2021 Sardinia Winter Tour, a journey within a journey proposed by HERERO 4X4 which, as usual, in December organizes for its customers an offroad itinerary to discover this magical italian region, which this year has amazed us, wrapping itself in a candid winter mantle, giving us dream lights and atmospheres.
 
The journey to this land always begins like this: a sunrise seen from the ferry that gives life to new emotions and that already makes you savor the purpose of the trip, with the imagination that flies in the desire to start a new adventure as soon as possible. Even if the sky does not promise anything good and the wind is biting, the sight of a seagull on the horizon brings peace.

Day 1
Just enough time for a little briefing, coffee and croissants, and we find ourselves back in the water, not on the ferry and in salty waters, but on board our Defenders, across the sweet waters of a river crossing. This is how our Winter Tour begins; transfers on fast dirt roads to the south, passing between arid hills and luxuriant woods, among the curious gazes of some grazing calves.

Unfortunately, with the delay accumulated by the ferry due to bad weather, we had to sacrifice a part of the itinerary to arrive in Orgosolo on schedule. The view of the Supramonte begins to dominate, dominating and towering over the other geological formations.

Day 2
The second day begins on a less fast dirt road than the previous one, but leaving the space to have fun by testing yourself in short more technical variations and trying to climb some firebreak lines. As you go up or go into less traveled parts, the vegetation changes according to the altitude; in the heart of the Supramonte it is still possible to savor a wild atmosphere and even the weather seems to favor the scenarios we encounter, from the clear morning sky with clouds on the horizon to a providential deluge in the middle of the stop for lunch; a rain that, reaching 800 meters above sea level, becomes a first taste of the snow, leaving us amazed and enthusiastic about what we thought was just a coincidence.
 
Before returning to Orgosolo, Efisio, our guide, chooses a track following a water course swollen by the rain and, if the snow brings enthusiasm, a river crossing makes every off-roader with a snorkel like a child with rubber boots in between. the puddles.

Day 3
In the night the flashes of lightning and the roar of thunder suggested a new day, decidedly humid and cold, however, unexpectedly, the morning began under a heavy snowfall that completely transformed the scenario. The limestone peaks of the Supramonte reminded everyone on a small scale of scenarios in the United States, horses grazing in the snow, herds of cattle seeking shelter in the bush and Lake Olai which in a bright light reflected the blue of the sky, creating a sensation of buoyancy on the opposite bank.
 
On this special day we arrived at about 1,300 a.s.l., the highest point reached on our journey. At that altitude the cold was really pungent, but the mixing of colors, from the green of the Mediterranean scrub to the orange and ocher of the rocky walls to the blue of the sky, warmed everyone’s minds, until, at dusk, our caravan reached Santa Maria Navarrese.

Day 4
You could not come this far without having an awakening on the sea. On our last day everything was slower, calmer … Or maybe not ?! Returning to the north, we stopped at the Efisio farmhouse, where his family prepared the grilled suckling pig for us, as tradition dictates. Certainly, in addition to the pig, there is the awareness of having created new friendships or consolidated existing ones and, above all, the desire to find themselves on a new journey all together for new tracks to discover.

2021 Sardinia Winter Tour
There is only one picture in which I asked the protagonists of this trip to pose, indicating different directions from each other in what was a somewhat particular situation. I did it for two reasons: to have a live memory in a moment of apparent loss of the correct way forward, to descend from the top of that mountain down to the valley. The second reason is more personal: just a few days before, as soon as we arrived in Olbia, we didn’t know each other, except through Davide. In the next days I saw a dozen strangers bonding a lot with each other, creating a fantastic travel group: I liked the idea of ​​having an image in which everyone indicated the next destination, peak or path to reach in order to experience a new one adventure.