An Unexpected Encounter While Roaming Monte San Giorgio
On the hills
Mountain biking in the Sardinian hills is a peaceful adventure, all you can hear is the wind and the birds chirping. It is quiet, calm and tranquil. Sometimes you come across a flock of goats or sheep. Their bells are like a symphony of beautiful lively music, filling the air with cheerful tinkling as the animals move. The bells the goats have are bigger than the ones the sheep have so they have a different tone. My untrained ears struggle to tell the difference, but for the people living in these hills it’s easy. To me it all sounds like music.
Hearing unexpected noises
One day we were cycling peacefully, enjoying the open landscape on the top ridge of the hill. Cycling on a very bumpy dirt road which was leading down to one of the abandoned mining villages the landscape here is so ripe with. The rain had washed away most of the road, leaving deep furrows and large rocks poking up here and there. It was bumpy enough with a full suspension mountain bike navigating around the large rocks.
Then I heard a whirring noise sounding like a car, not possible I thought, nobody can drive here. But the humming motor noise came closer and closer. As it drew closer I could also hear a squeaking noise, like that of a worn out car suspension. And right enough, around the corner and down the hill came an old and battered white Fiat Panda. I did not believe my own eyes! I knew I had been cycling 7-8km from the main road on this surface that can not really be called a road, more like a rough track! This meant that the Fiat Panda must have driven 7-8km on that surface too, no wonder the suspension was creaking like it would burst at the next bump!
Little white car
I was just looking in disbelief at this little white car coming closer. When he drew up to us he stopped. Rolled down the window to reveal a brown, wrinkled, friendly face, marked after years under the burning Sardinian sun, asking us if we had seen any goats. When the answer was ‘no’, we have not seen any goats, he continued on his merry way down the hill, suspension squeaking, car bumping and swaying from side to side down the track.
I was told this was the shepherd, looking for his unruly flock of Sardinian goats.
I have always regarded the Fiat Panda as a small, tiny car, not strong or particularly tough, more like a city car. But to my astonishment, the Sardinias tell me there were/are 4×4 wheel drive Fiat pandas made.
On the topic of shepherds: to me the idea of shepherds seemed to be something from a time long gone. I never gave it any thought that it is still a profession today. But yes, they still exist, taken to using more modern transportation like the favoured 4×4 Fiat Panda. But one can still easily recognise the old school shepherds even when you see them away from the hills. They have this strong, forward bent, rhythmic way of walking, taking long strides, a strong and very determined way of moving forward. Often with a walking staff, or even a long umbrella in tow in the spring. They look as gnarled and tough as the landscape they live in.
Cheese and more cheese
If you want cheese, the strong homemade type you can see the shepherds for a variety of pecorino or goat’s cheese . That’s also where you start if you want to experience the traditional Casu Marzu cheese (now banned in the EU). It is a Pecorino cheese with added cheese fly larvae to cause an advanced level of fermentation. I have never seen this cheese and frankly it’s one Sardinian tradition I’m happy to avoid, but the shepherds know this secret too. To me it adds more aura of mystery and old traditions around these guys, a flair of a time long gone, but which still lives on in these people.
I have seen the shepherd’s tiny white battered Fiat Panda up on those hills on a few occasions after this first meeting. He seems to roam the hills in his little car like I roam them with my bike. I smile every time I see him, there we bump along on each our chosen mode of transport on the gorgeous Sardinian hills, a fellow traveller on the road of life.
As we’re talking about farm animals – here’s a link to post about the happy cows
lots of love,
Bee