Bye bye Sardinia

Over is a fantastic time on Sardinia. Went to Buchi Arta yesterday which features one long wall with 30+ routes in a row. A great place that is! But the routes are generally harder being mostly in the grade 6 area. Learned some more climbing stuff and did around 8 routes. For the first time in almost two weeks I had thick arms as you really needed to pull yourself up more than usual. Great fun actually!
After dinner the two guides and me took some blankets and booze and went up to a coastal path with a great view of the bay and village to spend the night outside under the stars despite a very cloudy day. Unfortunately the weather god had other plans and sent down the first rain of the day. Damn. It looked like more was to come so we packed our stuff and retired to the apartment's terrace. Of course there was no more rain that night. 

Still it was a very nice and relaxed night with some beer and a bottle of Limoncello and after all a fine ending of a terrific holiday!

The next morning came to soon and my head was still swimming after just a few hours sleep. My rest was disturbed by slamming doors and windows and heavy gusts of wind outside. Packed my stuff, had some breakfast and enjoyed the ride back to the airport marvelling at the great scenery that Sardinia provides thinking back on the past two weeks that have been so wonderful. Met some great people, had quite a few laughs every day, did a lot of climbing and enjoyed being outside all day. 

I will definately come back next autum if my job allows and I'm already looking forward to it. The weather at this time of the year is just too perfect and who knows... maybe I'll meet some of this year's guests again next year.

Cala Sisine... Not

The plan was to take the water taxi to Cala Sisine down south and walk all the way up to Cala Fuili to meet up with the group who did the canyon tour that I've already done last week.
Unfortunately I could only go as far as Cala Luna or wait another hour hoping that there were more people headed to Cala Sisine by then. Thought about it for a moment and decided to go to Cala Luna and just walk south. I had no hope of reaching Cala Sisine as it was a walk of like 3.5 hours... one way.
Arrived at Cala Luna beach at 10:30 and set off immediately.  I had downloaded an offline Sardinia map so my tablet could be used as simple gps device. Nice! They path wound its way higher and higher and soon I was drenched in sweat despite the rather cloudy sky.
After 50 minutes of constantly walking uphill I came across the sight I was here for. The very distinctive hole in a thin slice of rock called S' Arcadia. Very impressive. The thing is huge! And you can see the coast behind a little bit like a giant looking glas.
Kept on walking uphill. 2.5 hours. Phew. Loved it all the way. The view would've been fantastic but as soon as I had reached the 300m mark everything was wraped in grey clouds. With the grey rock and sparse green bushes I felt a little like being in Mordor, hehe. The highest point was 500+ metres. Eventually I turned back and arrived at Cala Luna beach shortly before 4pm. Had a coffee at the bar there, relaxed a bit on the beach and took the water taxi back to Cala Gonone. Got a package of beef burgers at one of the supermarkets, yeah!!! Meat tonight and tomorrow night!  I can go without it for a while, but with all those strenuous activities, I really feel that I need it.

Yesterday we went to another nice climbing spot with the most dangerous path leading to it. The last bit was a terribly steep ascend with lots of loose scree. Did some more lead climbing and accomplished a 5b without any major problems. Also did a 6a top rope. Wow. And I learned how to belay a lead climber. So I can now do some more sophisticated climbing indoors during the winter and look for a nice climbing partner in Bristol and as soon as spring hits I'll have some fantastic outdoor
places nearby to check out.

First Time!!!

Another day full of climbing. Walked to the waterfront at 6am to watch the sunset. I love being up that early and just enjoy the solitude of empty streets. Had some clouds over the water to the sunset was far from spectacular, but I took some nice shots.

Went to section La Poltrona with a lot of 5a-c routes. Climbed a 5a top rope and then another one before I went back to the first one to do my very first lead climbing. Yeah, felt confident enough and mastered this one. First with quickdraws still assembled and the second time I put them in. Cool. I can now call myself  proper climber!
Led another one and did a few very cool and long top rope routes feeling very confident and now being able to read the rock and know were I could just put my foot without any obvious hold just because of the grip and were not.
With my improved footwork mostly 90% of my body weight rests on my feet and I just need very little holds for my fingers to do the next move. Shifting weight from one foot to another works quite well, too.
Really happy and satisfied today. Only something in my left foot hurts quite bad. Had problems from the second day on with a feeling of something being out of place. It's not really getting better but today I climbed easily twice as many routes as usual so it got rather bad.
Well, two more days of climbing and one day with a nice hike. I'll just pull through and then let my feet rest, hehe.

