bikes

Today�s ride is a 92 kilometre circuit to Noto, a historic Sicilian town, famous for having more churches per square kilometre than anywhere in Italy. It begins in the cool early morning at our B&B outside Ispica in south-western Sicily. We take a quiet back lane two kilometres through olive groves to the beach road, turn left and cycle with the Mediterranean on our right and pastel-painted Casas on our left. There�s a gentle breeze and the Council workers are out whippersnipping the undergrowth. For a few kilometres, we feel back home in Australia with frangapani blooming and eucalypt trees dusty and tall by the roadside. A plant that looks suspiciously like wattle crowds the footpath. At any moment, I�m expecting to see a flattened cane toad on the road.  No, just a hedgehog. In one village, a enterprising local is cultivating a small vineyard in sand. The plants looks green and robust. Cathie and I enter into a debate as to which country is directly to our right, across the ...

I can think of no better way to finish the perfect day than with a cycle up a Category One mountain in Sicily. We started today with a swim in the chilly Mediterranean of clear water and rocky headlands at Scorpello.  For lunch, we tried the local workers meal of Pane Cunzato - a doorstop-sized sandwich of olive oil, salt, tomato, cheese and sardines. After that, I needed a bike ride. Beginning at the fishing port of Trapani on the north coast of Sicily, I cycle up what must be one of the widest main roads in Italy. For a country of Fiat Bambini and Piaggios, here was a road fit for Hummers. Consequently, Italians drive three abreast down the Via. I wobble into the gutter and take the first right-hand turn and find myself confronting a 13% gradient out of town.  Craig, my bicycle, is a staid hybrid with twenty-one gears and is not suited to climbing. He prefers a slow wander on a bike path beside a river. But, we both have no alternative, so I press on and soon join the main r...