large potholes in the road surface at times. A gravel bike is then the perfect outcome for exploring this kind of beautiful landscape.
We understood from a local that many beautiful gravel roads just end somewhere and that you have to ride them as a round trip. Nevertheless, we ourselves found two nice routes with a good combination of gravel and asphalt. We share these routes at the bottom of this article.
Friendly people and dogs
Every graveller who cycles abroad knows it; you make a gravel route in an unknown country and accidentally end up right next to a farmyard, which you are not sure whether you can cycle there or not. It is often poorly signposted and before you know it you have a bunch of dogs chasing you. We know this from countries like Spain and Italy, but in Sardinia, island life seems to have made everyone a little more convivial and we did not feel unsafe in that sense for a moment. So we accidentally drove into a yard in the middle of nowhere, and the owner drove up and got out of the car with an Italian temperament and started talking unintelligibly. With very poor Italian/English we came to the conclusion that we could drive on via his property. Behind that temperament, those Sardinian people also have a lot of friendliness and hospitality. Of course, there are plenty of exceptions, but those islanders here seem just a bit more genial. Like the dogs - which live among the cattle for protection - they come running towards you barking loudly, but stay at a distance and are not aggressive. We often stop when the dogs come and then it's soon over too. It is also quite a beautiful sight; those big white dogs with their vigilance over the herd, in those peaceful valleys where all you hear around you are the bells of the cattle.
Creating your own gravel routes in Sardinia
There are not many gravel routes to be found in Sardinia yet. Fortunately, you can make your own routes just fine. We use the app Komoot to go through all unpaved paths properly. Avoid paths that run close to farmyards and check via Google Maps Streetview what the beginning of a gravel path looks like. In addition, keep a plan B in mind and check paved paths in the area, so you can always get back in no time if you are not satisfied.
Our gravel routes in northern Sardinia
The first gravel route starts in Torralba and runs to Ittiri and back. You can also start in Ittiri - this town is just below the city of Sassari - but be careful not to drive all the way to the starting point. The route starts with a nice bit of climbing on the paved road. You pass a few pretty villages, such as Thiesi, where you cycle past beautiful murals and coloured houses. Then it's time for about 14 kilometres of gravel! The path remains flat to rolling, with the occasional small climb and a fine descent at the end.
Near Ittiri, you turn onto the paved road back to Torralba. From there, you climb to Bànari in 8 kilometres. In that village you pass a small - typically cosy Italian - square with a terrace, which of course we took advantage of. A little later you turn onto the last gravel road. Optionally, you can continue cycling on the road here. It is about the same length and both routes offer beautiful views.
Check out the first route here on Komoot.
The second gravel route counts a lot less kilometres, but believe us; this one will take you some time to get to grips with. The start of the route follows a beautiful path along the coast, but don't be afraid of a little hike a biking now and then. After all, you will be rewarded with the most beautiful views of the sea and the kingdom all to yourself.
So from our starting point - an RV site on the coast of the small village of Valledoria - we are gravelling, hike a biking and enjoying the first 5 kilometres. Then you arrive at an idyllic little bay. Don't let that cool you down too much, because from there it's three kilometres of climbing on the paved road with percentages up to 14% at the beginning. You stay on the road for a while, until you turn left. There you soon find yourself back on the gravel paths. You imagine yourself far away from traffic here, and at most you will encounter some cows or sheep. It is a fantastic gravel landscape. You return almost to the sea, but turn south-east again. Indeed, there a final, beautiful gravel stretch over an old train track awaits. After quite a few technical bits on this route, this is a wonderful reward. It's almost relaxing, this last stretch back to the coast. Via the road, you ride the final kilometres back to the car park.
Check out the second route on Komoot here.
Conclusion
Whether you want to go gravelling or cycling (or mountain biking, of course) in Sardinia, you really can do anything here. It is a special island with on the one hand the mountain landscapes with extraordinary rock formations and real mountain villages, and on the other the real coastal towns with clear blue sea. Due to the diversity in the landscape, every cyclist can find fine and challenging routes here. And don't forget to bring your swimwear; the beautiful coast calls for a dip after your ride!