Ride My Zodiac Boat

Today we went to one of Italy's most beautiful bays: Cala Luna. That's what they say. It is accessible on foot but you have to walk for a long while so we took a zodiac boat. What a ride!!!  Sitting on the rim like on a horse it was indeed like riding a wild mustang racing over the water at full speed. I sat on the very front getting the most out of uncontrollable jumps with just my legs to hold me on board and a piece of rope for one of my hands. I wasn't able to take pictures at all. It was a hell of a ride and great fun!
Cala Luna was indeed beautiful but not as amazing as I had expected. Did some climbing for a few hours at the only place with two easier 5c routes (All routes here are measured by the French system.) I wasn't at my best today and didn't like the place much. To narrow to sit and watch and the routes were okay but not as exciting as the others had been so far. Had some coffee and walked a bit along the beach and its spectacular caves before another boat ride brought us back at 4:30.
Payed the climbing/fishing store a visit and will go for food later on instead of getting home cooked dinner.
It's somehow hard to feed myself here. Most of the evening meals have pasta as main component so I thought I just buy some meat and vegetables and a sauce and just be happy. Unfortunately it seems to be impossible to get any meat here. I checked every supermarket and heard that there is a butcher but I haven't found it yet. So I just prepare myself some scrambled egg with sausage and peppers. But every day it's a bit boring. I crave for meatballs or a steak, arg. I'll have hat when I'm back!

Strenuous Offday

Two more days of climbing passed with nice so-called sections. Went to Mt. Bonacoa and again to Bulinetto to do some different routes. The little doggy was there again trying to get some food from ghe present climbers. He seems to live up there.
My footwork has greatly improved during the last week as I've been really trying to put it up first before thinking about improving anything else. As expected it makes new moves possible and my arms and fingers hold only little of my body weight.

Four new members are now in the group. It's weird that members change almost every day. Somehow I miss the people who've been here the first few days. It's been so much fun. The new climbers are nice but not as cool and funny.

Today I let the others climb while I rented a mountain bike and went south on a nice path with great views of the coast. Visited one of those old ruins the Romans left behind and the went all the way to Buchi Arta, another climbing area. Really enjoyed myself as the weather was just fantastic again. My rental bike was quite okay it was just a bit heavy. But mountain biking is fun and I think I'll get into it some more when I settled in in Bristol.
I thought I had some stamina but some parts were so steep that I had to walk and push my bike. At 3pm I was back in Cala Gonone, had some coffee and then tried to ascend the old pass in order to get to Cala Cartoe where the others were climbing. Halfway up I gave up. It was just too steep and I was huffing and puffing.
Went to the beach instead, wrote some postcards, had a nap and after giving back my bike I was back at the apartment half 5.

Codula Fuili

Walked along the dry riverbed that is Codula Fuili for three hours to the beach of Cala Fuili. A good part is more like a narrow gorge with four abseil spots in it. What a fantastic walk that is. Towering rocks left and right with small caves now and then and abseiling is pure fun!
The lower part is mostly overgrown but the stony path was still clearly visible. Left and right were nice but difficult climbing spots until the path got broader and finally opened to the beach of Cala Fuili.
At least half of people there were climbers. Was a weird sight people walking around in climbing gear on a beach. Left and right were more nice climbing areas and all of the group but me and one of the guys went to scale one of them. We were just too lazy on such a fine day. Watched the others climb, built little stone pyramids and just relaxed.
The sun gave way to some clouds as we drove back home to Cala Gonone. Later a thunderstorm rolled by as we had our dinner. Tried my dried egg powder for the first time to make myself some scrambled eggs for dinner. Worked quite well and will be definately part of my nutrition on future long distance hikes.

