SS125 Orientale Sarda

A long Mediterranean motorcycle classic between mountains and sea.

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Why this ride

A long Mediterranean motorcycle classic between mountains and sea. The road: SS125. Distance and riding time are estimates from the checkpoints until the road is measured on this page.

Roadbook

1. Cagliari start

   Cagliari is a port city that grew on hills, and that is the key to understanding it. The capital of Sardinia climbs from the harbour up a steep rock crowned by Castello, the old walled quarter, which the Pisans fortified in the thirteenth century with two white limestone towers that still stand, the Torre dell'Elefante and the Torre di San Pancrazio. From the ramparts you can look across the whole gulf, the salt pans, the long white beach of Poetto and the low mountains beyond. The city's history is as layered as its streets. Phoenicians founded a port here, the Romans built an amphitheatre cut into the rock, and Aragonese and Spanish rulers added churches and palaces.

   Nature is close at hand. The Molentargius salt pans, on the edge of the city, are a shallow wetland where flocks of pink flamingos feed, and they are visible from the road, which is a surprise in a city of this size. Poetto beach, about eight kilometres long, is the city's backyard, crowded in summer and almost empty in winter. Seafood dominates the menu, with bottarga, the cured fish roe, and fregola, tiny toasted pasta, appearing often. In the market of San Benedetto, one of the largest covered markets in Italy, fish, cheese and vegetables are piled high.

   For a rider, Cagliari is a good base for exploring the south of the island. The state road to the north, known as the Carlo Felice, runs the length of Sardinia, and one early detour leads to Su Nuraxi at Barumini, about sixty kilometres north, a Bronze Age stone fortress that is a UNESCO site. The nuraghi, conical stone towers built by Sardinia's ancient civilisation over three thousand years ago, are scattered all over the island, and nobody knows exactly what they were for. Roads on the island are generally in good condition, with long curves and fine views, and traffic is light outside the cities. Summer is hot, with the best riding in spring and autumn.

   Fuel and workshops are easy to find, and parking in the old centre is difficult, so leave the bike outside the old town gates. Evening is the time for aperitivo on the terraces, when the city lights come on across the bay.

2. Muravera stop

   Muravera lies in the south-east corner of Sardinia, on the flat, fertile plain where the Flumendosa river reaches the sea. After hours of mountain road, the change of scene is striking: the land opens out into orchards, mostly citrus, with irrigation channels and small farms between the town and the coast. With about 4,400 people, it has the shops, bars and fuel you would expect, and neighbours such as Villaputzu and San Vito are only a few kilometres away. The nearest larger town is Maracalagonis, a good half hour back toward Cagliari.

   The road here is the SS125, the Orientale Sarda, which runs along the eastern side of the island from Cagliari up toward Olbia. In this section it is less about the bends and more about the contrast. Behind you are the granite mountains of the Sarrabus, with their scrubby slopes of cork oak and maquis, while ahead the coast has long sandy beaches and clear water. The ride in from the mountains is a fine one, with big, flowing curves, and the surface is usually good, though patchy in places and with farm traffic and slow vans that can interrupt the rhythm.

   Sardinia is old in a way that is easy to forget on a bike. The island is dotted with nuraghi, stone towers built by a Bronze Age culture, and this region has its own traces of mining and agriculture that shaped small communities. The Flumendosa has been dammed upstream for water and power, which matters to the farmers here more than to any visitor. Local food leans on the land: citrus, olives, cheese, and sea produce from the coast, and the bakeries in town are a reliable stop.

   Best seasons are spring and autumn, when the air is warm and the countryside is green or golden. In July and August the heat can be considerable and the coast crowded with holidaymakers, so riding early and stopping for a long lunch is the sensible approach. If you have time to spare, follow a side road down toward the shore and look at the lagoon-like mouth of the river, where birdlife tends to gather in the reeds.

3. Baunei stop

   Baunei hangs on a ledge of limestone above the Tyrrhenian sea, a town of two thousand people with the Supramonte of Baunei rising behind it and the coast far below. The SS125 comes through here on one of its most spectacular sections, climbing out of the valley from the south and then running along the face of the mountains with sea views opening on the left. The Gennargentu massif, Sardinia's highest ground, lies inland, and the whole district is one of the wildest corners of the island.

   It is a place of shepherds, and a place of walkers. The Selvaggio Blu, a famous multi-day trek along the coast, starts near here and crosses terrain so steep and so remote that the walkers carry ropes. On the plateau above the town, the Golgo plateau holds a deep karst pit called Su Sterru and a small church amid the oaks, reached by a rough track, where the world feels very quiet. If you have a few hours, the road to the plateau is worth a look, though it is narrow and rough in places.

