A sunny Sardinian September Saturday was the pleasingly alliterative beginning of our week in Sardinia

Note the “our”- for this week I had a riding and navigating companion in the form of Cian, and our plans for the week were designed around some logistics.

He had flown into Alghero in the North,was hiring a touring bike from a local company before we both rode down to the Sardinian capital Cagliari on the South coast. His return flight six days later was from Cagliari, as was my onward ferry to Palermo on the same day. Handily the bike could be dropped off at a local office in Cagliari too.

So with the beginning and the end sorted all we had to do was fill in the middle . The route was pretty straightforward, hugging the mountainous coast until about halfway down then heading inland at an angle through a (hopefully flatter) valley into Cagliari. Individual daily distances were mainly dictated by campsite and hotel locations along the way.

The harbour town of Bosa was our end point today . About 30 miles away with no obvious towns or amenities along the way ,the breakfast ninja boy gave me a #prouddad moment as he stealthily made us a full packed lunch ,wrapped, packed and secreted away before I could say “do you think they’ll notice.”

We took the long way out of town, along the harbour with the competing boat trips ,each one a euro cheaper or ten minutes longer than the other -the owners formed a kind of guard of boat trip honour, leaflets in hand by the booking on desks while the boats themselves were being hosed down and ice laden cool boxes hauled aboard .

The harbour side merged into the old town and the huge old city walls surrounding them-this promenade was the fixture of the evening passeggiata, the ritual early evening social stroll so beloved of Italians.

But for now it was simply where the British entrants to the Sardinian Open-Father And Son (SOFAS) team had their “before” picture taken by a press ganged but helpful local.

We had a glorious three or four minutes grace of sea level cycleways, before the climbing started . Despite the ascent feeling fairly gradual ,after only a few minutes, a stop to look back showed we were already a respectable distance above the town.

Any self respecting climb would level out now, it’s lung busting work done -but no. Or as they say in Sardinia, no. Up we went for about seven miles, straight into lowest gear and staying there .

The European way of gaining height is different to the UK-we favour straight steep hills that tend to get from bottom to top in a no nonsense “let’s get it done “ way, whereas in Europe it’s more of a long winding switchback kind of set up, “relax signor,take your time ,have a leetle leemon-cello”. It’s like the contrast between a firm handshake and “mwah mwah”air kiss

Lunch was a beach bar at about 10 miles in. A long straight descent had followed the first climb and we spent a recuperative hour contemplating the next section of mountains .

It was here that we observed the superbly liberated phenomenon of ITALIAN MAN IN SPEEDOS. No height,weight or age restrictions affect the membership of this club, only the ability to preen performatively and to lay a towel on the tiniest of spaces,following the sun round like an oiled sundial . We were to see many examples of IMIS as the week progressed.

Up and down we went . Never losing sight of the glittering blue Med on our right ,the scenery was amazing. Lots of bays and coves dotted this section of coastline and it all made for mesmerising riding . The heat though was intense -even being so high didn’t seem to cool it down, and apart from the occasional tree there was no shade of any kind all day.

In a weird way,the descent into Bosa, all seven miles of it, wasn’t the glorious free for all we were dreaming of. On our fully loaded bikes,the constant twists and turns meant we were cautious and heavy on the brakes . One particularly sharp left hand bend ,under a rockfall canopy with a sheer drop over to the right gave me butterflies for sure.

Digs for the night was the Resort Islo Rosso,booked about four hours earlier and as cheap as the chips we inhaled with pizza later.