In Sciacca

March 25, 2023

Hooray! There’s this excellent news in the evening’s mail:

Dear Mr. Anderson,

I am glad to inform you that your suitcases arrived. We will keep them in the luggage room here at the Hotel Re Enzo for you.

Kind regards,

Veronica

Booking Office

It’s a relief, for sure. For some reason I spaced out on following up to call the hotel on the day the suitcases were due to arrive, three days ago now. I’ve heard nothing and UPS sent no confirmation so I was fearing the worst while waiting to hear back from the hotel after I finally remembered to check in with them.

Suzanne and Janos were such saviors when they shipped down their unused suitcases to replace our lost ones at the end of last year’s tour. I’d feel terrible to have lost them so soon.

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The tile garden atop the neighbor’s ruined roof.

This is a pretty lazy, disorganized post, just a cut above a photo dump. We’ll start by making quick work of my solo day ride to the northwest of the city. Rachael helps me lift the bike down the short but steep set of stairs to the alley in front of the hotel, and then she and I are off - she on a walk to the northeast, because she’s still achy from her fall five days ago and wants a day off the saddle, and because 15 mph winds are in the forecast and she doesn’t care much for riding the wind.

We start out together, following the one zigzag stairless path that gets us out of our warren, but when I come to a bit of wall art I want to stop at she’s quickly gone.

She’s gone, taking care to not walk down this steep, uneven street staring at the map on her phone.

As long as we’re paused here anyway, it’s as good a spot as any to place a few photos of the wall art hidden in unlikely spots up these alleys.

The ride begins with a five mile run west along the coast, once I get there by dropping steeply through the city’s narrow, busy streets. It’s stop and go work that holds my attention, alternating between waiting behind a queue of stalled cars, wedging my way past them in the gap on the right, and dropping down streets that are too steep and rough for comfort.

It’s not an easy city to bike in, but being behind the wheel of a car would be a nightmare. A nimble scooter with more power and acceleration is probably the best tool for the job.

Escaping town through the narrow, apparently historical west gate. Cars on the other side are jammed up and inching forward until they finally get through and the streets widen out.

The miles along the coast are an easy ride, but not particularly scenic except for a few spots where a decent view opens up. It’s quiet though, so I have no complaints.

Looking back at Sciacca as I start climbing away from the water.

The next five miles are an easy, gradual climb over the littoral ridge. From the top I enjoy a swooping descent into the broad basin Rachael and I crossed yesterday going the other direction. I’m cutting northwest across it, and for about a half mile I cross and briefly follow yesterday’s route before climbing out the other side angling north toward Menfi.

Dropping into yesterday’s basin. I think that must be Castelvetrano sprawled atop the opposite plateau, or maybe its neighbor Campobasso.

Crossing the basin. I considered stopping for a shot of this ruin yesterday, so I’m getting a second chance today. Over its right shoulder you can see that giant viaduct that spans the basin.

After climbing out the other side of the basin I drop to a small creek before climbing again. Speeding downhill, I miss the sharp turnoff to a side road that I’ve marked on the route, a shortcut that will save me a mile. The Garmin helpfully alerts me that I’m off course before I’ve gone far past, so it’s a short climb back up to get on route again.

Now how did I miss this, barreling downhill around that bend?

It’s a poor idea for a shortcut though. I turn off this lane to cross the shallow creek at what looks like the right spot but isn’t. After carefully tiptoeing across the slimy rocks I find it’s a dead end and tiptoe back.

Twenty yards later I come to the right spot, but it’s definitely the wrong one for the likes of me. Looking at the path quality and the steep slope on the other side, it’s an obvious no-go decision. I double back to the main road and take the long way around to the top, adding a mile or so to the planned ride but probably saving an hour or so.

For the next five miles the Garmin keeps trying to reroute to this lovely spot but I’m not having it. I can read a map and see where I’m trying to get to, and after four or five miles of moderate climbing I finally converge with the mapped route.

