I meet my horse & some nice people, & then ride for >8 hours
Happy Donkey Tours had posted an itinerary for the Etna horse ride, & it advised I had to be at the stables for 0840 on the 10th.
Armando had offered to drive me to the stables ~ Scuderie Ardichetto. It was about 3 & a half K down to the south east of his house & took less than 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, a bloody dog woke me at 0430, & a crowing cock kept me from dropping back off completely after that, so I was up by 0715 & breakfasted on the balcony in the morning sun.
Lovely :-)
Before I left I decanted the rest of the Lipari zibibbo into a plastic bottle (I'd had a couple of glasses the night before). Then I took a pic of the empty bottle (so I have a record of its name), & when we went to get in the car at 10 past 8, I took my final ZE pic of a chestnut - not yet spiky.
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| The empty bottle of Lipari vino |
At the stables I met the ride leader, Alessandro (AKA Ale), his partner Manuela & his son, Renaldo.
The other riders were Sabine from Germany who was to ride 8 year old Bernato, a small
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| Sicilian chesrnut opposite Armando's |
chestnut; Irish Carol on Lulu, a lazy 5 year old; & Valentina on old bay Crema: my notes say Crema was 23.
Ale's horse was Revisur, a tall chestnut youngster, & he was learning the ropes.
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| The fence wouldn't keep much in or out? |
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| Ardichetto goat |
While we waited I had a brief chat with Renaldo about kickboxing before we all mounted up & had a ride round the manege for 10 min. so Manuela & Ale could check we were safe.
My horse was a flea-bitten grey 6 year old called Sombra & she was great :-D
However, Ale warned me that she was freaky about the crackle of plastic bottles & said I should be careful when getting mine out of the saddle-bag.
We left the stables at 0855 & headed northish through the village streets. Just before we left the road, Ale stopped to scrimp apples from an overhanging branch & handed them out!
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| We turned right off the road & along a path to the trees |
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| Carol didn't want one ;-) |
Manuela sent me some photos after I returned to the UK, & when I uploaded the 'apple' pic, large gaps appeared in the blog, & the left justification wouldn't work.
Bizarre :-/
Please ignore the huge gaps!
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After we left the road going up the hill, we headed into the woods were we meandered round trees & Sombra was very good about photography on the go :-)
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| Ale's in orange ahead with Sabine/Bernato |
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| A Large dog & his family stop & watch |
On the way, we provided entertainment for local dog walkers!
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| The oak, Ilice di Carrinu |
After a bit we got to an 800 yr old holm oak, known locally as Ilice di Carrinu.
I took quite a few pics!
As I said, please ignore the mega gaps, changes of font size & dodgy justification!
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| We passed this little hut. A Charcoal Burner's? |
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| We have a canter up the hill |
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| Still cantering in the Sicilian sunshine |
We left the woods & continued to ride uphill.
It was great countryside for riding, & Sombra was smashing :-))
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| Tracks went across & up the old lava fields |
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| Like I said - Up! |
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| An old lava field reminded me of Mordor! |
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| We climbed for quite a while & Lulu was always at the back |
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| Some of the horses got spooked by the wild goats . . . |
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| who were curious & followed us for a while |
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| We provide entertainment for Etna ramblers as we rode by |
OK. This weird gapping etc. every time I try & write what I've put in my notes is doing my frikkin head in, & I've spent hours fruitlessly trying to fix it :-(
Grrr!
I'll just caption the pics & tell a condensed tale that way.
Hopefully the next blog will be OK??
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| You can see the lines where different tree species grew back at different speeds |
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| Still climbing, we passed beehives . . . |
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| & then we had a very long canter uphill |
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| The track had lots of bends & Ale was out of sight! |
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Renaldo had brought the 4x4 to our lunch spot & had a picnic ready.
