April 5, 2023
Palazzolo Acreide to Grammichele
via Monte Lauro
Today we experienced a bit of Type 2 fun. You know, the kind that wasn’t really fun at the time…and maybe might be in retrospect, once you’ve fully recovered.
Our day started well enough. We walked from our accommodation to Pasticceria Caprice, breakfast coupons in hand. The pastries were probably the best I’ve had in Italy and the coffee was good too. I could have sat there all day and perhaps I should have. We both liked Palazzolo Acreide; good vibes, I guess.
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We loaded up and set off, then stopped less than 200 m from our start to put on more clothes. The fabulous sky we’d seen on our walk back to our room after breakfast was gone; clouds had moved in and it was c-c-cold. We had had the best view yet of Mount Etna, which appeared to be covered in fresh snow. Perhaps we should have paid more attention to that.
Our route started with a descent on a main road but we soon turned off onto a nice, quiet road. Down and up and along through beautiful scenery and the sun came out so we put away those extra layers. Then we started the major climb of the day, over the shoulder of Monte Lauro. This would be the highest elevation we’d reached in Sicily thus far.
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We’ve seen a few foragers along the roads and today was no exception. One fellow had what appeared to be wild fennel fronds (?) in his open trunk and another fellow, one of a pair wearing neon workers’ coveralls, was collecting what might have been wild asparagus, having parked their work van on the side of the road.
As we came around a corner, we found ourselves in a strong wind, in our faces or from the side. It was a cold wind, but we were climbing. And then I was wondering when we’d get to the top because it was cold even climbing and those clouds off to our left looked threatening. Al had pulled off to wait for me to catch up and we both added our vests and rain jackets (they do double duty as windbreakers on descents). He said that ClimbPro (a Garmin feature I don’t use as it needs you to be navigating a course) indicated another 1.8 km to the top of the climb.
Before we had covered that distance, though, the sky opened and the rain started, increased in intensity, and then changed to sleet. Everything that wasn’t under the rain jackets soaked through. Al’s Garmin went crazy but mine still had the red line of our course showing. At our high point, we turned onto SP 11 and hid under a short palm tree (!) in the intersection’s island to get a bit of shelter to change to our warmer gloves and add toques. It would have been very difficult to add leg covers at this point so we didn’t.
Then it was down down down, slowly because the water on the road could mean it was slippery and we couldn’t really see, thanks to the sleet and the mist that had moved in. My brakes were howling and expressed my mood quite well. Al stopped to investigate a different noise: his tires were picking up the sleet and releasing it inside his fenders!
There are no photos of this dramatic part of the ride, not because my camera isn’t weatherproof but because I just wanted to get somewhere warm asap and my hands were cold and uncooperative.
As we descended, we could feel the temperature rising and could see sunlight and blue sky off ahead. At one point the full width of the roadway was under water. We stopped to consider our options and then noticed a van coming towards us. It drove through the puddle (lake?) slowly but smoothly so we decided to go for it. I didn’t look down but I’m sure my feet were going in the water as I pedalled. My shoes were already soaked so it’s not as though it made much difference.
We finally got out of the rain and stopped to add more layers. We were shivering so hard it was difficult to control our bikes. We ate some of the chocolates Al had bought as ride snacks and carried on.
It was uphill into Vizzini and the shivering had stopped by the time we got there around 12:30. It’s a sizeable town so we were dreaming of a hot meal somewhere but searched in vain for an open restaurant, pizzeria, or even a bar serving food. We gave up and headed for the Spar grocery store. Locked up tight; it closed at 1:00 and we arrived at 1:11. We could see a sign for a Coop so headed there. The door was open—to let the employees leave because it, too, closed at 1:00. We asked if anywhere was open to eat and none of the four of them could think of a place. The manager (?) then asked if sandwiches would be okay (yes!) and took Al in to get a couple and some drinks. Not what we had been hoping for but they would do. We ate them in a tiny plaza before rejoining our route onward.
The rest of the ride to Grammichele was along beautiful quiet roads, often in the sunshine, as though the storm had never happened. Only the occasional puddle for evidence.
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In Grammichele, we are staying at the same place the Andersons stayed in 2019, Affittacamere Sestiere Santa Caterina. It’s run by some young brothers and they remembered them. Quite nice, especially for the price, but we would have liked a bit more heat! It wasn’t cold but we still were as soon as we stopped moving.
Eventually we went for a wander to find potential places for dinner. Pizza it would be. This is the first town we’ve stayed in where that was the only option, but we knew it had to happen.
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Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles)
Total: 834 km (518 miles)
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So they really remembered us after four years? They probably don’t get many bike tourists dropping in on them.
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