I’m glad to finally reach the top, not because it’s been a particularly hard climb but because I’ve been biking into a 15+ mph headwind most of the morning. It’s a relief when I finally change direction and start biking eastward. For the next several miles I cross the basin again, but further inland on the opposite side of the viaduct. I’m near the top end of the basin where the land is more contoured and interesting. Along the crest of the ridge a line of wind generators is spinning away at a good clip.

There’s a roadless gap through the ridge that looks like the course of the stream that must have carved out this basin. On the far side of the gap is Lake Arancio.

The viaduct again, from the north side now.

When I come to another rough lane that I’d marked out as a shortcut to save a mile I pause for a long look. I consider the chances that there will be a stream to be waded at the bottom, and gauge how steep the rise out the other side is before deciding to give it a go. It’s the right choice - it’s a bit rough at the far end, but there’s no creek at the bottom and it’s much quieter than the busy modern road I’d been following for the last several miles.

The one situation I hadn’t considered though was the dogs. There are three of them snarling and barking at me to turn me back, because they’re protecting a small herd of sheep. Fortunately the herder is up there with the sheep too and whistles them off, and eventually they obey and grudgingly let me pass unscathed. Almost as soon as I pass the sheep start tumbling out of the grass and onto the path, going the way I’ve just come from.

From here there’s one last, easy five mile climb before topping out and dropping steeply toward town. The climb might have felt like more but this time that 15 mph wind has my back and it’s a breeze climbing up.

A nice contrast to the vines and olives.

Looks like a tempting road to the top. I’d be right on it with more hours in the day, and a different bike, and a different body.

Some jackdaws, two of about fifty that have been swirling around but keeping their distance. Oh, right - I’m keeping count. #126.

#127: Common buzzard. One of a pair, to match the other pair I saw earlier today.

This looks up, but actually I’m on the long descent to town here. This is the first time I’ve seen a terraced slope here this year.

Looks like this could be an old marble quarry.

Rachael’s at the door waiting to let me in (we’ve only got one key here). I’m tired and a bit stressed when I arrive, because I’ve come into our warren from above this time and have been struggling to find our hotel. I’ve spent the last five minutes probably within about two blocks of it, exploring and testing steep alleys and dead ends before finally finding the way through.

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Rachael is enthusiastic about her twelve mile walk today up into the hills northeast of town on a panoramic trail. She chooses to let the photos just speak for themselves this time though; so speak, photographs!

The plan for the evening is to head back down to the piazza in time to catch the sunset and then head over to Art Deco, a restaurant we passed last night on the way back to the room, liked the looks of and booked ourselves into. It’s really a beautiful evening - sunny, warm, not so windy now - and we just loaf around on the piazza for a half hour, sitting on a bench in the sun or wandering around aimlessly taking in the colorful scene.

The best part of the show is watching the birds come in to roost for the night in the row of ancient laurels that borders the piazza. All of a sudden they start converging in waves of 20 or 50 birds at a time, speeding in from across the city and getting sucked up into the lime of laurels like it was a giant vacuum cleaner. Wave after wave comes in for about twenty minutes - there must be thousands of birds hiding in those laurels by the end, cheerily singing out the end of the day.

Eventually the sun drops and it quickly gets too chilly to stay outside. We’re pleasantly surprised that the restaurant is open when we walk by, but somewhat disappointed in our meal. If we’d known better, we’d have gone back to last night’s restaurant again.

The stars are in alignment tonight. Here’s the moon and Venus, and Jupiter is off frame but visible just above the horizon. According to the paper, we could also see Mercury, Mars and Uranus strung in a vertical line with the right spotting equipment.

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Ride stats today: 35 miles, 2,800’; for the tour: 180 miles, 14,000’

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2023 Bird List

126. Jackdaw

127. Common buzzard

Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 180 miles (290 km)

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