Pure Selvaggio Blu
Travel notes by Gioele Poddine
The story you are about to read has nothing to do with the “Selvaggio Blu” trek that you all know. Not because this story is about anything else, but simply because the selvaggio blu you’ve heard about from friends, photos on instagram or agency ads, is different. It’s not mine. It’s not personal. It’s not YOUR Selvaggio Blue!
What I write is what I have matured during this adventure, together with my fellow adventurers – Marti and Giulio – and Gigi – a Sardinian with a great and infinite passion for his land.
Well, let’s begin: as everyone knows, Sardinia is a land as welcoming on its shores bathed by the sea, as it is harsh in its hinterland. For this reason, many lovers of wilderness and trekking undertake the famous crossing of the Supramonte di Baunei, called Selvaggio Blu!
But what exactly is it? What is special about it? I was wondering this too before going to discover it and I certainly won’t reveal it here, however I can give you some clues. Along the 50 km route there are neither real paths nor refuges. Water is also absent, so it is necessary to organize yourself very well before venturing there! You can lean on a few sheepfolds of shepherds who live in the area on a couple of occasions, otherwise you are alone in the wilderness! 
But so what? What’s cool? It is an adventurous trek, full of abseiling into the void, passages overlooking the sea, dives into the most remote Sardinian coves… and more! Cannonau, porceddu cooked directly by shepherds on the fire, caves and natural galleries, exposed juniper stairs built for goats…
The route, in addition to being already difficult to find, has numerous variations to fully satisfy the fantasies of those who take it. Thanks to these characteristics, it becomes an extremely personal and engaging journey, to the point of being compared to an expedition! The logistics of supply, the sustaining of difficulties, are just some of the efforts that must be faced before reaching Cala Sisine, the much coveted and simple destination, which serves as a pretext for the Selvaggio Blu! And believe me, when you get there, the emotion will be great…
THE STORY OF OUR ADVENTURE
When I decided to undertake the crossing of the Supramonte di Baunei for the first time, I knew little or nothing about the route and the spirit that animates it. I knew that there are agencies that take care of the logistics of food and water for the trekkers, bringing you everything you need for the bivouacs with the dinghy day by day. In fact, the Supramonte is devoid of housing structures, roads and in particular, water sources. It is a barren promontory, with predominantly calcareous soil and shrubby vegetation. In the past it was used only for poor sheep farming and for the production of charcoal in those sporadic wooded areas. It’s Wild indeed!
But organized logistical support was not for me. Being that it was my first time on the course – oblivious to the fatigue it would cost me – I wanted a more difficult experience! I wanted to imagine myself being one of the first explorers in the area, and get out of it only with my own strength. No Jeeps, no rubber dinghies. Everything in the backpack.
According to my study of the itinerary we would have been able to complete the crossing in five days, enjoying it to the fullest. I had no intention of being in a hurry or not spending all the time necessary in the fantastic coves that I would have met along the way. Five days – four bivouacs.
Doing a quick count of the water that would have been needed – about 3l per day – the weight of the backpack would have become too burdensome on our enjoyment of the holiday. It’s okay to suffer a little… but to exaggerate no, thanks!
I therefore decided that every two days I had to meet a supply of food and liquids, and since I had decided to give up the support boat, the only solution left was to ambush the supplies by land, reaching the route transversely in two points. So the first day of vacation we would have spent rallying on Sardinian dirt roads to get as close as possible to the sacred points chosen.
I had heard of a variant of the trek that after Cala Goloritzé, instead of crossing the Bacu Boladina, remained low on the edge of the coast up to Cala Mariolu. I knew little about this variant and decided not to read up any further. I wanted to avoid finding out too much about timing and track, to really have the taste of the unexpected on the tip of my tongue.
End of September. Here we are in Sardinia.
Leaving aside, for reasons of time, the part related to the preparations, between shopping, car stuck in a horrendous dirt road and placing supplies in anti-goat attack locus, we are leaving!
On the first day, being well stocked, the backpack weighs a lot. Our shoulders are not yet trained and together with our legs they compete to see who suffers the most from the long climb under Punta Girardili. It is abnormally hot for the season, so much so that we are literally forced to squeeze the shirt several times to dry it from sweat.
My classmates are a bit perplexed… we are not regular trekkers, we are climbers or mountaineers; Pure walking does not convince us much. So a little discouragement affects our conviction. However, we quickly adapt our eye to find the right path, which often tends to get lost in the Mediterranean scrub, and the game of finding the route gradually makes us forget about the fatigue. Soon – so to speak – we complete the more than 20 km that join the first two stages of the route, from Santa Maria Navarrese to Porto Cuau, where we will spend the first night.
