Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1998
Buon Anno!
Sunday, 27DEC98,
my neighbor and friend Henry Woodruff and I took off for Sicily on our motorcycles. Neither one of us had to work this week, so what to do but take advantage of some slack time and ride! It is too cold to ride north, and almost too cold to ride south as well. Henry had not ridden Sicily before either, so south we went. It was 330 miles to Villa San Giovanni, which is just north of Reggio Di Calabria on the toe of Italy. This is where we caught the quickest ferry (20 minutes) to Messina, Sicily. We continued on and spent the first night in Cefalu’ on the northern coast of Sicily. The next morning, we rode to Palermo, found a hotel and dumped off our bags, and continued west to Trapani and a nearby mountain-top village called Erice. Tuesday morning, we rode from Palermo across the interior to the Southern city of Agrigento, where there is an impressive collection of Greek temples and monuments from the 4th and 5th centuries B.C. We pressed on to the city of Enna. Enna is the the highest city in Sicily and is right in the center. What an impressive view, and quite a strategic one, too. We ended Tuesday in Siracusa, on the southeastern coast. This was the first Greek settlement on Sicily, I believe around the 8th century B.C. Wednesday morning we toured some of the Greek and Roman archeological sites, then pointed the bikes toward Napoli, arriving home at 7:45 pm. We rode 1,336 miles without any problems. What a great trip!! You cannot tell from a map how rugged Sicily is. There is not a flat spot to be found, and many of the mountains are of significant size. Mount Etna was completely hidden by cloud cover, so I missed that one, but we had no serious rain the entire trip.
I’m sure Sicily is spectacular in the spring when the trees and flowers
are blooming, but winter has its own beauty. The soil in the fields was
many shades of brown, yellow, and orange depending on the moisture. You
don’t see this in any other time of year. Also, we did not have to endure
the crowds and traffic of the tourist season. We feel fortunate that we
live in
a place where we can take such a long bike trip at the end of December.
On the ferry ride from mainland Italy to Sicily on Sunday, we met a couple on a Vespa. They too were from Napoli. On a Vespa! They said they had left Napoli one day before us and were going to Trapani to catch a ferry to Tunis. On a Vespa!! Twenty minutes after leaving the ferry we stopped for gas on the Autostrada, and they pulled in ten minutes behind us. Monday, as Henry and I were almost to Trapani (200+ miles from Messina), we crested a hill and spotted a scooter ½ mile ahead. Sure enough, it was the same couple pounding out the miles. Did I mention they were riding a Vespa!!! Henry and I felt a little less than men riding bigger motorcycles while this man and woman, with only one tiny pack between them, were covering the same distance.
Speaking of smaller bikes. I have been saying for years that eventually I want a barn full of motorcycles. One I think I must have is a Moto Guzzi like Henry’s. It is a 500cc, two cylinder, air cooled model from the early 80’s. Henry bought it four years ago for a few hundred dollars, and he has kept it Italian registered. (We can only register two vehicles through the military, and he already has a car and a Harley.) This little Guzzi is the perfect machine for Naples. It is small and nimble for getting around the city traffic. I have made many rides now with Henry and this bike and it continues to impress me. We rode over 1,300 miles in four days, and that bike ran 90mph all the time with no complaining. I love it! Any monkey can ride my bike in December, but Henry rode that Guzzi, with its tiny fairing and not-so-friendly touring posture, through the cold mountains in late December for over 400 miles yesterday. Bravo, Henry!
I am going downtown for New Year’s again this year. I hope I don’t get blown up!
Ciao, Neil