Petroglyph Park-a and Necropolis of Sos Furrighesos

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Petroglyph Park-a

   The north-west of Sardinia is a country of low volcanic hills, pasture, cork oak and stone, and the villages of the Logudoro are small, quiet and far older than they look. This area, around Cheremule and Giave, is dotted with traces of a world that predates the Romans by a very long time. The island's prehistoric people carved tombs into soft rock, the domus de janas, which translates as fairy houses, and built round stone towers called nuraghi, of which there are thousands.

   Read the complete Petroglyph Park-a write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Petroglyph Park-a is where the day begins. Next is Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu.

2. 2. Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu

   Four or five thousand years ago, people on the high plateau of Campo di Santa Lucia in Sardinia carved a whole apartment of rooms into a cliff of soft volcanic rock, to house their dead. The Sardinians call these rock-cut tombs domus de janas, houses of the fairies, and Sant'Andrea Priu, near Bonorva, has some of the most remarkable. The largest, known as the Tomba del Capo, has a series of chambers whose walls and ceilings imitate the beams and pillars of a real house. Centuries later, in the early Christian and Byzantine period, it was converted into a church and its walls were painted with frescoes, some of which survive.

   Read the complete Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Necropolis of Sos Furrighesos.

3. 3. Necropolis of Sos Furrighesos

   In the Goceano hills of north-central Sardinia, a low cliff of pale volcanic rock above the village of Anela hides one of the island's more striking prehistoric cemeteries. Sos Furrighesos is a cluster of domus de janas, the rock-cut tombs whose Sardinian name means houses of the fairies, carved into the face of the stone by Neolithic farmers some five thousand years ago. Some of the chambers are simple niches; others open into several rooms, and a few still carry carved reliefs of bull horns, a symbol you meet again and again in Sardinian prehistory.

   Read the complete Necropolis of Sos Furrighesos write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 51 km into the recorded legs you reach Necropolis of Sos Furrighesos. Next is back through Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu.

4. 4. back through Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu, late in the day. Next is Petroglyph Park-a.

5. 5. Petroglyph Park-a

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Petroglyph Park-a write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Petroglyph Park-a. That is the ride.