Blind Faith – Baglady in Sardinia

Words & photography: Griffiths
Watch our accompanying video by Nick Richards here.

Never get your hopes up
Skateboarding in the UK in winter sucks. We know this. So when someone told us of a distant island with mild winters, lots of spots and hardly any rain, we got excited for a break from depression sessions in London. As it turned out, winter in Sardinia was milder (a whole three degrees milder) and there were lots of spots, but the tip about rain turned out to be a dud. It rained every single day.

There’s a certain charm to getting lost in a small town where you don’t speak the language – it’s just the right amount of unknowing to bring back an adolescent feeling of wonder. Unfortunately that wonder quickly evaporates with the constant use of Google Maps. It’s easy to get into the habit of using our phones for absolutely everything. Some people take it too far however, like when an unnamed member of the squad guided a group of very hungry, wet boys across an unfamiliar town to get food. After searching restaurants, Google told us everywhere was closed except for one establishment on the other side of town. We became confused, as the restaurants we passed seemed oddly open. Nevertheless, we followed our confident leader with his trusty phone, who was unperturbed by comments such as: “That one looks quite nice. I think there are people in there.” His unwavering faith in Google was impressive. Unfortunately the one open restaurant in town turned out to be the only closed restaurant in town. Blindly following Google to no avail became another disappointing theme during our time in Sardinia.

I also brought my own fair share of disappointment to the party. 

A friend mentioned to me pre-trip that Sardinia has lovely cheap wines in abundance. In my experience Airbnb hosts often leave a bottle of wine as a welcome gift. Our host in Sardinia left 20. With my friend’s hazy advice in mind, I convinced the rest of the group that all 20 bottles were freebies: “Trust me, the wine is just cheap here!” So we got stuck in. Please remember it was raining. We were inside a lot.

A week after leaving said Airbnb we received a bill that proved me wrong. It’s good to admit when you’re wrong. The 20 bottles were neither a present nor cheap.

Our time on the island wasn’t all bad though. We discovered a lovely local restaurant with a talented chef and one of the best wine selections on the island. After one meal where everyone ordered the cheapest item on the menu and no wine, we pledged to return at the end of the trip and enjoy the chef’s speciality – beef cheeks – paired with some lovely wine. The thought of beef cheeks really kept us going during our sodden time in this so-called paradise. It seemed fitting that when we finally returned to the restaurant on the last night the chef had only one portion of beef cheeks left. We ordered that last portion and when it came my god did we savour that single bite of beef cheek each.