Download The Lemon House autumn 2010 newsletter (250 kb) in English for why we had a record August; new climbs, Deep Water Solo (DWS), mountain bike routes and walks in Ogliastra, Sardinia – with lots of videos; 2011 Giro of Sardinia details; kayaking; and tasting olive oil from olives you picked in November.
See http://www.girosardegna.it/ . 10 English speakers so far have reserved rooms. To make sure of getting in the main hotel, sign up as soon as possible! Peter & Anne
Over the next few months we will gradually move The Lemon House’s web site from MS Publisher to WordPress to allow us to more easily manage photos and content, as well as having a “cleaner” look.
At the Su Telargiu Oro Cave, Baunei, Matteo Calledda from Cagliari freed Yorkshire Tosti, graded 8a/8a+. You can see the history of this route and the FFA on this video:
Peter frees La Guerra di Piero, Creuza de Ma', Baunei
At Creuza de Ma’, Peter re-freed La Guerra di Piero, which was 7a/7a+ but a big hold had broken off. It’s now 7b/7b+. Peter is proceeding with the translation of the 5th edition of Pietra di Luna, the guide to climbing inSardinia, and as well as this FFA, we have been checking the route grades at Su Telargiu Oro which has seen a lot of visitors in the last few weeks.
The best Deep Water Soloing (DWS) we have so far developed in Ogliastra, Sardinia is at the Vascone (big pool) south of Cala ‘e Luas at the Marino di Gairo where we go kayaking all the time and so have eyed up all the crags. SUPERB granite, easy access on foot and, above all, deep relatively-sheltered water and easy climb-out make this is great place to try DWS for the first time.
Sardinia Sardegna DWS Deep Water Solo: Cala 'e Luas, Marina di Gairo
Il migliore Deep Water Solo (DWS) che abbiamo finora sviluppato in Ogliastra, Sardegna si trova al Vascone al sud di Cala ‘e Luas, Marino di Gairo dove spesso passiamo in kayak e pertanto da anni guiardiamo in sù alle rocce. Un granito SUPERBO, facile accesso a piedi e, soprattutto, l’acqua profonda e abbastanza riparata dalle onde, e una facile uscita dall’acqua fanno di questo luogo il posto ideale per provare per la prima volta lo “psicobloc”.
Last year we wrote on our Planetfear blog about Su Telargiu Oro and Monte Tonneri as two good places for summer climbing in Sardinia (see here). Now we have a couple of videos to show what exactly what climbing at these two places is like.
Both of these areas will be fully described in the new edition of Pietra di Luna, currently being translated from Italian to English by Peter of The Lemon House.
The organisers Mare & Monti have defined in outline the Giro Sardegna 2011.
“The Giro will be unusual in 2011 for two reasons: firstly, it’ll be held at Easter, from 23-30 April. Secondly, because we’ll have a resort centre entirely to ourselves. The hotel we’ve chosen HorseCountry is a 4-star hotel in Arborea (Oristano province – from the airports 3 hours from Olbia, 1:30 from Cagliari, 2:30 from Alghero so fly to Cagliari if you can) with all the 350 rooms just for us! The hotel has been recently enlarged and modernised, is by the sea, has good traffic-free roads nearby, a large conference centre for the prize givings and meetings, a good wellness centre where we have agreed discounted prices, and an international-level riding centre. We’ll have our “traditional” formula: full board including drinks, racing in the morning and the afternoon free, starts near to the hotel and for this, the 15th edition of the Giro, the starts and finishes will be INSIDE the hotel!
It will be, then, a comfortable and relaxing week, in a good and spacious hotel…with the only drawback that it won’t have space for all the participants. Those who don’t sign up in time (or opt otherwise) won’t be at the Horse Country, but instead in hotels in Oristano, 15 km away. Rooms are assigned in strict order of race entry and on the Giro’s web site you’ll be able to see week-by-week how many rooms are still available. The “package” starts with dinner on Sat 23 April and ends with lunch on Sat 30 April. No problem if you want to arrive early or leave later, since the hotel is open all year round.
We will ride in the zone to the south of Oristano. The area around Arborea really is flat, so the much of the riding will be easier than in other years, but there’ll also be good mountain stages next to the beautiful sea. Here’s the programme:
Sunday 24 (Easter) – individual TT (20 km, completely flat, near to hotel)
Monday 25 – granfondo sardegna (95-150 km) not difficult but lovely race in “wild” countryside: Arborea, Marceddì, Guspini and Montevecchio, then descent to the coast where the routes divide – the medio towards Marceddì then Arborea; the gran giro to the Costa Verde then climbs back up to the old mining village of Ingurtosu then to Uras and back to Montevecchio, before descending to the Costa Verde once again and then to Marceddì and Arborea (we really will be “in another world”- near to the Dune di Piscinas there’ll be 5 km of unmade road and two fords where we’ll make a crossing!)