The Sun, The Rock, The Sea

For once the weather forecast had been right when promising a lot of sun for today.  It was still very windy which can have an impact on climbing but by early afternoon that was gone almost completely and we enjoyed the most fantastic day. Just like one would imagine a day on Sardinia should be like.
Three left the group early this morning going home again. It was quite weird with three people missing at breakfast. But that also ment that we newbies were now the established ones, yeah. Went to a spot right up in the mountain range that surrounds our home Cala Gonone. We could see the village and the blue sea from up there. Fabulous! Climbed a few routes that I never thought I'd manage and just had a lot of fun. Best day so far!!!
I could have stayed all day and just enjoy the view. But with some climbing in between it was just fantastic. Two new girls arrived later who will stay with us for a few days so the group is almost full again.
Went back down to our car with one of the guys and we kind of lost our way picking some paths that led us straight through some bushes with sharp thorns. Argh. With a very broad mixture of various scratches on our legs we arrived back on the street just a few metres from the broader path we should've taken, haha. We didn't tell anyone of our little adventure in the underbush.
Tomorrow is going to be another great adventure as we're going to explore a dry riverbed. Less climbing, only some abseiling, but a lot of great scenery. Really looking forward to it.

40 Metres

Rain and storm and thunderstorm hit tonight and by morning it was still quite dark and wet outside. Eventually he rain stopped and at 11:30 we could finally go. Only drove 1km and then walked for a bit along a broad coastal path with a great view before we climbed the last bit on a narrow steep path full of scree to reach our next climbing spot.
It was very humid and warm so sweat was running down all our bodies. Nevertheless we started climbing the first routes. The view from the top was just amazing with the blue sea and time and again the sun came out to roast us some more. I climbed a 40 metre route today! Yeah!!! That was fun. The entry was quite difficult for me but after like 6 metres it was just fun. I'm improving a lot concentrating on my footwork and really getting the hang of it.
Afterwards me and two others walked to the waterfront, had two beers at a bar outside, bought some flipflops and then spent the rest of the day having dinner and hanging out in the kitchen of our appartment.

Rain?

The day started with low hanging dark clouds and a continuous light rain with heavy showers in between. Great :(. Didn't seem to get better soon but sitting inside and doing nothing was not an option,  so we cancelled our original plan and drove 20 minutes to a nice spot near Oliena with several routes directly next to each other.
Rain had stopped half way there so we were quite happy. I haven't been climbing since early June so I didn't rush things. Was quite surprised how good I did the first two routes. The rock was quite rough with a lot of grip so I didn't need any chalk at all.
Had to try my new Boreal Zen shoes but couldn't bear wearing them for more than than two routes. They just need to be worn a few more times so they won't hurt like hell.
After just an hour another shower rushed down on us. Fortunately that eas the last rain we had today. The view from high up in the route was fantastic! The valley down there and the surrounding mountains. Amazing!!! I could've stayed up there for hours marvelling at the view.
After just 4 routes my finger just hurt too much due to the rough rock to do any more climbing and with 13 more days ahead I just watched other climbers and just enjoyed the view, the humid air and the atmosphere.
Enjoyed a nice evening with the group. Hopefully we'll have some for more sun the next fdw days.

Hello Sardinia

The last few weeks have just been crazy with some travelling, job interviews abroad and band rehearsals in between. With my relocation to Bristol finally being definite I could now go on a needed vacation. Two weeks of climbing on Sardinia!
Left my flat at 8am in the morning with 2 degrees outside only to arrive in Olbia with 28! What a difference, haha. My guide/organizer picked me up and after waiting for two other climbers we drove 2 hours south to our accomodation in Cala Gonone.
Temperature dropped quickly to 22 when dark clouds came drifting in. And as our guide said, we had picked exactly the day the weather was going to change and get more unpredictable. Maybe it's the British/Scottish heart in me that somehow brings bad weather wherever I go. I said nothing about my thoughts to the others,  hehe.
Sardinia is quite impressive with its grey mountains specked with green looming high and the blue sea surrounding it. The highest peaks reach the 2500m mark I was told. Despite the trees and bushes it is indeed very dry which makes you wonder even more how anything can grow on such soil.
The organizer has rented two large appartments in a house with several rooms and a kitchen and bathroom each both being on the same level with interconnecting doors. It's simple but clean and more than sufficient.
Sitting on one of two terraces looking at the mountains that I am going to scale from tomorrow on. The sea is behind me and I can't wait to get going tomorrow. Everybody can book this climbing camp for his own suitable dates. So there's constant changes to the group with people coming and going almost every day. In fact I'm just waiting for the group to come back from today's adventure and then we'll all have dinner later on.