Cuile Ziu Tattannu – Monte Irveri – Cuile Sa Tintura – Cala Cartoe
The territories of Orosei, Dorgali and Baunei offer some of the most important and popular hiking trails of the entire coast of Sardinia along which you can admire the extraordinary beauty of the sea and wild stretches of coastline characterized by high walls overlooking the sea.
As for most of the trips in the Sardinian territory, during the summer season, the greater problem is the water supply and the very high temperatures and is therefore not recommended to venture throught challenging and long trek without proper physical preparation, a sufficient supply of water, an extensive planning, knowledge of the area you are going to deal with and appropriate clothing and it is preferable to rely on an expert local guide. In the territories mentioned above often occur accident and it is necessary the intervention of the Mountain Rescue due to carelessness or failure to properly assess their ability and / or equipment.
The start
The route planning was clear from the start and we planned to visit two Cuili, reaching the top of Mount Irveri and then down to Cala Cartoe. Because it is a one-way course we used two cars, the first left at the parking of Cala Cartoe needed to recover later the another car used to reach the starting point located near Cala Gonone.
We started from the top of the road of Bocche di Irghiriai and immediately climb along a well-marked path from which you can enjoy the beautiful view of Cala Gonone and its bay. The trail turns left (NW) and we find ourselves on the exposed side to the east of the massif of Monte Irveri continuing our steady climb to its top at 660m.
Cuile Ziu Tattannu
In the middle of the path that separates us from the top we find the beautiful Cuile Ziu Tattannu Irveri at an altitude of about 500m which has been carefully restored and from which you can admire the small plateau in front.
After a short break we start keeping us always high on the flank of the massif and crossing 1.5 kilometers of limestone fields until we reached the top of Mount Irveri, swept by a strong wind (just like in Sardinia is able to blow !!), but from which we can see an incredible landscape. North Orosei and the massive Tuttavista, Galtellì, west the valley of Dorgali and Mount S’Ospile, south bay of Cala Gonone while to the east the gleaming table of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Also in this case the stop is short as it is the end of July and the temperature rises quickly, a condition aggravated by the high degree of humidity, and we still must travel the most challenging part of the route.
From there the path is downhill and in some sections of plowed fields and dense bushy vegetation that make it more difficult to pass but we can already see in the distance our goal, Cala Cartoe. This “vision” at the beginning is encouraging but with the passage of time and kilometers of difficult terrain, fatigue begins to be felt and the heat that is escalating dangerously, really appears as a “mirage” unattainable.
Cuile Sa Tintura
After a series of steep descents reach the Cuile Sa Tintura, also in excellent condition, which will be unanimously elected to the place where refreshment and regain strength. Eat something light and energy (usually cereal bars, nuts or almonds, dried futta) and try to recover lost fluids with intense sweating.
The tour takes the path that at times it is difficult to follow until you reach a point where it seems overboard vertically. This stretch was particularly difficult as fatigue, exacerbated by high temperatures, and soil and extremely pliable with high slope, they have made the transition enormously more difficult. Finally we reached sea level and we continued along a dirt easy admiring countless inlets and coves that appeared to our right and then come to the coveted beach of Cala Cartoe in whose waters we granted the deserved refreshing bath after so much effort.
You can download the GPS track from Wikiloc from here: DOWNLOAD
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