With thanks to the Bare Necessities I know the words and the tune but what I didn’t know is that prickly pears were an actual thing . Until, that is, we were served them for breakfast at Corona B & B and I realised they were the fruits of the massive cactus plants that were everywhere .

Small, prickly and pear shaped (clues in the name I suppose 😊) I had no idea they were edible,and guess what ? They weren’t. In fact,absolutely disgusting. Apart from anything else the prickles were almost impenetrable and the fruit within was most definitely not worth the jeopardy . All I’ll say is that Cian rode all day with palms full of spikes,regretting his youthful fruity enthusiasm

So todays ride was our last in Sardinia-45 miles into the capital Cagliari on the South coast . In purely cycling terms we could have ridden the island in four days but our Sardinian time was stretched out to a week to fit in with plane and ferry schedules. This gave us the campsite rest day in the middle and also gave us a free day in Cagliari too.

Todays ride was uneventful really-we had quite a long time riding parallel to a motorway ,on a kind of service road ,which made for a functional but (whisper it) boring route

The run into Cagliari itself was a bit of slog too-the roads were noticeably busier (and in worse condition) and the suburbs were sprawling and hard to navigate (we later realised we’d done an extra eight miles today, I think most of it going round in circles on the outskirts!)

This was our rough route through Sardinia. The North Western corner and coastline was stunning-mountainous and very very quiet, not nearly as touristy as I imagined it would be. Cycling wise it was hard work but I’m chuffed we got up (and down) some of the biggest hills I’ve encountered .

As we moved South the roads got busier and more potholed, and driver behaviour got a bit more impatient (but nowhere near UK homicidal levels 😊)

Cagliari itself was lovely. It’s a prosperous and busy international port and the old town area ,in the Castello district is particularly charming. A maze of narrow high sided streets, wall to wall bars and restaurants make the streets even narrower and amplify the buzz and chatter in a really civilised way .

Established as part of the Roman Empire, its strategic importance for controlling trade in the Mediterranean and North Africa has made it a target over the centuries for invasion by a wide range of powers,including the Spanish and French,and today the history is obvious ,with Roman ruins everywhere. It’s really charming and understated,even on the days the cruise ships disgorge their bus loads of passengers into the town.

Saturday came too quickly-Cian left in the early morning, what a treat to have had him for a week before he disappeared off to South America for who knows how long! For me ,the 5pm Grimaldi Lines (them again) overnight ferry to Palermo in Sicily awaits….wonder if I’ll get any sleep on this one ?…..