Monte Suttaterra – Cala Luna

Table of contents:

1. Photostory
2. Maps and Stats
3. Trail Video

Photostory

Why not spending a day discovering secret beaches with crystal clear turquoise waters and enjoying a cold beer in the sun? This is the question we asked ourselves once setting foot in beautiful Cala Gonone, but we answered with probably the least agreeable response: “yes of course, but first we want to earn it: let us cycle all the way to the best beach in the area – 60km in total”.

Our target is Cala Luna, the jewel among the many beaches around here. We ask locals how to get there and we always get the same answer: “by boat”. We are not put off by these answers, as some quick Google search shows the existence of some sort of tracks climbing the mountains inland and ending up at the beach. The difficulty, though, is the length of the tour: almost 60 km and some 1500 meters to climb.

This is out of our reach (and will) but we quickly plan the best way to save uphill and length: we can hop on a bus to save the first 900 meters and we are told by the owner of a bike rental shop that most of the distance develops on a tarmac road with long downhill sections. Also, we learn that we can easily come back by boat.

The plan is on and we set off with the first bus in the morning. When we reach the top of the hill, the light still has the early morning soft tones.

Before even starting, we make the first costly mistake of the day. We had planned to cycle on the tarmac road for some 20 km heading South, but at the bus drop off we realize that there is a trail heading the same way going through the mountain.

We naively decide to go for this second, unplanned option and start our climb. At the beginning the doubletrack gravel road is steep but reasonable, and we enjoy nice views of the coastline below us.

However, soon the doubletrack becomes singletrack, the gradient goes from reasonable to insane, and the gravel leaves space to wobbly rocks offering no grip at all. The landscape is beautiful though, and we make the second mistake of the day: even if the ordeal ahead of us is obvious, we are too stubborn to turn back and leave the challenge untackled.

We spend literally a few hours mostly pushing our bike under the sun. There is no grip on this terrain, and our hopes for a smooth downhill section are denied after each and every saddle point.

At height we bump into a pack of goats, guarded only by irritable sheperd dogs.

Maria is struggling, mostly due to the heat, and our pace is extremely slow being forced to take numerous brakes.

When we finally encounter the path originally planned – much smoother – it is already very late. We made very little progress spending a considerable amount of energy so far, and the way ahead of us is extremely long as we would have to climb other 7 km to the tarmac road, cycle it for some 10 km and then endeavouring for the long 20km descent to the beach.

At this point we finally make a good decision: to abort the plan. Yes, because if we follow this easy doubletrack road towards the North, it would be entirely downhill and it would take us very quickly back to Cala Gonone where we would have plenty of time to enjoy the rest of the day.

Almost halfway down we encounter a fork in the road. Straight means home, right we have no clue. However we are told by some passer-by that the road on the right takes to a very nice viewpoint, almost right on top of Cala Luna.

As this option also means climbing, Maria takes some convincing but after a while she accepts and we set off for the uphill. The gradient is steep, but the tarmac helps for a relatively smooth climb.

Once at the top, the view is indeed very beautiful, offering dramatic sea and cliff landscapes.

Here we make our third mistake of the day: instead of turning back for a comfortable ride back to our hotel, we explore the possibility of reaching our wanted Cala Luna. As a matter of fact, we are almost directly above it, and by browsing some smartphone apps we determine that there is a trail taking us there.

The trail does exist, even if it takes quite some time to be discovered, and it proves incredibly fast and fun to ride: rather flowy and gentle, immersed in thick mediterranean vegetation.

However, the fun does not last long as we come to a clearing in the forest, and our trail dissipates. We try to follow our path on a straight line, but we come to jaw-dropping a vertical drop of about 300 meters – scary indeed! We try to climb back and look for alternatives, but it looks like we have entered a sort of canyon.

There is only a marked trail, but it is obvious that it is not meant for bikers. However, we have no other alternatives so we quickly find ourselves pushing our bikes – again.

After some exposed hairpin corners the canyon becomes taller and taller. It is actually quite beautiful and humbling, as we are so tiny in its comparison.

After over an hour we exit the canyon and reach the bottom of the valley, a large riverbed covered in sand, rock and vegetation. Again, not the best terrain for cycling.

We feel that our destination is almost there, so we overcome our tiredness and use our already drained energy reserves to go through the last section.

Finally the towering cliffs disappear and the riverbed opens up: here it is, we are in Cala Luna!!

We are extremely tired and we literally jump at the counter of the small food joint by the beach. This is not our day though as they have absolutely nothing left for us: just a couple of beers and one packet of potato crisps.
This is hardly enough for us, so Maria thinks it’s just better to relax on the sand.

We can’t even enjoy the beach too long because the last boat ride of the day is about to leave: knowing the effort required to get back to civilisation via land, we eagerly hop on it and call it a day!

Maps and Stats

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Trail Video

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