Day 11 - In Search of that Sardinian Sun

At 5.30am Jackie woke me to tell me it was raining. If that wasn’t bad enough she told me that I needed to get the table and chairs in. Running around in just my pants was probably not a pretty sight, even at that time in the morning. Needless to say I didn’t get back to sleep again. Instead I watched 3 episodes of Clarkson’s Farm, whilst the rain thudded down on our tent.

It was around 9am, that the rain stopped and we got up and out of our tent. With damp pine needles sticking to everything we started to pack up camp and load the car, whilst being attacked by mosquitoes. It was exactly 11am, when we drove out of the camp. We noticed that an awful lot of other campers were also leaving today, even our Devil’s Lettuce smoking neighbours. I fear the throng of teenagers and maybe the weather had put people off, albeit we didn’t see any of the teenagers that morning and the sun had come out.

Jackie paid our bill at reception, just €50 for a 2 night stay. I would say that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the campsite, apart from the kids and the weather, but camping under pine trees is not for us….too dark and dingy.

We headed to the nearest town, Oristano, and sought out the McDonalds. We both had a Big Mac and Jackie also had French fries and a Coke Zero (just saying). With decent WiFi we chose a campsite in the most south westerly corner of Sardinia, which did not have a shady pine forest.

Our ‘scenic route’ took us over a mountainous region before dropping down into the coastal town, with the fantastic name of Buggerru. What did the town name namers know?

We continued on to Cala Domestica, that Lonely Planet described as a ‘A sensational sandy beach wedged into a natural inlet between craggy rocks, Cala Domestica is a heavenly spot’. I had extremely high expectations for this beach, but without the sun it looked a bit too grey. It was still busy with sightseers, probably thanks to Lonely Planet.

We continued to a horrible scruffy little town called Carbonia, where we stopped at their Lidl Supermarket. We bought sausages, potatoes, a tin of peas (no baked beans), yoghurt, bread, mossie spray, a few other odds and sods as well as a couple of bottles of our new favourite beer.

Forty minutes later, we arrived at Camping Tonnara on the Isola di Sant’Antioco. The campsite is on a tiered slope down to the sea and a small beach bar. We had a walk round and selected our pitch number 75, then returned to reception and paid for 3 nights.

We erected our tent in the late afternoon sun, then stopped for a much needed beer break. We finished unloading the car and setting up camp, including tying the washing line to the car roof rack. What could possibly go wrong?

We were much much happier and the weather forecast for the next three days was sun, sun and more sun, BUT also windy. We spent the remainder of the day showering, drinking and making the most of a decent 4G signal. We even had a bread roll with bovril and the missing Philadelphia, which was hidden in a saucepan!

Song of the Day - Gotta Gettaway by Stiff Little Fingers.Read more