Clelia and I have been walking for years, and when it comes time to give ourselves a rest, we can only imagine traveling at a slow pace. Our search for spaces with little traffic has become really complicated because the development of the paths has led numerous pilgrims to clog the most publicized routes. This is how we end up valuing those routes that unexpectedly give us unexpected satisfaction. It was precisely in this way that we came to know of an inspiring route on an island unknown to us: the Way of Bonaria.
The ingredients for a good experience are all there: route not particularly impassable, with little elevation gain, suitable for winter, with deep connections to the history of the place, little traveled, far from big cities. What is Sardinia while walking? Florida and lush thanks to the rains, ancestral of ruins and sheep pastures, silent and discreet but warm in welcoming us. We needed rest, to move our gaze far into the horizon, to immerse our minds in thoughtlessness, and so it was. Now the heart is full of memories: going up to Mount Gonare in the rain, surrounded by fog and seeing two opaque figures, the volunteers, welcoming us in the cumbessias; drying our soaked clothes thanks to the warmth of the small stove and falling asleep while the hiss of the cold wind rages outside; waking up and admiring from the Sanctuary the light of dawn illuminating the now clean landscape, the profile of the mountains radiating from the sun, the small villages in the distance, the roads beyond the fog.
We were attracted by many things, in particular we were amazed by the level of communication and dissemination of news in real time among the contact persons of the individual municipalities crossed. It is precisely because of this that we are ready for the next step, the one in which the journey is given to others, to all those who must love the journey and who must now responsibly take care of its endurance so that the journey continues to be everyone’s.
Happy trails, ajó.
Roberto and Clelia
