Posted by: KenR
Re: Sicily in November - 11/26/07 01:44 AM
Sharon and I just got back from a week in eastern Sicily doing single-day loop rides in a wide range of different areas: near Ragusa (southeast), near Cephalu (northern coast), near Leonforte (center by Enna), near Sferro (between Enna + Catania), and the Aeolian little island of Lipari. (We used a rental car to take ourselves and our tandem bike to a different area each day.)
We had lots of fun, lots of variety, beside the sea, up in the mountains, thru farmland. Two things special about Sicily for us were the variety of plants and animals in the farmland (with green fields and some flowers still in November) -- and Mt Etna with lots of fresh white snow on its upper slopes which fell I think just before we arrived.
I'll post some photos after I get a chance to select and edit them.
We found helpful the Sizilien per Rad book (especially the page where they rate the routes with 1,2,3 stars) and the Lonely Planet Cycling Italy book -- though we did not follow exactly any of the routes in any book. Very helpful are the Touring Club Italiano 1:200000 maps with scenic roads highlighted in green.
Ken
We had lots of fun, lots of variety, beside the sea, up in the mountains, thru farmland. Two things special about Sicily for us were the variety of plants and animals in the farmland (with green fields and some flowers still in November) -- and Mt Etna with lots of fresh white snow on its upper slopes which fell I think just before we arrived.
I'll post some photos after I get a chance to select and edit them.
We found helpful the Sizilien per Rad book (especially the page where they rate the routes with 1,2,3 stars) and the Lonely Planet Cycling Italy book -- though we did not follow exactly any of the routes in any book. Very helpful are the Touring Club Italiano 1:200000 maps with scenic roads highlighted in green.
Ken