He'd also brought water for the horses & Sombra drank 2 buckets! |
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This is Ale & Renato (who chef'ed for us)
During lunch I shared the Zibibbo with Carol (hic ;-p ) |
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We had pizza, pasta, sundried tomatoes & other
wonderfully tasty Sicilan food . . . |
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| with coffee to finish. Very civilised :-) |
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| Ale gets us ready for the off & the birches were wonderful |
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The beautiful birches grow back quickly, & my notes say
we rode through a mixture of broadleaf & conifer woods |
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| Once out of the woods we climb the lava hills |
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| I think we rode up that slope & passed the tree 1/2 way up |
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| In the curves of the craters, different stages of grow-back were apparent |
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Lazy Lulu was always at the back, but the photo shows the conifers
were the 1st trees to recover after an eruption's devastation |
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| There was weird fungal growth on the lava & it was getting chilly up there |
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The horse's tails show how windy it was, but happily it
was from behind most of the way, so no dust in our eyes |
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Many tracks followed the edge of craters. My notes say we "went up to the
craters from the 1865 eruption & crossed the lava field from the 2002 one" |
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| The lump on the horizon is a fumarole |
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Looking right, we seemed to be on top of the world ~ until we
looked left at the mountain above us |
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| We descend the edge of a crater & leave hoofprints in the lava dust |
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| Manuela sent this of 2 of us taking photos from horseback! |
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According to Sombra's shadow, we were
headed northwesterly (ish) |
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Lazy Lulu at the back provides some
perspective for the steepness . . . |
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| as do the others on the crest of the crater |
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Having ridden up a crater, we had to ride down again! ;-)
You can see the track in front of Ale is well trodden |
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This bit was hard for the horses: the lava
was very sharp |
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We pause while Ale takes a group pic which Manuela sent. From L are:
Valentina & Crema, Sabine & Bernato, Carol & Lulu, & me on Sombra |
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We descend thhrough birches towards the Via Maraneve. My notes say
say we crossed the road several times, & from Gmaps it is very wiggly.
The notes also mention Fornazzo Serra Buffa, but Gmaps can't find it |
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| Ale does the honours with the gate on the other side . . . |
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| where the conifer forest was very atmospheric |
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| We came to a patch of snow & Revisor wasn't at all keen to cross |
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| Lulu was even less keen so Ale got off to 'persuade' her! |
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| In the next bit of forest the tree bark was amazing & reminiscent of the GoT Weirwoods |
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| We ride through a broom forest . . . |
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| so I got a pretty pic for posterity. Don't you just love alliteration ;-) |
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| I think this must be the Via Mareneve again, but don't quote me? |
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| The track through the conifers was awesome :-)) |
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| We were descending quite steeply & nearly at our destination |
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There were patches of green beneath the tall dark conifers as we
approach the chalet through the trees from the south |
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| After 8hr 35min, we arrive at the chalet Clan Dei Ragazzi . . . |
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| & our horses get untacked, washed down, watered, fed, & put to bed |
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| They tuck into their tea, having carried us from 0855 to 1730 |
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| Ale checks Sombra as he gives her food |
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| It's great we were to spend the night at a B&B for horses ;-) |
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The finger is pointing at Ardichetto where we began,
& the black shadow at the top is where we ended |
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The chalet is 26K by road from Ardichetto, but we had takan a more
direct route by crossing the loops on the Via Maraneve.
This is the dining room, & our table is at the end |
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This is a painting of Etna on the chalet's chimney-breast. By now, Renato had brought the
4x4 to take Carol & Sabine back to Ardichetto: I was the only rider to be doing all 3 days. |
With the other 2 girls gone, & my bag in my cute little room, I took a shower & washed my hair. Then I discovered I'd left my comb at Armando's - duh! Getting the wind blown knots out with my fingers took ages :-/
It had been a long day, & wasn't over yet, but I lay on my bunk while my hair dried & wrote up some notes. Despite the Sicilian sunshine, it was quite chilly up there on the mountain, so I dressed & went down the windy wooden stairs to find there were 28 (loud) French ensconsed in the dining room watching a video. Then Ale & Valentina arrived (she was his daughter), & we ordered our dinner.
Great :-) I wasn't used to all that riding & bloody starving!
My notes say I had salmon & mushroom pasta, followed by "pork, burger, sausage, chop, courgette"! Red wine was also mentioned ;-p
Phew!
It was a good job I was hungry, but nearly 2 years on, I don't actually remember eating. Thank goodness that the heiroglyphics have reminded me what I had: my camera was on charge behind the bar so there're no photos of dinner.
My heiroglypics also mention " Melchior & Balthazar +? ", but I have absolutely no idea why.
Um?
I was pretty stiff & tired, so after a post-prandial chat with Ale & Valentina, I headed back up the wooden stairs & hit the sack.
To paraphrase Scarlett O'Hara, 'tomorrow was another day' in the saddle, &, according to Ale, it was to be even longer.
OAO
