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Hi! just got back from a most magical trip to the north west corner of Sicily. My mom is 73 years old, and loves riding bikes and drinking olive oil (we have a lot in common), so we are trying to do a trip like this each year for as long as she can. Last year we did the region of Puglia, and this year we went a little further south to Sicily — and my sister came along!

the three of us used to travel together a few times a year growing up, and up until my sister had her first kid 13 years ago. We all live close to one another, but it had indeed been 13 years since we’d had each other all to ourselves ❤️. it was deeply nourishing.

my sister used to race mountain bikes when we did that sort of thing in high school, and she never lost a race while I routinely finished in the top 20. she has always clearly been the athlete in the family, but it had been a long time since she’d been on a bike. e-bikes to the rescue. Her and my mom rented some crappy e-bikes in nearby Castellammare, and we set out to put those cumbersome machines through the paces. but first, coffee and croissant. better croissant than what I’d had on mainland Europe. Coffee was slightly better too, but not good by any means. My sister is not nearly as pinkies up as me, so she was impressed.

our little village of Scopello was as cute as it gets. 100 residents this time of year, and they all seemed to be in it. in it as they were living their lives beautifully. the temps were in the 70s each day, but one of the local potters told us that she was freezing, and no one comes here when its not 90-100 degrees. I don’t think those people are cyclists. This time of year is perfect.

we pedaled to castles and wineries. we celebrated my sister’s 41st birthday day, and ate a lot of pasta. We made up our schedule as we went, and it all fell (near) perfectly into place.

the riding from Scopello was incredible. We only scratched the surface, but what I would describe it as is a more tropical Tucson rolling into a crystal clear sea. Reminded me a lot of the terrain encountered on Crete. I could live here for a few months a year, and hope I do some day!

the terrain was a mix of rutted paved roads, smooth enough paved roads, and chunky tucson like grav. some smooth grav too, but the topography of the island is so diverse that you were never on any one surface for long. the crappy e-bikes were put through the paces, and by mid way through the trip, they were not working at all really — our host found some better ones for mom and sis, so the final days of the trip were a little more adventurous.

plenty of relaxation as the time difference made it easy to check emails and do other work at night. Both my sister and myself can work remotely, and mom is a retired public servant. Even had my first Euro hot spring experience!

breath taking postcards everywhere you looked. We were REALLY impressed with Scopello. It must be a mob scene in the summer though.

one of those towers was built to spot tuna in 1200. thats an ancient tuna fishing spot where they’d guide tuna through a labyrinth of nets before clubbing them all to death. Now it’s a popular wedding destination.

we went on a 30-40 mile ride every other day, and on off riding days we did some good walking around a few other nearby villages. pretty good pace. Me on my bike bike, and mom and sis pedal assist is a great match up.

the orange is where we did our biking. still a lot more to explore if I were on my own with some fatter tires. another ATB paradise! very little if any private property being that many people have left the region for the cities up north. there are also a few 1 euro crumbling houses in many of the villages. I kept trying to get my more well to do sister to buy me one and fix it up. no luck yet, but I’m working on it!

I think those are all the riding shots for now… I took a lot of non riding shots that I will include in a later post. All these shots were taken on my Ricoh GR II.

have a nice day!

XX RR