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Published: October 18th 2015
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Lunch break
Boules Park Cicily. Day 9. Sun 18 Oct
Last night we had squid and octopus again for a starter, unfortunately the suckers kept attaching themselves to the roof of my mouth, which slowed the meal down somewhat. Otherwise it was a great meal with free wine,which went down rather better than the crawley bits and more so since Ben kept topping up my glass when I was not looking. This was preceded by a walk around the town of Sciacca and people watching. The harbour had maybe 30 or 40 fishing boats anchored which bring in tonnes of fish each day to the busy fish market. It is a bit of a climb up the steps to the main town centre where there are many churches with singing going on. When we reached the Basillica, The Church of our Mother, we stumbled upon a wedding just finishing and a funeral just starting. They took up the carpet from the steps and then swept up the confetti before the black suited spivs with dark shades marched in with the Batmobile outside -see photo. Ice cream and wine was then taken by us as the scooters parked alongside. It looks like you are part of
Coastal scene
Porto Empedocle the ’in crowd’ if you have a scooter. The hotel was very nice and clean, as all so far, but the room at night was a bit stuffy. We didn't find the miniature window until morning, mainly because they are always covered with a wooden door to keep out the sun. I am not sure I am too happy with the continental breakfast, although it would be better if they had soya milk allowing me to have decent tasting cereal. It tastes a bit bland with water. Bread and ham is ok for a while followed by brioch and cakes but not the same as porridge for a good start to a cycle ride. The sun was already getting strong as we set off and it was drying my previous night's washing nicely draped across my panniers. We climbed out of town and took a mixture of roads, taking quiet rural roads where possible. I have to admit that I think they are some of the worst roads I have ever seen on my world travels. India, China and even Vietnam have better roads and don't seem to suffer the same neglect. Busy roads have subsidence, potholes and rubbish left
on them. Yes, rubbish on the roadside is a major problem here. You see communal bins at the roadside and alongside them tonnes of rubbish just dumped. such as old fridges. sinks. tyres, concrete posts etc etc which has been there for years. We called at a supermarket and got a few sandwiches made for us, until the bread ran out, for our picnic lunch taken by a boules park. I would actually prefer a cafe, but with 21 of us it would be a slow job, I suppose. Despite our group riding system with human signposts we still managed to lose three riders today, but that was because they had got in front of the leader and had no Garmin to guide them. Rule No. 1, don't pass the lease unless you know the way. We arrived at the hotel in Agrigento at about 5 o clock, but it is a long way from the town centre and it is s free day tomorrow so we will be learning to ride the buses quite soon. If I lived in Sicily I would be buying some tranquilliser darts (by the gross) for the dogs which we hear yapping and barking
at just about every house we pass. This is extremely annoying. The weather is still good at 25 degrees plus, which is about 20 degrees more than Clitheroe. Storm coming mid week I hear from the meteo. I hope it's wrong.
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Richard Jnr
non-member comment
Cyclo Cross
Looks like you should've taken a cyclo-cross or hard tail mountain bike & not your new tourer. Looks like you're having a good time though. Definitely have more fun than most of us back home experiencing a cloudy late october with temperatures from 11 to 15 degrees.