I slept late, felt lazy and agonised over how far to go today. In the end, I opted for Gela which is not far away, but I think it has a bit to see. After all, the purpose of this trip is tourism not just cycling.
After leaving the B&B, I found a pretty busy cafe, parked ‘This Moment’ and grabbed some breakfast. I was smart too – I sat outside on the upwind end of the area. No chain smokers are going to disturb my start to this glorious looking day.
That is, until some old guy started puffing darts on the footpath right beside me. The best laid plans … Eventually, he left and I finished my breakfast in peace and half decent air quality.
Today is an easy, flat, short day. 35kms is one of the shortest in a couple of years so it’s a rest day without having a rest day 😁
Things started out very very quietly on a small road just back from the beach. It was still farmland while there were lots of apartments a few hundred metres further inland. As the road then hugged the coastline, the scenery improved but the traffic did too and gradually, the fun started to disappear.
I stopped and spoke to a French Mountain biker, John, who now lives here. We talked for a while and he couldn’t suggest a better route to Gela. He said the quiet roads have aggressive dogs around here, and rabies is a problem. That sounded pretty alarmist to me. Surely it’s not that bad.
I stopped at a roadside cafe for some lunch and noticed my phone’s GPS wasn’t accurate. It had me a few kilometres away from where I was. (That was the pattern for the next couple of days too). It was easy to deal with today, because I was on a main road and couldn’t get lost, but it was an issue I’d need to solve. Essentially, it was hard to work out exactly where I was.
Later, walking around Gela, the GPS was working fine.
After arriving at the B&B, I checked in and wandered around the old town and down to the beach area. mmm. I expected more.
As is now usual here, at about 5:30 or 6pm, the central streets are filled with old blokes standing around. I have no idea why, but it looks very very strange.
Tonight, I felt like pasta, so I went to a recommended restaurant around the corner. Absolutely fantastic and very reasonable.
