Sardinia - Cape to Cape

The route alternates between quiet asphalt roads and smooth gravel double tracks with the occasional stretch of bumpy and rocky dirt track to keep you entertained. While a lot of the cycling is done on the flat or in gentle hilly countryside, the holiday does include some longer climbs rewarded with thrilling descents. Overall the trip requires a reasonable level of fitness rather than technical ability.

Starting near Calasetta on the Sant’Antioco Island in the far southwest of Sardinia, we set off north from Capo Sperone through an ever-changing landscape of coastal tracks, olive groves and vineyards, fragrant Mediterranean maquis, lush cultivated fields and green oak woods, moving ever further into little-known and authentic inland Sardinia.

During our journey, every day will offer the opportunity to visit places of historical, cultural and naturalistic interest such as the coastal wetland areas of Porto Botte, Porto Pino and the Sinis or the ancient sites of Barumini, Fordongianus and Tharros.

This gravel riding holiday in Sardinia culminates with a lovely last day’s loop along the beautiful rugged coast of the Sinis Peninsula to Capo Mannu, the northernmost point of our route. After a well-deserved swim and a spot of relaxation on the stunning Tharros beach, there will be time to celebrate our great adventure with a celebratory dinner, sipping wine and recounting our adventures of the last week.

If you have a day or two to spare why not extend your trip with some trekking or sea kayaking. Our local team can join you for a day’s guiding or we can provide the information and equipment to allow you to enjoy the routes self-guided, just give us a call for further information.

Highlights

• Climbing up to the Capo Sperone lighthouse to mark the start of our journey… and looking out from Capo Mannu over the med to mark its end!
• Riding scenic gravel roads along the Cabras Lagoon
• Checking out the UNESCO heritage Nuraghic site of Barumini
• Scaling the exciting gravel tracks of Monte Grighine
• Enjoying the stunning scenery of the rugged coast of the Sinis Peninsula
• Eating fantastic home-cooked food, washed down with honest local wine!

The beauty of a journey across an island is the continuously changing landscape offering new experiences and challenges as the days go by. The majority of our riding will be on compact gravel and dirt roads which will be combined with sections of quiet secondary tarmac roads some of which will have varying surface quality. Along the way we’ll mix the routes with fun sections of smooth and rocky single track and quite gravel tracks.

At the coast we will encounter loose beach trails and on occasion we may ride some bumpy and/or possibly muddy sections. On reaching the rolling hills of the Marmilla region the gravel roads will become rockier and we’ll find the surface of the tarmac roads slightly less forgiving than on other parts of the route.