30th April Palermo to isola della Maria

After 6hours sleep for me, 1 for Dave (think he will use sleep mat next time) we arrived at Palermo. Eventually found a tourist information, luckily we had 2 hours to do that before it opened, as that is how long it took. The signage in Italy is very odd at times. Palermo seems like an OK kind of place for a big city,and getting out of it relatively easy. Have managed to buy a map of everywhere we need to go in Italy, in fact it would have done for La corse too! Italy suddenly looks very big though! Cycled out along the coast,west. Big impressive rock formations. Unfortunately no photos as we were just a bit phased after night on the ferry. Got to isola OK, crashed on beach to sleep off the ferry journey. Chilled evening,cup of tea and scrabble.

May 1st isola Della Maria to Castellammara de golfo

Started raining at 3 am heavy till 9. Managed to breakfast in between rain and then started again as we headed off. So we had to have a coffee in local town, super friendly folk in both the cafe and the little shop which I had been to the day before. Then the owner and I had been teaching each other our respective language,concerning eggs anyway. Lessons continued today. Then we headed off and the skies cleared. Ended up a nice undulating cycle. Busy initially but then once past airport quietened right down to what one expects in Italy on a Sunday. Found a campsite in Castellammare that has continued in the very friendly manner. The boss even said my brother could ring the landline here for a chat, unfortunately phone malfunction in Inglaterre so plan didn't work. 

April 29th Pula to Cagliari

After sending appropriate greetings to sister in law, Wendy headed into Pula for coffee and at last managed to find a post office that had some kind of system that aided the purchase of stamps and to get Wendy's card in the post! Then headed off via a massive industrial estate to avoid the dual carriageway to Cagliari. Saw 4 beautiful flamingos in flight. Very vivid pink contrasting with black under wings, stunning. Unable to capture on camera. Not what you would see in White Lund! Managed to get into centre of Cagliari via an amazing Aldi with only the minimum of time on a dual carriageway. Headed to port to sort tickets to find no cabins left!!! 12 hours night journey ahead. Went to cafe to recover! Barcellona cafe where we went last time we passed through and we were remembered. We must stand out for some reason? Posted a video to Richard and Hayley back in UK, getting married on Saturday. Then headed off to night shift. Armed with sleep mat and sleeping bag (me anyway Dave not bothered for some reason)

ARTFINDER: Boats in Galeria by David French - Stunning backdrop to the village of Galeria in ...

ARTFINDER: Boats in Galeria by David French - Stunning backdrop to the village of Galeria in ...

https://www.artfinder.com/product/boules-in-saint-florent/

A painting I completed in Saint-Florent Corsica!

tApril 25th Oristano on train to Cagliari, then cycle to pula

Decision made to grab train to south where we knew campsites def open. Countryside around Oristano very flat and industrial anyway. Fab breakfast first, cake an Italian tradition it would seem, at breakfast time. I will take that when we are cycling. Train caught, very cheap for a 1.5 hr journey. Not terribly easy to get bikes on, no real space but the conductor sorted us out. Cagliari seems nice and acquainted ourselves with port for Friday and then headed out. HORRID road out of town. Unable to find alternative. Once of that, chilled cycle to a lovely campsite on a lovely beach. Very friendly staff who sussed out the next campsite was open for us. Giro scrabble with a couple of beers 1.50 euro each! And very nice too. 1:2 team KP. 7:6 in total to team French.

April 27th Rest day 

Gorgeous day. Weather beautiful. Cycle into Tuelada stock up for evening, lovely coffee at cheap cafe then back to camp. Wash done old fashioned way as machines 'caput'. Dave down to marina to do painting then chill on beach. Scrabble early evening. 2:2 Giro. Supper then bed. Hopefully not to be awakened by army reconnaissance which appears to be happening just over the hill at the end of the beach. 

