Sardinia - a scramble to the top of Pedra Longa

Earlier in the week we had seen the pinnacle of Pedra Longa, and on our last day with our guide Michele we scrambled to the top to enjoy the unique viewpoint that it offered.  The sun shone and the seas were blue, and all was well with the world!

Then, to finish off our week with Michele, Alberto, Lory, and Elaina, we went out for lunch at a local beachside cafe.  We enjoyed telling stories about our adventures in Sardinia and we dined on some excellent local pizza and beer.

The pinnacle of Pedra Longa

On the way up...

A nice scramble up an exposed ridge

High above the blue sea

At the top

Back in town with the group to celebrate

Sardinia - the end of the Selvaggio Blu Extreme

The weather on Day-8 was even better than the day before, and we were able to travel by boat to the trailhead because the seas were much calmer.  On the  way we saw lots of impressive limestone cliffs and a rare waterfall, and we were dropped off on a beautiful beach to start the day's hike.

The hike started with a steep climb up, a traverse along narrow ledges, followed by some more climbing, and more traversing high above the ocean. We saw a wild boar (no one got a photo) and lots of goats.

To finish the day we rappelled over an overhanging cliff back down to a secluded beach with clear blue water.  The sun shone and we enjoyed relaxing on the beach before being picked up by the boat and ferried back to town.

Once we were back in town we celebrated our trip with few beers down by the harbor.

Cliffs seen from the boat

The path up from the beach

Traversing along the ledges

 A narrow squeeze 

More ledges...

....and more traversing

Preparing to rappel to the sea

On the way down

At the beach

Back at the harbor

Enjoying a few beers at the harbor

Turtles everywhere!

For the past 10-days we have had turtles in our yard every morning. We think that they are coming from a nearby pond and are 'nesting' (looking for a place to lay their eggs). Needless to say, Zealand is very intrigued by them.....they are almost as big as he is!

Sardinia - the scrambling and rappelling continue

The next day dawned much like the previous few days.  By now we knew that the best weather was in the morning and the rain would arrive in the afternoon.  We headed out early and started with an ascent of a peak via fantastic a limestone pavement and cliff formations.  Again, we utilized the precarious looking wooden steps and ladders built by shepherds hundreds of year before our arrival.

From the summit we descended by a series of rappels over impressive overhangs.  One of these ended up in a huge bramble patch and we were all nursing scratched legs by the end of the day.   Finally, we hiked down to the coast via a rough path that gave us views of "Pedra Longa" a free standing pinnacle just off the coast.

At the summit

Looking down at the sea

Sheri on the trail

A 60-meter rappel in free space

Our guide shows us how it is done!

More rappelling

Views of Pedra Longa

Comparing bramble scratches 

Sardinia - back on the trail

The next day we headed back to the coast (by Landrover) and picked up the Selvaggio Blu Extreme trail.  There were patches of blue sky, but also lots of clouds swirling around us.

Today's route involved rappelling (abseiling) down the cliff face to reach a series of ledges which we then scrambled and hiked along.  This included climbing down an ancient shepherd's ladder made from an old tree trunk.  After passing though a couple of natural stone arches we reached a series of caves down by the sea.  We then traversed along rock ledges just above the crashing waves to finish our day's adventure.

It was a great day and the rain held off until we were hiking back up to the Landrover from the coast. But that didn't matter because we had dry clothes to change into and a warm bed to sleep in.

Preparing to descend to the bottom of the cliffs

Our descent begins

Nearly back on the ground

Down-climbing an ancient shepherd ladder

Arriving at the caves

The rugged coastline

Moving from one cave to another...

And another...

And another....

Natural stone arches on the trail

Views along the way

Almost down to sea level...

A traverse above the waves

Finally we reach the sea!

Sardinia - more rain...time to change our plans

The next day we awoke to more rain.  Whilst Michele made some more phone calls we ate a fantastic homemade breakfast of fresh baked bread, local salami, honey, and freshly-made goats milk cheese.  And strong coffee too!

The poor weather was predicted to last for a few more days, so a change of plans was needed.  Our guide managed to find us some indoor accommodation for the rest of the week.  We would use this as our home base and then make day trips to explore the Selvaggio Blue route.  We could get wet during the daytime and have a place to dry-off and get warm in the evenings.

The rest of the day was spent relocating to our new accommodations, drying out, and getting ready for the remainder of the week's hiking.

Departing from the shepherd's house

Interior lampshade

Sheltering from the rain

Ready to depart from the shepherd's house

Our guide (Michele) and Barbara (our new host)

Barbara's home-made pastries

Checking the weather

Preparing lunch with produce from Barbara's garden