Walk 1: [Monte Tului, near Dorgali]
Just outside of Dorgali we walk through a hand made tunnel through a ridge to access the rear of the mountain we are going to climb. It is Monte Tului, which has a huge transmitter on its summit.
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(2) After the tunnel we get a view of Cala Gonone, a coastal town we will see a lot of during the week.
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(3) At the summit we had lunch in a seating area near the manned fire watch station. There are spectacular views to the north. The town of Dorgali is down there at the centre right.
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(4) Looking west to the hills and mountains we will be near on our second and third walks.
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(5) Looking back down the tunnel we walked through earlier.
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(6) Having returned to Dorgali, the transmission mast on Monte Tului is clearly visible.
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(7) Looking north over the rooftops of Dorgali where we stayed at the Hotel S'Adde. It is a small town of about 9000 inhabitants, working mainly in wine production and tourism.
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(8) Walk 2: [Gorropu Gorge]
Monday's walk started at a cafe near the bridge on the Flumineddu river. After a while we approached the towering entrance to the gorge.
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(9) The first part of the canyon waymarked in green was quite wide with huge boulders scattered on the bottom.
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(10) Some of us making our way towards the narrower part of the gorge.
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(11) A nice view with the sunshine on the mountains above the shaded canyon.
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(12) Another field of huge limestone boulders as we pass through the harder 'yellow' zone where it became harder to pass and more climbing and scrambling was needed.
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(13) A few of us reached the 'red' zone where we stopped for lunch. Only experienced climbers would be expected to proceed beyond this point.
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(14) On our way back down the chasm, the sheer scale of the pastel shaded cliffs can be seen with the group of people at the bottom.
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(15) Away from the canyon and we headed back to the place we started from.
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(16) The rocky valley of the Flumineddu river.
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(17) I had a brief paddle before joining the others for we a cool beer or two at the cafe.
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(18) The minibus took us first to the Giants Tomb, built during the bronze age by the Nuragic civilisation, around 4000 years ago.
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(19) We next visited the site of Serra Orrios, a Nuragic village with circular stone huts, a temple and other monuments.
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(20) We had a barbequed chicken lunch at the beach at Cala Orsala. Some of us had a swim afterwards.
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(21) The beach was perfect, the weather - warm sunshine and a gentle breeze.
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(22) On the Wednesday I went down on the local bus to Cala Gonone. I visited the Aquarium with the rude receptionist and then joined some of the others at a cafe near the sea front for beer and lunch.
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(23) Walk 3: [Tiscali, Monte Corrasi]
The third walking day took us back to the riverside cafe we were at before, but this time we took a different direction towards the famous village of Tiscali.
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(24) The group stops for a rest before we begin the climb to Monte corrasi.
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(25) We reached Tiscali and explored around it. This was an ancient village built within a collapsed limestone gallery. In this photo the natural window gives a view outside.
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(26) Little is left of the stone village but we explore where it used to be.
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(27) After lunch we head out of the crater and onto some spectacular limestone country.
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(28) One of the highlights of the walk was an ascent to a narrow slit between two limestone monoliths and the descent afterwards seen in this photo.
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(29) We descend onto a broad flat valley as seen from this view.
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(30) The last part of the day was a trip to see the karstic springs of Su Cologone. At this place, vast quantities of crystal clear water emerge from underground natural reservoirs.
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(31) Walk 4: [Cala Luna to Cala Gonone]
Today we're south down the coast on a boat to begin our last walk. We boarded at Cala Gonone harbour.
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(32) Power full on and we're doing a good few knots.
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(33) There are a lot of these coastal caves gouged out of the limestone by the waves.
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(34) We disembark on the sandy beach at Cala Luna.
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(35) The first section of the walk across rugged headlands topped by trees takes us to Cala Fuili where there is a nice beach and rock climbers are on the cliffs.
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(36) This goat hoovered up multiple apple cores, a banana skin and most of a pizza left over from yesterday's evening meal. Rich pickings for the well informed local fauna.
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(37) A view down on the beach as we start the last leg along the road to Cala Gonone.
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(38) After a second swim, this one at Cala Gonone, I joined up with some of the others at the same cafe we were in on Wednesday. The local beer, Ichnusa, is very drinkable. I will look out for it back in England.
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(39) Saturday [Departure day]
For geek consumption. A Meridiana MD-80 at Olbia Airport.
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(40) Homeward bound on an Airbus A319 Easyjet. I picked up the car at Gatwick and was home by about 6:10 pm.
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(41) Our group totalled just 13, including our leader, Albert.
Here we are al together at the Giants Tomb on the sightseeing day.
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