April 28th Tuelada to Pula

Lovely cycle out of Tuelada after nice coffee at our regular, almost had them on the counter as we walked in. 6km steady climb. Slightly overcast but that made it all the more pleasant. Made good speedy progress back to Pula campsite. Settled back in as though we had never been away, greeted like old friends. Dave worked on his paintings whilst I have started Duolingo, Italian. Determined to have more language ability here, feel rubbish with just random words.

April 24th Suni to Cabras

After a lovely nights sleep and breakfast at S'Ena band b we headed downhill towards Oristano. Passed through a village with an amazing array of murals. Slightly concerned that the larder is bare. Sundays mean Sundays in Italy. Everything chiuso. Coffee stop near Cogliera, cheapest yet 90cents each! Still no food stops. Down to the coast and we spied a man with a paper, then found the paper shop and some supplies. Windy cycle along the coast, big waves. Blue skies though. Oristano reached, pretty quiet, no tourist info but worked out where the campsite was that opened on 1st of march. 10km cycle via big supermarket stop. Whole chicken purchased. Luckily. As we arrived at campsite to find it closed. No signs of any b and b's. Very very windy so concept of wild camping not appealing. Ate the chicken. Luckily found a very very lovely Parisian lady, who spoke great Italian and who helped us through a cafe that acts as tourist help to secure a nights accommodation in Cabras. And what a gorgeous place too! Sa Cottilla. Beautiful family home with out buildings with accommodation, but as they were all full we had a room in the house. We were offered a beer on arrival, so shocked we just said no and had a coffee. The host in turn was shocked at an Englishman refusing a beer, ha ha. Lovely chilled area to play scrabble. 1:1 back in the game!!!!!

April 21st Propriano to Sardinia

Up at 5.30am so able to see beautiful sunrise. Got onto ferry safely. 4hr journey and then we arrived at Porto Villers in Sardinia. Goodness our hearts sank. We had left the stunning beauty of La Corse and that is the last thing the Port could be described as. However not a bad cycle to the town itself and we quickly remembered the beauty of Italy is the Italians themselves as, trying to make up for a closed tourist information, about 4 council workers tried to ensure we knew where to buy a map and where we could find a campsite. We decided to head south to Alghero. The way out of town was not the most inspiring, a bit if a fly tippers paradise and with two dead cats on the road. This combined with cloudy, windy weather made for a less than inspiring cycle. However very flat so made good time, the 40 km we covered, and on the way the BEST coffee we have had anywhere for just 2 euro in a rough and ready local cafe, there's always a silver lining. Got to Fertilia near Alghero and found a bizarre campsite with a great space for chilling and free Wi-Fi, to collect our thoughts. Well needed early night.

April 22nd Fertilia to Alghero and back to Fertilia (different campsite)

After setting off with intention to cycle to Bosa, we explored Alghero and decided to base ourselves there for another night. Unfortunately their campsite was closed, though should have opened on 1st of April, so we headed back to La lagoon campsite in Fertilia, Dave then went and did a couple of paintings and we then pottered round Alghero. Back for an early night as pretty shattered. The Giro (scrabble) commenced, and although team French continued their run of wins, team KP felt as it was down to 5 points only form would definitely return 😃

April 23rd Alghero to Bosa

Up nice and rested. Headed off the Bosa. After thinking that we are on super flat side of Sardinia, we soon realised that it's all relative. Despite a pretty dodgy forecast we just got about 30 minutes of rain. Undulating cycle along the coast of 45 km. Luckily about 30km in we found a lovely pizzaria where we could get a coffee and Dave was able to mend the first puncture of the trip. Then to Bosa which is really pretty. With a big castle and lovely old city centre, a tourist paradise but without any tourist information. Very odd. Luckily cafe with WiFi allowed us to do some surfing. We have already ascertained that camping a bit more problematic, especially on this West coast. So we looked for alternatives. Luckily found a b and b on booking.com. 6km from Bosa it said, didn't mention it was all uphill, thank goodness in the direction we want to go tomorrow. A gorgeous place with the best shower! Heaven!!!!