The first evening we settle on top of a hill, a bit narrow and uncomfortable, but with a towering view of the cove where from above we observe the evening rituals of other groups. It’s nice to see how quickly in these contexts you adapt to life made up of essential things, such as just a toothbrush as a bathroom and a rolled up sweatshirt as an extra luxury pillow!
Chatting about this and that, we fall asleep, sleep under an expanse of sincere stars.
The following days we savored the most beautiful reflections that the sea has ever thrown on the limestone, we admired the daring art with which shepherds in past centuries created passages on the walls to reach their livestock. Being shoulder to shoulder to admire every sunrise over the sea from our sleeping bags, together with my companions a routine of mutual collaboration was created that I have rarely had the opportunity to observe so much synergy between people.
Together we faced exposed traverses on friable rocks, abseiling into the void, long branched caves, wine, via ferratas, a truly wild Mediterranean jungle, cultural, ideological and human encounters with local people, like Gigi, like the shepherds, who really know that land and who have a special and very deep relationship with it.
It was therefore an isolated journey in the wild, but very rich in bonds and knowledge.
In particular, meeting Gigi during the bivouac in the cave of Cala Mudaloru, made us understand how much the Selvaggio Blu, if experienced in a certain way, is a very deep journey. This crossing is an expedition! It consists of intermediate fields, water supply and gastronomic difficulties. We are dealing with a barren land, which at every corner offers unexpected pitfalls and wonderful views.
Gigi and his friends travel these lands for passion, discovering the logical, spectacular and useless passages. They carry out Blue Savages with backpacks loaded with meat to roast in the evening, and in their supplies they hide wine and cheese instead of water and bread! They know the shepherds, and they ask them to tell them about the land. They help them, offering them shelter for the night and reliable as well as genuine support points for bivouacs.
And all this is just the background where you simply smile with friends.
Our proposal: |
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Travel anecdotes:
1) HARD TIMES ON THE SEA:
On the third day we faced the “variant on the sea”, the most treacherous stage of our tour, which with a rough ferrata connects Cala Goloritzé to the beautiful Cala Mariolu.
After that, I had information that a trail track continued from Mariolu, heading north, to Muradulu… What a nightmare! The path (so to speak) was barely there, and in some places passed over very exposed friable canals 200 meters overlooking the cliffs.
Not two meters passed that it was necessary to look around to be sure not to get too lost… sawn twigs, some old shoe marks were our only GPS tracks to follow in that jungle.
After two hours of sailing, still at the head of the group, I was shocked. Marti was tired and began to have visions of a nice swim on the beach, while she wondered why we struggle more on vacation than in the rest of the year; Giulio, on the other hand, was in his own world, going slowly and excessively distracted to take photos and videos to send simultaneously to friends.
At a certain moment, he blurts out: “Guys, I can’t go on pulling a trailer anymore. Help!”
Seeing my face, pale and tired, my friends knew instantly what their task had to be. Giulio put himself at the head of the group and Marti steeled himself, keeping to himself the small complaints that in that delicate moment only went to lower the stress threshold that I could bear. And an hour later we were at our destination!
What had happened? Perfect teamwork! I was so proud of my friends!
2)THE LAST DAY:
How did this Selvaggio Blu end? Finally, the reader will be wondering “who knows what emotion at the end, the arrival in Cala Sisine… come on, tell!”.
Well no, we didn’t get there. Did I say or not that he wanted to be a Wild Blue in our own way?
What would have been the last night, we climbed the Bacu Padente to Ololbissi, where my little brother was waiting for us unexpectedly, as well as the second load of supplies. We all have dinner together, invited by Gigi and his companions to share a grilled pork. And so speaking, we discover a magnificent variant that after the gorge of Sa Nurca leads to Cala Biriala with a frightening 50 m abseil on the beach. My brother Sim and Ele, his girlfriend, are thrilled. At the same time, Giulio and Marti feel teased at the thought of walking a little less and spending a nice day in a beach like that of Biriala. So it’s soon decided, our tour will end at Biriala Beach!
The next day we say goodbye to Gigi, Franz, Urs and Paolo, wishing them our best wishes in enjoying their much coveted Cala Sisine, while we walk with much lighter backpacks towards the Piddi sheepfold.
For the last time we put on helmets and harnesses and venture into the deep and narrow gorge of Sa Nurca, which immediately leads to our crystalline destination: Cala Biriala.
With a couple of abseiling ropes and a short downhill path we find ourselves overlooking the beach. 50 m separate us from the bath-dryer. 50 m of overhang.
For the last time we throw the ropes and one after the other, with now habitual gestures we descend excitedly along the rope.
Once on land, we undress and all together we dive into the sea!