Tuesday 26 – from Arborea to Ales and Mogorella (up-and-down, but mostly flat)
Wednesday 27 – from Arborea to and Lago Omodeo – the odd little climb but pretty fast
Thursday 28 – Team time trial (30/40 km flat)
Friday 29 – from Arbus to Fluminimaggiore, Iglesias, Nebida coast, Buggerru, Arbus – tough mountain stage with the same course for the Medio and Gran Giro along a beautiful coastline. This will be the only stage where you will need to travel from the hotel to the start, about 50 km.
Saturday 30 – from Arborea a 40 km flattish stage probably by age categories (Like at Alghero 2009)
Costs
Even though it’s Easter, we have managed to keep the price to €530 for the 4-star hotels (single price – independent of type of room) and €430 for the 3-star hotels.
Race entry will cost: men €150; women, tour and 1.000 km €100 (if you don’t stay in the hotel you pay men €200 women €100)
Single supplement in the 4-star hotels €30 per day; €20 a day in the 3-stars.
Kids 0/2 years free, 2/6 years 50% discount, 6/12 years 20% discount.
For entries after 31/12 you pay an extra 100 euro.
To reserve a room already, even before official entries open, you can pay 300 euro to Mare and Monti and the rest will be payable as usual by the end of Feb 2011.”
In July and August almost every town in Sardinia has summer festivals. Some of these are festivals for patron saints, such as San Cristoforo in Lotzorai. The procession comes along via Dante in front of The Lemon House
Others are summer music festivals, which attract both “foreign” tourists and Sards working outside the island who come to see their families during the summer holidays. We just went to see the Original Wailers at Arbatax’s Rocce Rosse festival. Great value at €10.
It’s often hard to get good photos and videos if there are just two of you climbing, but these two videos give you a good idea of how Ogliastra offers good summer climbing and what it means to do hard redpointing. Chris Gore and Peter first tried The Prestige at Su Telargiu Oro in August 2009 just after Simone Sarti and Peter had bolted it. Chris had one go, declaring it “7c, maybe harder”, then Luca Passini flashed it to make the FFA. Peter then tried it (leaving in the draws) during September and October, but the best he could manage was top-rope with one rest. Alessandro, who he was climbing with, led it, and thought it was 7b+.
So in 2010, on Chris’s second trip to Sardinia this year (see this interview for why he comes here) we set about seriously working the route. The first day, Friday 23rd, was humid and we struggled. We then came back Monday 26th, Wednesday 28th and Friday 30th. You’ll have to watch the videos to see how we got on….
Topos at 27crags. More routes in September when our Czech friends come back here for two weeks.
The Giro of Sardinia week-long road cycling stage race will be held in 2011 from Saturday 23 (Easter weekend) to Saturday 30 April. The race will be based at Arborea in the Oristano province at the **** hotel ”horse country” (http://www.horsecountry.it in Italian) by the sea. The routes have not yet been defined in detail, but the organisers can choose from the Costa Verde to the beautiful (and hilly!) Buggerru and Nebida coastline and to the north the Sinis peninsula.
The area around Arborea really is flat, so the much of the riding will be easier than in other years. Most of the starts and finishes will be at the hotel, though they’ll be one day’s racing away from the hotel. There will be full board in the hotel. The only problem is that the hotel has “only” 350 rooms, and those signing up late will have to stay in Oristano or futher away.
At The Lemon House we are normally full at Easter, so we plan to help English speakers with race entry and come to the race after Easter; if possible, one of us will come for the Easter weekend as well. Arborea is 3 hours’ drive from The Lemon House!
The full programme will be available at the end of August, but in broad terms should be:-
Sunday 24 (Easter) – individual TT (20/30 km, flat, near to hotel)
Monday 25 – granfondo sardegna (110 – 150 km) not difficult but lovely race in “wild” countryside: Arborea, Marceddì, Guspini & Montevecchio – routes divide- medio towards the Costa Verde then Marceddì and Arborea, gran giro to Guspini, Ingurtosu, the Dune di Piscinas and then the Costa Verde then Marceddì and Arborea; in the Lungo there’ll be 5 km of unmade road and two fords!
Tuesday 26 – from Arborea to Barumini with a loop around the Giara di Gesturi (up and down, but mostly flat)
Wednesday 27 – from Arborea to Cuglieri then going to Fordongianus and Arborea -Hilly stage-
Thursday 28 – Team time trial (30/40 km flat – probably Sinis peninsula)
Friday 29 – from Arbus (or Portoscuso or Gonnosfanadiga) to Fluminimaggiore, Iglesias, Nebida coast, Buggerru, Arbus – mountain stage
Saturday 30 – from Arborea a short flattish stage probably by age categories (Like at Alghero 2009)
The race entry fees will be as usual: men 100 euro, women 50, tour 50 (if you don’t stay in the hotels it will cost 200 euro men and 100 women)
The hotel for a week (Saturday-Saturday full board) will cost per person:
standard room 490 euro
superior room 520 euro
small villa 560 euro
suite 630 euro
For entries after 31/12 you pay an extra 100 euro
The programme will be published at the end of August and you can book from then. To reserve a room, you can pay 300 euro to Mare and Monti and the rest will be payable as usual by the end of Feb 2011.