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In Which Oiy Fink Oiy Louk Loik Dick Vaahn Dyke
June 27, 2008 by Mike
Isola de Femmine
Route: San Leone - Castlevetrano - Marsala - Trapani - Erice - Isola de Femmine
Up and away bright and early. San Leone was never likely to detain me for long. There's nothing to it but long stretches of golden sand and the cool, quiet, turquoise sea. Heh.
If I had the time and the inclination to go just a couple of miles inland I could have walked for many a long hour through the Valley Of The Temples, or overlooking both valley and sea, the ancient city of Agrigento. Hmm.
Instead, I rode on around Sicily's southwest corner to Marsala. It's a countryside bleached by age and the sun. A parched land, a rocky land, a hard land. It can be difficult to decipher: is that a rock formation or the remains of an ancient building?
This is a land where the oldest remains really are as old as the hills, and the oldest people look like they are too.
--
It's a bit like riding through London. But only a bit.
I may only see a couple of hundred vehicles in a day's riding, but a third of them will be lorries, vans or little three-wheeled Vespa thingummies that belch smoke out very much in the style of Mount Etna. Maybe it's a Sicily thing.. but my face is grimy and sooty at the end of the day. London grimy. Think Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins.
(And in the UK, those vehicles would be taken off the road by the police, no question. So my question is: why the bloomin' hell not here? Is Italy in the EU? Is there, in fact, any set of rules governing the roads here? Cos I don't see it....
--
It's still impossible to get online. I still suspect Berlusconi is hiding the outside world from the populace. If I'd been able to get my fix of the Guardian Online I might have read about one of the coolest clubs in the world being in Catania. But I couldn't, so I didn't. Which, all things being considered, must be a good thing. What if I'd tried to go there? And tried to dance? In public? Doesn't bear thinking about.
--
The museum at Marsala didn't detain me for long. It needn't detain us now.
Past Trapani, still intent on getting round Sicily at the speed of a normal biking holiday. But as I turn the corner, heading east instead of north, I am confronted by a mahoosive raincloud: in fact, a huge thunderstorm, hanging over the coast. Dangnabbit, and to think I was praying for a little light rain to cool me down earlier this morning.
But hang on.. this is Sicily.. the rules are different.. and I cut inland, rising rapidly up the road to Erice, jagged switchbacks and turns as the road climbs the side of Mount Erice, looking back on Trapani the town is lid out like a map before me, then on again, past a couple of remote farms, to the town itself, ancient and timeworn, well-visited by us tourists but with a life of its own too. (Italy's Magnus Pyke -- their very own eccentric, popularising rent-a-quote TV scientist -- lives here. There are shops selling stuff. There are locals who ignore me rather than trying to sell me things. This is A Good Thing.)
The roads up here in the hills are *above* the rain clouds. It's an eerie feeling after so long at sea level. It's big country here, wheat fields and small mountains as far as the eye can see. It's stunning. You remember that bit when Al Pacino has killed the Police Captain and has to hide out in the old country...? I find myself laughing and whooping at the beauty around me -- and at having outwitted that pesky rain.
I ride on, trying to get as close as possible to Palermo, stopping by chance to get my bearings at the very spot where Judge Giovanni Falcone and four others were killed by a Mafia bomb as they drove in from the airport (now renamed in his honour). The memorial is big and the message -- you hope -- is loud and clear: that the Mafia can't win. Hmmm.
To a a campsite at Isola de Femmine -- a seaside suburb of Palermo -- lovely views out to sea, and as the sun sets a wedding party gathers to be photographed. I photograph the photographer photographing them. If anyone took pictures of me at the same time, I'd love to see them.
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By kc | July 27, 2008 1:52 PM
Really like the sunset wedding pic Mike - I reckon thats worth a prize!
It would go very well with Emmas wintery sun light pic!