Tuesday 5th June update

Monday 4^th June

Today is Pickles 14^th Birthday. So we’ll look for a nice peace of meat for his dinner.

At 14 we can’t be sure if he’ll carry on coming on these holidays with us since both Tim and Sophie stopped coming when they were 14. Well if he does decide not to come again he’ll get the same treatment as the other two…a freezer full of pizza’s, 10 quid a week and a demand to cut the grass every week.

It’s a little dull today. I think we’ll head to the little island of Sant ‘ Antioca on the south west tip of Sardinia.

Drove along the gorgeous Costa del Sud where we found a strange scene on one of the beaches (pics to follow). Town of Sant’ Antioca looked promising and had a Lidl so the Lidl search continues tomorrow. We arrived at a decent campsite in the north of the island run by a large Romanian man who spoke about 12 languages. He was sympathetic to the old Communist ways and values but still insisted that we pay 34 euros for a nights stay. After a few groans from us he demonstrated a more sympathetic Marxist attitude and offered us 2 free shower tokens in with the price. Since he’d drove us all around the site in a golf buggy, cracked a few jokes and told us a lot about himself (he claimed to be  an aircraft engineer but he couldn’t tell us how many amps the electric pitches provided) we felt inclined to accept his offer. But one final effort to get the price down…he told us that he loses 4 stone when he works here for the season…”Well if I stayed here for a week at those prices I’d probably have to starve to death” I told him.  No response apart from a return to the Stalinist perspective “But sir I only work here I don’t make the rules”.

. So we paid the money and went and pitched. Decent site 50 metres from a decent beach. Quiet. Could be an excellent site if the capitalists got hold of it!

Sunday 3^rd June

Although there are quite a few Italian weekenders and German families on the site its really quiet. The kids have a little play until about 10 then they all go to bed. We’ve noticed today that a lot of the German families are packing up. We cant work out why their kids aren’t in school. Maybe it’s a long Whit holiday or maybe an extended celebration for the Queens Jubilee (Didn’t she come from German stock?). Once they start heading off and the weekenders go back tonight the sights likely to be deserted. We also had a good chat to the man next to us in an Italian van. He comes form Montana USA but has lived in the Venice area of Italy for many years. Got some good tips off him in relation to our next stopping point. He also left at 7am this morning.

Today was really hot, sunny and windy so we took Pickles for a walk in his buggy. We went around the back of Chia beach and over the headland. Loads of Italians were heading for the beach. We found a lovely cove but this seemed very popular so we kept walking up a large hill and reached a lighthouse that also doubled up as an exclusive sort of hotel. Here the track ended and we could see the entire coast for miles. It was stunning as the entire area was covered with shrubs of different shades of green, gold and red. Typical autumnal colours in June with an embroidery of different coloured wild flowers. This looked ideal mountain biking terrain but it now looks like we’ll move on tomorrow as there is still lots of the island to see.

9pm most of the weekenders have now gone and the site is less than a quarter full.

Saturday 2^nd June

Woke up at around 6am. Apparently Frank Gallagher had turned up on the sosta last night with all of his family and a German Shepherd that had been left outside and was now barking for its Breakfast. One or two shouts from nearby vans.

8:15 am Frank and the family are now shown the way to the main road. Head down with shame he despatches his evenings waste into the drainage point, kicks the dog into the van and departs with his family from the site. Paradise and peace is restored.

Friday 1^st June.

Woke up and felt we shouldn’t really go without seeing Pula and Nora. Nora apparently is a partially submerged Phoenician city with a stunning position at the end of a promontory. There are also Roman remains such as baths, mosaics and ampitheatres. We had a quick nose at these through the fence and then had a swim on the lovely nearby beach. Pula also looked quite a nice well cared for town with well trimmed flowering shrubs along much of the main roads, plenty of upmarket bars and cafes.

We now had to decide where to head for and I decided to head for Chia beach. This from my research had been voted amongst the top 10 most beautiful beaches in Europe and when we arrived there we could see why. Soft sand, turquoise blue sea and a lagoon alongside it where the customary Flamingos, although these seem a bit self conscious as they seem to have their heads permanently in the water with their bums stuck in the air.. These Flamingo’s get everywhere even in the city of Cagliari you would find them in any tideless waters. Rumour has it they fly in from Africa and claim jobseekers allowance for being the main tourist attraction for the island! We were also lucky at Chia to find a fantastic Sosta (the Italian equivalent to the French Aires or parking areas for motorhomes) This was about 200 metres from the sea, it provided electricity, showers and a Glastonbury style toilet. The 15 euros it charged was worth it for the location. The great weather continues.

Thursday 31^st May pm.

After leaving the site we drove into Cagliari, the capital city of Sardinia. Similar to other large cities, busy traffic, lots of car horns beeping for no apparent reason. Found a Leclerc so stocked up with provisions couldn’t find the Lidl so we went to a Carrefour and got lots of beer and wines. Filled up with fuel and got out of the city ASAP. Drove about 24 miles to a campsite called Flumendosa. This had received loads of positive reviews but seemed to be run by a lovely elderly couple. Unfortunately it needed someone more energetic to keep it up to date. There were loads of old permanent caravans and dishevelled boats lying around in parts. The showers ran off tokens….god I detest that concept. Its not the paying for the showers it’s the fiddling about with coins or tokens and trying to find the right way to put them in, then dropping them down the drain and so on. Anyway my hatred for them was reinforced when I put the token in turned the shower on lathered up, put shaving foam on and then after 30 seconds it went off.  Not even the option of cold water. Wrap a towel around straight to the laundry area and rinse off. Decision final we are not staying here more than one night.