Safe Return Doubtful

70 km (43 miles) – Total so far: 1,705 km (1,059 miles)

Sunday’s are quiet in Sicily, especially in the summer. In the new Montalbano, “The Track of Sand”, Camilleri writes that nobody commits murders in Sicily on Sundays. “Because on Sundays the Sicilians go to morning Mass with the whole family, then visit the grandparents, where they stay for lunch; in the afternoon they watch the match on television and, in the evening, again with the whole family, they go out for an ice cream. Where would they find the time to kill anyone on Sundays?”

After the storm, which wasn’t quite what was promised, it was a cool night, and the coolest temperature yet for me in Italy to start this morning, 17 C; almost needed a fleece. Really it was a perfect day, and after the big downhill through Petralia Soprana’s sister village, Petralia Sottana, it was a curly up and down day through tremendous countryside. At a key point, with the help of the Etrex I headed off into the hills on some quiet paths, away from cars, what few there were. A great decision, and yet more substance to Frost’s great work: 

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence,

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Certainly it made all the difference today. Up at 1000 metres asl again, the track followed a ridge for 10 kilometres or so, before heading down into Valledolmo. Back to reality and people, but it is Sunday, so they just sit around chatting about small potatoes with coffee and cigarettes in the shade. 

Another 20 km or so, and a quiet Agriturismo that I researched last night. Very simple and basic and cheap, but good food I believe, which is welcome, because overall I have been disappointed with the restaurants. 

Distance 69.7 km,  Max Speed 52.9 km/hr, Moving Average 16.3 km/hr,  Moving Time 4 hrs 19 mins,  Left Petralia Soprana at 9:30 hrs, arrived at Alia (actually 2 km south) at 14:15 hrs.  Elevation gained 528 metres,  Elevation here at Agriturismo 622 metres asl. 

Down 200 metres to the sister village of Petralia Sottana.

Another pleasant valley Sunday….

I took the one less travelled by, and it made all the difference.

These things worry me – it was a story I read once, each time the guy looked it kept getting nearer.
Here today, it was time for me to get a move on.

Nice tomatoes though.

Water break in Valledolmo.

The larger bell of the chapel was built in 1645 by the bishop of Cefalù, easily identifiable by his diocese tattooed on the back of his neck.