Monte San Calagero

Peaks: Monte San Calagero (987m)

Area: Madonie, Sicily

A slightly longer outing from our wonderful flat at the top of Gangi, where all runs begin with a long, long downhill stretch! I'd seen these low yellow hills from the road up to the Piazza, so took that all the way down its long sweeping turns out along the Nicosia road. Annoyingly, a high barbed wire fence made access to the open hill difficult, and the last thing I wanted was a Sicilian farmer pointing a gun at me whilst I explained the concept of fell running. In the end, I had no choice, jumped the fence and ploughed up the very steep side slope to gain the obvious broad ridge. This had a tiny semblance of a path, and indeed the hill itself had a tiny chapel and cross on top, so I wasn't the first person up here! It was tenuous, though, up barren slopes with a powerful scent of wild fennel, an integral ingredient in the regional cuisine. Wild flowers would carpet this in Spring, no doubt. At the top, great views back over Gangi and the foothills of the Madonie extending east towards Nicosia. I came down the same way along the ridge, then took an intricate route past the church (inadvertently taking a segment crown), then back up the narrow, twisting alleys all the way back to the house. These get narrower and narrower as you rise - wonderfully atmospheric, up empty cobbled streets, echoes of my footsteps all around. After breakfast, we headed to Palermo.