October 1 - The Race

 Sunday morning I decided to take a longer walk and go to the end of the road away from the town.  I wanted to see what was up on the hill which you could only reach by walking.  

It didn't take long before I saw this tent.  Looking around on the wall I saw a sign that said it was a 1/2 marathon.  That's 13 miles.  This road is very short.  Going the other direction it leads into the old city on narrow cobblestone roads.  If you keep going it passes the lighthouse and the marina and then turns and goes behind the Rock into another part of town - or at least I think so - I actually haven't gone that far.  But I don't think it is much more than a mile from the end of the road to the left and all the way to the lighthouse.  How the heck can it be a 13 mile run?

I continued on my walk and saw this setup to sell ceramics on the other side of the road.  I've been here many times - I don't think it was here before.

Last year when we toured all around Sicily we saw a lot of these heads - but not many here in Cefalu.

Views along my walk - Lido Peter Pan!

The sun glistening off the waves.  You can't see much of the town as it is in shadow.

At the end of the road you walk down some steps then head up the hill on the other side.  there is a grotto there that looks like it is much use.

From a distance this looks like a plain old rock formation.  But as you get closer you can see there is a structure built into the rock.  I could not get close enough to see if it was a ruin or still in use.

After climbing all the way to the top of the hills - I was met with this disappointing view.  The hill is definitely not worth the view!

So back down the hill I go.

Views back down at the bottom.  If you notice where the wall ends, about a third of the way from the left - that is where you climb down the stairs.  You climb the hill in the middle and then make a sharp turn left again (middle of the picture) The grotto is right at that juncture.  At the top of the hill right next to the tallest tree is where I ended up.

As I am heading back to civilization I see the first of the runners - it is about 9:05.  I'm pretty sure those 5 guys finished at the head of the race.  Everyone else was in groups - some chatting away.

All the runners had passed by the time I got into the apartment.  They were headed for the dead end of the road.  I kept peaking out at the road from our balconies.  Sure enough - they had turned around and were headed into town.  Not long after that I saw the first guys heading past us on the way to the dead end.  And shortly after that you couldn't tell who was coming or going.  People were running both ways.  I'm thinking the winners lapped the slower runners by many many times.  After the race winners were announced - we could still see runners going back and forth for quite a long time.  That must be a pretty boring track - but at least you know when the up hills and down hills are coming!