Santo Stefano di Camastre to Nicosia

June 5, 2018

Santo Stephano di Camastre is situated on a small bump-out at the edge of, the Tyrrhenian Sea. At its western edge is a belvedere with spectacular views across a large valley and along the coast towards Cefalu. We had been eyeing this view since we arrived yesterday, as our plan was to ride up the valley and through the Nebrodie Mountains to Nicosia today. There was a network of roads in the valley, but the road that caught our attention was the monstrous elevated highway off in the distance. I for one, hoped we could avoid it.

Last night's sleep was punctuated by the sounds of the night. The narrow streets lined by two storey plastered concrete buildings created one big echo chamber. I could hear every word spoken by those strolling on the street below us. As the night wore on, the cats and dogs had their turn. I couldn’t tell who the victor was, but there were a lot of barks and meows being exchanged.

We were served breakfast by Carmela, who sat at the breakfast table while we noshed on our coffees, sweets and pecorino cheese. We were her only customers on this day and conversation was limited so smiles and nods were all we managed. After breakfast we clacked our way gingerly down the steep stairs to the street level, panniers and front packs in hand. The bank was already open so we wheeled the bikes out of the bank and headed off to the belvedere to survey our route.

That's one tight, tire squealing, hairpin turn at the town’s edge.

As we descended from the city, we encountered a sleeping dog in the middle of our lane. I took it to mean the dog was completely exhausted at 9:00 am after a tough night shift and/or the traffic was really light along this stretch. The dog was non-plussed as we cruised past. I am a dog lover so this is not easy to experience.

We crossed a bridge over a desiccated river bed at the bottom of the valley and it quickly became clear we would be riding the elevated highway. I banished any thoughts of being afraid of the height and set my mind to focus on holding a good steady line and pace. Luckily we had the road to ourselves, save for two cars that passed us, so any worry had been for naught. We stopped for a view back at the highway after getting off the last raised section.

Yes, we really did ride that highway on stilts.

The next highway feature we came upon was a long uphill tunnel, one of many today. As you can see in the photo, it was a well lit tunnel with a shoulder so it was fairly stress-free. The breeze was behind us again today (yes, Truls it's true!) and although it’s helpful to get nudged along, the temperature was rising and the cool tunnels came as a relief from the heat.

The SS117 was in very good condition and was lightly travelled all morning, making for a very pleasant climb. The perks of all that work come when you take a bum break and check out the views. They became more impressive by the minute.

Road surface and grade were both excellent on this climb.

View across the valley just out of Reitano.

We eventually reached the village of Mistretta and by this time we were ready for a stop to re-hydrate with a cold drink. A small bar appeared at the right time so we went in and bought some cold Cokes (I'd never drink this at home). There were wooden benches on the sidewalk outside in the shade so we plunked ourselves down and took a rest while glugging down our colas. Our water supplies had been somewhat depleted, so we stopped in at a small store to buy a 2L bottle of cold water for the next leg of the hill. Feeling refreshed, we continued onward and upward.

The air was fresh and cool as we neared the summit.

Small farmsteads popped up here and there.

Couldn't resist taking this shot of the cow on the tiled roof.

As we progressed, the grade became gentler and giant wind turbines dotted the hillsides, a sure sign that the summit was not far away. We had left the coast behind and were surrounded by gorgeous green mountain scenery.

Wind turbines are a sure sign we were near the summit.

The cows seemed to like the shade provided by the towers.

The road condition began to deteriorate in typical Sicilian style in this lightly populated area. That is, the road had some serious slumps due to a poor road base (?). These woop-de-doo's are not a problem for us at slow speed but it could be a mighty surprise for someone travelling at speed, especially at night.

We suspected we would have a good view of Mt. Etna eventually on this ride but judging from the clouds on the surrounding mountains, I thought it would be a long shot. I was chattering on about this to David up ahead when the road took a turn over a grassy knoll and, as though it had been choreographed, there was Etna in all its glory with a plume of ashen smoke slowly rising from it. Our jaws dropped and we stopped to gaze at its beauty against the beautiful blue sky. It's not every day that Etna burps like this, so it was a special moment.

As we gazed at Etna's plume, we were treated to a scene that had unfolded in front of us: of a herd of sheep was being tended by two shepherd dogs. One dog was among the sheep and the second sat guard in the field almost 100m away. The relationship these dogs have with their sheep is quite extraordinary and we knew the dogs meant business so we were careful not to cause them any distress and moved quickly on down the road.

The bucolic scene, including a well camo'd guard dog.

The lone sentry barely took his focus from his flock.

It was a glorious 30k ride to the summit, but the actual hilly section was just 20k. It was hardly a summit like you'd find in the French Alps, but no respectable cycle tourist ever passes the chance for a summit photo!

One never misses the chance for a summit photo, even if the summit is rather flat.

As we were climbing the hill today, we came upon a road work crew with some heavy equipment doing some serious renovation work on the highway. We thought how unusual it was to see a crew working on the roads, but they seemed to be doing some good work on a section that was in need of it. What followed over the next 5 kilometres was about to blow our minds. This SS117 had been the focus of much work over lord knows how many years. There was section after section of concrete structures, none of which had been connected or were functioning. In fact, mother nature was returning all that work back to the earth. Plants grew through giant concrete slabs, there were giant cracks in the crumbling concrete and none of these would ever be usable. It was really quite shocking to see how much effort and money had gone to waste. It put a light on the work we had seen earlier in the day. Would that effort amount to anything more than a few wages? It was so sad, we took few pictures.

Once we made it over the final ridge the views over the rolling inland hilly terrain clothed in a patchwork of grains were stunning. We enjoyed the glorious warm breeze as we cruised down the road on the final leg of today's ride to Nicosia.

Ahhhhh....the rewards of all that climbing are sweet. Notice the sign on the road, notifying drivers of a crumbling roadway.

I always think of the hardworking farmers when I see a beautiful patchwork like this.

Nicosia is draped over and between two dramatic hills that overlook the countryside surrounding it. We were more than ready for a cooling drink when we arrived at the central square. The traffic was on the nutty side so we quickly found a spot in the square with some shade and parked the bikes.

What would an urban planner think of this?

This is not a traffic jam...no honking horns. Just a regular afternoon in Nicosia.

We went into the bar for a drink and were faced with the most inviting display of gelato on the planet. The proprietor started her sales pitch and seconds later I had ordered a massive three boules of gelato with whipping cream and cookies. You'd think I was stressed out, but honestly I wasn't. It was pure unadulterated indulgence (reward).

Our B&B was another challenging one to locate. The owner was well aware of this so he was out on the main road to flag us down. We parked our bikes in his secure garage, situated on a small lane with a 20% grade, then lugged our gear up to the elevator and to our 3rd floor suite.

Nicosians are continually walking uphill, upstairs, downhill or downstairs.

We had time to get cleaned up, have a siesta and catch up on our email before heading out to a family restaurant for a pizza dinner. Below is the view from the street where we ate dinner. There are no bad views from this town.

You can see the wind farm we rode through today, far in the distance.

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Today's ride: 46 km (29 miles)
Total: 923 km (573 miles)

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