To Salemi

March 21, 2023

Seven years ago we ended our tour of Sicily by bicycling back to Palermo from the southern interior, with an overnight stop in Monreale. The ride to Monreale was a long, quite difficult day that began in Palazzo Adriano, the charming small town where Cinema Paradiso was filmed. We described this day over dinner with Al and Jacquie last night, because they too will be entering Palermo from the south with a stopover in Monreale at the end of their tour. We wanted them to learn from our experience and not take the same route into Monreale that we did, which was probably our worst day in the saddle of that whole tour.

Thinking back on that day reminded me of Chiara Franchi, a charming young woman who rescued us at dinner and at breakfast the following morning by helping us with the menu. It came naturally to Chiara, a professional tour guide from Rome. We exchanged emails before leaving, and later I contacted her to thank her again for her kindness and to refer her to a man who had read our journal and was interested in hiring her as a guide for his upcoming visit to the Eternal City.

Rachael and I still think of Chiara from time to time and reminisce over what a special encounter that was for us, but I have never had reason to get back in touch with her since that last exchange seven years ago.

So it is an understatement to say it was a surprise to receive this email the very next day after describing her to Jacquie and Al:

Ciao ragazzi,

how are you? Hope you are fine and in good health.

Watching now a documentary about this event that takes place every year in Tuscany: (included was a link to the website for L’Eroica, a cycling event).

I suddenly got a memory of you.

May be it could be a reason to come back to Italy.

Baci

Chiara

The timing of this is an unfathomable coincidence, and it’s also hard to believe she kept our email after all these years. I was deeply touched, and sad that it hadn’t occurred to me to try to get in touch with her when we were in Rome two years ago.

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We have a short but challenging ride today to Salemi, our base for the next two nights. It’s only 23 miles, but most of them seem to be uphill. We’re both apprehensive about the ride, thinking about my experience yesterday; but the plan is to just take our time and hope for the best. Fortunately Rachael is achy but otherwise fine after yesterday’s spill; and fortunately I’ve got a good but non-zoom camera along as a backup for my apparently damaged one. So really, it’s just the state of my health we’re concerned about.

We can’t check into our room in Salemi until 3:30, so there’s no rush getting out the door. Our breakfast isn’t served until eight, and it’s about ten by the time we finally mobilize.

Leaving Castellammare. Our room is on the right side of this square.

Castellammare is challenging to escape from with its narrow, steep one way streets - steep enough that there’s a fair amount of walking and pushing before we escape town. On the way, we add a half mile on detours to the pharmacy and grocery store.

Castellammare del Golfo rises steeply up from the waterfront.

It’s a two part ride today beginning with a climb to Segesta, the site of one of the exceptionally preserved Greek ruins that Sicily is famous for. It’s nine miles to Segesta, most of them gradually uphill. We ride there on another minor semi-paved road most of the way, virtually empty except for ourselves. It’s a beautiful ride, the lane lined by cacti and flowers; and the climbing isn’t bad except for the first, very steep ramp that lifts us above the highway. Happily I don’t have any trouble with the climb, other than that first 19% slope that forces us both to dismount and push. It definitely helps that we’re in luck with the weather and have about a 15 mph tailwind pushing us uphill most of the day.

The sky looks questionable at first, but skies open up before long.

A giant fennel, about to explode into bloom.

Is it OK to find a highway like this beautiful? It looks so graceful.

We’re looking down on the Erice wine region, but that band of canola really catches our eye.

“I can see clearly now, the rain is gone”. It helps having a functional camera too, of course.

As is so often the case in the Sicilian interior, many of the minor roads have stretches like this. Unless they’re really bad we don’t mind - it cuts the traffic down severely, and we hardly see a car for most of the day.

And it gives a lot of texture to the day. So much more interesting than smooth, boring pavement without end.

It’s about noon when we finally arrive at Segesta. We know Al and Jacquie were coming here today too on their ride to Trapani, but we aren’t surprised to not find them still here. with a longer ride ahead they undoubtedly got an earlier start and were moving faster than we have been.

If you’ve been to Sicily or followed any of the Sicilian journals here you’re probably already familiar with the ancient city of Segesta and its Doric temple, built in about 430 BC but never completed. It’s such a surprise to find some of the best preserved Greek ruins here in Sicily.

The view to the north. There’s that yellow ribbon again.

It’s about two when we leave the archeological park after we’ve done with exploring the temple, eating our picnic lunch, and repacking the bikes. The ride from Segesta to Salemi is in some ways similar to the morning ride - mostly uphill, mostly on empty distressed roads. It begins though with an attempt at a shortcut on about a mile of something RideWithGPS classifies as an unpaved road. It’s definitely unpaved, but after about a quarter mile we decide that it doesn’t really feel roadlike - at least not one that meets our criteria. When we come to a muddy water track we backtrack and look at the map for Plan B.

Slow, but reasonable. If it’s no worse than this it’s worth it to save a few miles.

Plan B is fine - a minor paved rod that joins up with our mapped path after adding at most two miles. One slight problem though is that it too comes within water trap, one that spans the rod and forces us to takeoff the shoes and wade. Rachael’s game to bike through, and as it turns out that might have worked out OK; but I talk her out of it, not knowing what’s under that surface. She doesn’t need two falls in a many days.

There’s really no choice this time. The only other option is a really long way around.

Most of the rest of the way to Salemi is a brilliant ride - quiet, peaceful scenic - on another broken road that alternates between pavement, potholes and grit. It climbs gradually for about fifteen miles before finally cresting at a cold, windy gap followed by a long descent. The last mile into Salemi, a hill town, is steeply uphill on a narrow, congested street that catches us off guard after such a quiet day.

A wall of cactus must make an effective windbreak for your farmhouse.

Nice! We don’t even have to take our shoes off for this one!

Our road, viewed from the top of the climb. It’s an annoyance that the ClimbPro didn’t register it as a climb.

Vita seems like such an unlikely name for this place.

It’s getting late in the day when we near Salemi, so faster Rachael bikes ahead to claim our apartment before we’re any later. She has a hard time claiming it when she arrives because she has a hard time finding it, tucked down a side lane not quite where I’d mapped it. When I arrive she’s calling me on the phone trying to explain where it’s located, and I’m struggling with the instructions when I realize that I can hear her both on the phone and directly. I look up, see her beckoning my way, and follow her around the corner.

it’s a lovely apartment, very comfortable once we get oriented by the mother, a congenial woman who is a school teacher and apparently well read judging by all the books on the shelves. She speaks zero English, but her son, who’s on hand for the evening to facilitate checkin, speaks just enough to get by.

We ask about restaurants and get discouraging news. There’s nothing in this part of town except a bar, Burger House, and Happy Pizza. There’s a restaurant at the bottom of a very steep hill a mile away, but we’re cold and tired so going out for pizza sounds better this evening. We end up at Burger House because Happy Pizza isn’t open after all; and order pizzas that are just good enough.

We’re in Salemi for two nights, for reasons that aren’t immediately obvious now that we’re here.

Heart

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Ride stats today: 28 miles, 3,400’; for the tour: 88 miles, 8,700’

Today's ride: 28 miles (45 km)
Total: 88 miles (142 km)

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Rachel and Patrick HugensStay healthy you two
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1 year ago

Scott AndersonTo Rachel and Patrick HugensDoing our best.
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1 year ago

Graham FinchThe camera seems to be fine now!
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1 year ago

Scott AndersonTo Graham FinchThat would be nice, if true. This is the backup camera. It’s another Lumix with a better lens actually, but without the zoom.
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1 year ago