   Down at the sea, Pedra Longa is a tall limestone needle that rises from the water beside a little harbour, and the road to it twists down from the main highway in a series of tight hairpins. Santa Maria Navarrese, a few kilometres south, has a pleasant beachfront with bars and restaurants, and a church said to have been founded by a shipwrecked Spanish princess from Navarre, with an ancient olive tree beside it. Beyond it lies Tortolì, the larger town of the Ogliastra district, with eight thousand inhabitants and everything a rider might need, including fuel, supermarkets and repair shops. Baunei has its own small stations, but it is sensible to treat Tortolì as the sure bet.

   The riding on this stretch is of the kind that leaves a grin. Long bends follow short ones, the surface is mostly decent, and the views are dramatic. Be careful in summer, when the road is busy with cars and campervans, and look out for loose gravel on the outside of corners. Early morning is best, when the light is soft on the cliffs and the air smells of resin and wild herbs, and the sea is flat and silver.

4. Dorgali stop

   Dorgali sits on the eastern flank of the Supramonte, the limestone massif that fills the middle of Sardinia's Nuoro province, and the town spreads over its slope with the mountains behind and the Gulf of Orosei somewhere in the haze ahead. Six thousand people live here, enough for fuel, banks and a proper choice of bars, which matters because the SS125 Orientale Sarda is a long road with long gaps. Fill the tank here and you will not think about it again until Baunei or Tortolì.

   The Supramonte is a rough, dry country of white rock, holm oak and juniper, cut by deep gorges. The best known is Gola Su Gorropu, a canyon whose walls rise several hundred metres and which can be reached on foot from the road above, a walk that takes a few hours and is not for flip-flops. Not far away, the ruins of the nuragic village of Tiscali hide inside a collapsed limestone dome, a place where people lived in the Bronze and Iron Ages and, according to the story, retreated when Rome arrived. Sardinia is thick with nuraghi, those conical stone towers of the second and first millennia before Christ, and this part of the island has some of the best.

   Dorgali itself has a reputation for craftsmanship, with leather, ceramics, carpets and filigree jewellery all made locally, and it is the centre of a wine area whose Cannonau reds are dark and strong, not shy at all. Cheese, sausages, honey and the thin, crisp bread called carasau come with every meal. A lunch here is slow, so allow time, and remember that shops often close in the early afternoon.

   The riding from Dorgali is the reason most people come. South of the town, the SS125 climbs through the hills in tight, rhythmical bends, with cork oaks and lentisk on one side and a drop on the other, and then it descends toward the coast with sea views that appear and disappear. Surfaces are generally good, though patched in places, and goats occasionally wander across the road. The side road to Cala Gonone, through a long tunnel under Monte Bardia, drops to a small resort on the gulf, where boats run to sea caves, and it is a good detour if you want a swim. In summer, the heat is serious, and the best riding hours are before eleven and after six.

5. Olbia finish

   Olbia is the gateway to Sardinia for most people arriving by sea. Ferries from Genoa, Livorno and Civitavecchia dock in the long gulf, and an airport serves the Costa Smeralda, the glamorous strip of coast to the north, which the Aga Khan developed in the 1960s. The town itself is older than it looks. The Greeks called it Olbia, meaning happy, and the Romans used it as a major port; in the 1990s, when workers dug a tunnel under the harbour, they found the remains of more than twenty ancient ships. The Romanesque church of San Simplicio, in grey granite, is one of the oldest in Sardinia.

   The area is Gallura, a land of granite, cork oak and low, scented scrub called macchia, with rounded boulders balanced on the hills like sculptures. Offshore, the limestone block of Tavolara island rises sheer from the sea, an eerie silhouette, and local food reflects the mix of land and sea, with seadas, fried pastries filled with cheese and drizzled with honey, and a glass of the local Vermentino white wine. Mirto, a liqueur made from myrtle berries, ends the meal.

   The ride begins on the SS125, the Orientale Sarda, which runs south along the east coast through Orosei, Dorgali, Baunei and Tortolì toward Cagliari, with mountains on one side and a series of wild gulfs on the other. It is one of the great roads of the island, with some tight and rough sections, including the high pass of Genna 'e Silana at about a thousand metres, where fog can hide the road. The surface can be patchy, and goats and cows take their time. Weather is generally sunny, but a strong mistral can arrive and blow hard, particularly on exposed stretches.

   With nearly forty-three thousand people, Olbia has fuel stations, supermarkets and repair shops, so top up fully before you leave. Fuel stations on the Orientale are fewer, and many close in the afternoon, so do not run it low. Summer traffic is heavy in July and August, when the road is full of holidaymakers, and spring and autumn are better. Leave early, and stop for a coffee in the first village.

Where this sits

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