Enna to Adrano

April 10, 2023

A pretty basic transit day today. Some of the scenery was pretty, but the towns we passed through were boring and workaday for the most part. The weather might have had something to do with it, continuing unseasonably cold and threatening to really rain at any moment. The headwind most of the day didn’t help—but at least we never got more than a few drops of rain.

Just outside the storage room where our bikes had been stashed: the little business empire.

The ride started with a 15-km descent from Enna, followed by what was actually the biggest climb of the day, up to and through Leonforte. We stopped to get lunch supplies at the Coop grocery we passed, which turned out to be a very good move since the next town, Nissoria, had nothing, and we arrived in Agira just before the usual 1300h closing time. We are in a little empty piazza in Agira, conveniently with benches in the sun and a large gazebo should the threatening clouds decide to open on us. Agira looked, as we approached it, like it could be an interesting hilltop town, but our route more or less contoured around it and we knew there was lots more climbing to be done.

Looking back at Enna on the left and Calascibetta on the right, from the climb to Leonforte.

One thing Agira had that we didn’t expect at all was actually below the town, after we had zoomed down the switchbacks on our way east. The Agira Canadian War Cemetery. We didn’t go in; Al was way ahead and hadn’t seen it, plus we were moving along with a rare tailwind.

The Agira Canadian War Cemetery, seen from the highway.

When I caught up to Al, he was waiting for me and enjoying this view.

Somewhere along the road approaching Regalbuto, two AG2R cyclists in team kit passed us going the other way. We expected they were pros since they were followed by a team van. Training for something.

We finally reached the last climb, up into Adrano itself. Al’s theory that Catania (province?) was doing better with respect to garbage collection was thoroughly refuted on this climb. It was awful.

But we did get a peek at Etna, which had been hiding in the clouds all day.

We are staying at Patty’s House B&B and suspect not only are we the only guests here tonight, we might be the first of the season.

Easter Monday is still a holiday in Sicily so not much was open for dinner. We opted for the closest open pizzeria in case the rain should start again. Yes, it missed us on the ride but poured in earnest after we were snug in our room.

My asparagus and mushroom pizza had a lot of prosciutto crudo. It was tasty.

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Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 1,016 km (631 miles)

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David MathersThe Giro di Sicilia starts April 11 so the Ag2r boys were probably getting their last training ride in 👍
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1 year ago

Jacquie GaudetTo David MathersWe will have to look that up. We don’t follow much bike racing as we’d rather be out riding.
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1 year ago