We were pleased that we were able to make time to get across to Sicily as we particularly wanted the opportunity to visit Mt Etna. In all we spent4 nights on the Island. We had been advised that the driving on Sicily could be more exciting than the mainland!

Why overtake on the straight when you can do so on a blind bend?

However although busy we didn’t notice any significant difference, maybe we are now becoming more atuned!.

In addition to Etna we had picked up on a couple of things in the Lonely Planet guide which we wanted to do.

So on the Monday (27^th) we headed to Taormina which is a popular hillside town on Sicily’s West Coast. We had driven through on the lower coast road on the Sunday and it was chaos with cars parked all over the place but we put this down to it being a Sunday. We did consider riding our bikes in from the campsite however the combination of a 30 km round trip, a sizeable hill, a couple of busy roads and the 35 degree heat persuaded us to drive. Well Monday was as busy as Sunday, all the relatively cheap parking had 1.9 m height restrictions (the minimum we can live with is 2 m and even that can cause some anxious moments). In the end we ended up in the bus and mini bus parking and got stung 30 Euros for 5 hours. The town itself is well marked on the tourist trial and whilst very quaint was rammed –my abiding memory – 30 euros for parking!!!

On the Tuesday we had decided to head for Mount Etna we decided to head off early to maximise our time so set the alarm for the first time in 6 weeks! When we set off we weren’t sure whether to go it alone or go with a guide, when we got there it became clear that to get the maximum out of it a guide would be best and we used some money a friend had kindly given us “to do something special” while we were away for a 5 hour guided tour.

Mt Etna

The tour itself was excellent. We got the cable car from 1910 m to 2500 m and then a 4 X 4 to 2800 m and from here we climbed a further 200m over volcanic ash and lava. The tour was organised by Gruppo Guide Alpine who are the official guides for Etna and as such were allowed in areas that are normally restricted.

Running down that hill!

Unusually in my experience of climbing hills the coming down was more fun than going up, we walked, ran and slid the whole way down over the ash covered slopes by the end we where filthy covered in volcanic dust and with boots filled with volcanic stones.

Smuggling Etna out of Sicily

Apart from the fun of the trip the thing that struck me most was the sheer size of the mountain area and the absolute barrenness of it.

On the Wednesday we decided to head down to Catania which is the main town / city in the shadow of Etna.

Mobile fruit & veg

Fish market in Catania

We both felt that Catania was a real town. Although it does have some tourists sites the things we had come to see were the fish and food markets and we were glad we made the trip although driving in the city centre with our sat nav up to its usual tricks, e.g. trying to take us down streets full of market stalls, and the sheer volume of traffic was fun to say the least.

After visiting Catania our plan was to cut across the island to the north coast to stay at a campsite on the beach that a German couple had recommended to us, however we arrived in the  midst of a forest fire! As we got close to the area we could see clouds of smoke and closer still you could see olive trees burning. On the road to the site there were a number of fire trucks, plus locals standing around talking anxiously into mobile phones and hosing down the fronts of their gardens and properties presumably in an attempt to prevent the fire taking hold should it get that far. I was all for staying in the campsite on the basis that it was close to the sea and the smoke would keep the mosquitoes away! However I bowed to Sharon’s better judgement and as we drove further up the road and we could see water bombing planes going backwards and forwards I conceded that maybe Sharon was right.

Plans had to change!

This did present us with a bit of a problem though as we couldn’t find any campsites further up the coast. In the end we spotted someone in a camper van wild camping in a marina on the coast below the road which we were on so we headed on down to find not one but 4 camper vans dotted around a large unpaved area of waste ground. So we pulled up alongside the marina so that we had a good view and spent the night there. Not quite peaceful – dog in distance barking all night,  local driver doing doughnuts on waste ground at midnight and cockerels crowing in the children’s farm which we discovered the next morning was just next to us on the beach.

Wild camping with a view

We are now back on the mainland on a beachside campsite for a couple of days while we plan our route north up the west coast of Italy (and do some washing!).