75. Corleone to Castellammare del Golfo

A very memorable day!

For all the wrong reasons!!

In between those bits…it was actually a lovely ride…through the high country of Sicily…full of hugely productive farms in the full swing of harvest.

We were only 17km from Corleone when our troubles started.

We were on a roughish track…..and the local farmer was irrigating his melons. A big cheerful wave as we biked past.

And down to the low point of this section of road. Yes…the irrigation pipeline was leaking a bit….I was cycling ahead….and as I hit the low point….the innocuous surface overly watered by the leaking irrigation…simply gave way….

…and I was stuck in the mud. Literally! I could not move! I was sitting astride the crossbar…but could not lift my left foot at all…and the more upward pressure I exerted on my left…the more my right foot was sinking…with the real risk of toppling over completely!

It was at one level…(ie if you were watching!)…hilarious! And our friendly farmer was standing atop a nearby bank…laughing his head off…offering “acqua fresca”…..and to divert the irrigation system to clean our bikes!!!

It was a delicate process…of extracting my foot from my immovable shoe (Keens…the perfect shoe for such an occasion!)…then hooking the back strap with my foot….and it slowly came up…encased in a ball of mud of football dimensions! It was mud like I have never seen! 

The bike thereafter moved forward about three feet…before the voluminous mud on the tyres reached the bridge of my front forks…and it was going nowhere! 

It was a long slow process…forward a foot…back six inches…clear the mud from both tyres…..forward a foot…back six inches….etc etc…until I was back on to (relatively) solid ground!!

Mud everywhere. 

Alan had watched this unfold…..and chose a side route…keeping his own feet largely unscathed. But…the bike? Exactly the same issue!! It really was the stickiest heaviest mud we had either ever come across.

Both bikes sounded like tanks for the next few kms…as the mud, picking up every bit of gravel etc, rubbed against mudguards, forks etc etc. 

But it dried eventually! And most of it fell off as we sped over the roughest ground possible, to shake it off!

Very funny really.….once all in the clear!!

Except….we were not in the clear!!

Barely 15km later….we stopped for a break. 

And afterwards I set off….and watched as Alan jumped on his bike behind me before I sped off down the hill (..Alan is a bit more cautious on hills…so I run way ahead of him!!).

5km later…I stop at a junction…and wait for him. Yes he is slow on hills…but this slow? His photo stops take a wee while too…but did he take this many? So after a while, I turned back…..and was indeed getting worried as the kms piled up. 

And there he was…he had not moved an inch!!

Weirdly…the rear cassette (which provides all a bicycles power) had become disengaged from the wheel!! Not a problem either of us had ever come across…but a look up on the web clarified that this was not something we were going to be able to fix ourselves. (…apparently grime in the axle can cause this to happen….!?)

We tried a bike shop…with no English, but he could not leave the shop!

So we called a taxi…and…..after much difficulty of sending our location on Alan’s Whatsapp…we got a thumbs up. The taxi was on its way!

So I then left…and pedalled off to Alcamo where there were a couple of bike shops…only 14km or so away…..expecting both of us to arrive at about the same time!

But Alan did not arrive….

…for at least another hour!! Who knows what went on….but at least he did arrive eventually…very hot…very exhausted!!

So we abandoned our plan to visit Spocello (one of the must-sees on this part of Sicily) and agreed to meet again at our accommodation in Castellammare del Golfo.?..whilst Alan went to the bike shop!! Which of course was closed…..for a siesta…opening at four pm!

I arrived…checked in…went for a swim…

…had a shower…went to the nearest restaurant…and was at least two beers down…before a bedraggled Alan turned up at 7.15! Knackered..and thirsty!

Thankfully our apartment was on the ground floor…so dump the bike…and in for plenty of hydrating pre-shower beers…!!

The problem with the bike? Nothing we had ever heard of! The middle bit of the axle…was worn out completely! The bit beyond the cassette…etc…who knew!? 

And he did not have the right bit! So a new wheel completely was required!

Our second new wheel (rim) of the trip! And then…our problematic tyre would not hold air!!

So…a new tyre.

And that would not hold air either!

Everyone…apparently…getting frustrated (…it was Friday night after all !)…so a new tube was installed instead! (No means of repairing same…but better than nothing!!)…and everything was working once again!

So…a frustrating day!! 

Imagine a frustrated Alan!

Meanwhile…I was enjoying my own frustrations! 

A message from our Palermo apartment,..saying we needed to pay a 15 Euro supplement…because Alan and I were not sleeping together! (despite booking a two bedroom apartment!). Ridiculous!!

Long story short…after much toing and froing….”the toilet is blocked…..we cannot accommodate you”!!

The booking was then cancelled! Hahaha!

Interestingly…because the host has cancelled…Booking.com got involved…and have offered to pay all our “additional” costs! We will see how that pans out!

And…to finish our day…..two more things!

Firstly…having sat in our nearest restaurant for over three hours…the guy at our neighbouring table…who had been there at least an hour….suddenly erupted…and said…”you cannot smoke here”!!

I was shocked actually…and somewhat embarrassed!

Apparently this particular restaurant had a rule that if folk did not want you to smoke..you could not!! All the staff smoked….so they appreciated the nonsense!!

We had eaten…so left!!

(…interesting…to me!…..the only other place where smoking has been an “issue”…on the whole trip….was Marmaris…that delightful (not!) tip of a place in Turkey…where the package-tourist Brits bring their Sunday Mirrors, want fish and chips…..and certainly want their no-smoking rules!!)

…disappointing that that mentality is creeping into (even one!) alfresco dining place in Sicily!

Ho hum!

And then?

Our apartment was bang in the middle of the ‘fun’ area!

It was loud! 

Not just the music…but motorbikes…cars…people…until the late ‘early hours’. Very noisy!?

I got to sleep quite quickly…..so I only know this from Alan…who did not!

Also the aircon really  did not reach up to our mezzanine bedrooms….

So a hot night! For me! 

A sleepless hot night for Alan!

Alas!

….a memorable day!!!