May 21st Romano to Tropea

Awoke to a cloudy but dry day, coffee stop up a big hill in Nicotera, shop to supplement our meagre supplies and then along the coast. Weather brightened up along the way nicely. Undulating quiet roads. Tropea is lovely. The whole package, gorgeous town perched, somewhat precariously on the cliff edge, underpinned with arches, a nice, cheap campsite and a stunning beach. Decision quickly made, another two nighter. 

May 22nd 
Coffee in the old town, little shop, beach, scrabble.......as dusk fell, an island appeared that we couldn't see earlier, though I thought I could see one of the Ionian islands as we first started on the mainland. It was belting out smoke, very dramatic and put Dave into 'what if there is a tsunami mode'May 23rd Tropea to Limeza Terme (or campsite from hell)

60km to do today, off bright and early, a bit sad to leave the lovely Tropea, and the hippy Swiss family next to us in the coolest caravan. Pretty easy cycle, nice stop off at Pizza for coffee then a straight flat road to find the campsite. Seriously do not know how they can charge 15 euro, but with no choice for another 60km we had to stay. Even the beach was dirty. Showers and toilets terrible, showers not free, one token lasted 1minute, needed 3 tokens which should have been 1.50 but we were 'kindly' not charged for. Dreaded going in there. One other couple on this Scooby doo, creepy site. Jurgen and Sylvia, lovely couple, fellow cyclists and joined in mutual disbelief of the site. Sat and chatted over our respective meals until 10pm, a late night! Dave managed to chat to his dad, Ronnie, enjoying his 85th birthdayMay 24th camp Ulysses (yeugh) to Cropani Marina

Luckily managed to survive the night with no extra trips to the toilet, bade farewell to jurgen and Sylvia, and more thankfully the campsite and headed off. 65km over to the east coast today. We knew it could be problematic as a major road, which actually was a motorway, just not displayed as one? Wind assisted which was good and we managed to avoid the motorway except for about 2km, which I am sure was just dual carriageway again? Got to vacanza mare lungomare in slight tredidation, but it is gorgeous, clean, fab raked pitches, and 10euros!!!!!! With free detergent thrown in and a lovely beach. The young owner even remembered Dave from the email he had sent checking it was open, very professional. Utter bliss. Another 2 nighter coming up 

May 14th Portapalo to Avola

Another lovely day and no wind. Shop in Porto which is a lovely chilled place with a nice pedestrian centre. Then off to Avola. Straight road out of town. After about 20km could see a town up on the hill, Nota. It did look nice but up a hill and not in the direction we were heading. Then comes the phrase......do you fancy a coffee up there? After some persuasion we headed up. An absolutely stunning town,some incredible buildings and unbeknownst to us probably the biggest weekend of the calender. There was a festival of flowers which entailed lots of images in a row made of flowers. After this we headed to Avola in search of a campsite, cycled about 20km in circles following signs for one that was closed! Eventually with good old Google at a cafe found the site we had originally wanted, worth it as very laid back with a fridge. Happy days.

May 15th Avola to Siracusa

Short ride to small campsite on a farm. Basic, but just a few km from the historic port of Siracusa. Afternoon spent exploring here and sending a video birthday message to Harry. Relaxed night of scrabble.

May 16th Siracusa to Taormina. 

Early start to get the 8.40 train up the coast. Alighted at Acireale and then a 40km cycle to a site we had been told about by John and Christine in Punta Secca. Etna first view from the train. Nice cycle and lovely site with a quirky owner. As promised! Chilled evening. Phone call to give birthday greetings.

May 17th Taormina

Cycle panier free up the switch backs to Taormina, the film site of the godfather films. Very busy with coachloads of tourists, understandably as a beautiful place. Does make us realise that we have been off the tourist trail, thus far in all the islands. Back down to beach and cheaper coffees! Chill on beach for me with painting done by Dave. 

May 19th Taormina to mainland Italy 

Off early to Messina. Really flat 50km along mainly promenades. Lovely coffee stop (expensive again) at the bottom of Taormina but got a free orange and along the way free tomatoes as I tried to buy just two off the back of a van. Arrived in Messina, not the nicest of places, where we had a room booked. However, luckily for us, my card hadn't been accepted, problem their end I think, to we took the opportunity to jump on the short ferry to Villa San Giovanni where we were very kindly helped in a cafe to use their computer to find a place in the lovely seaside resort of Sicilia. 7km cycle and with more aid from a local chap we found the place. Start of the Italian phase.

May 19th Sicilia to Rosarno

Rain as forecast to start the day which with a 10km climb was really appreciated. The rest of the 50km cycle was on the flat. Found the campsite easily, more expensive than we have been used to, but this one has an shower in the locked toilet. I was soooo excited. Lovely pool too to finish the day nicely. Spent the evening working out route and campsites. Still early in the Italian season we realise, more trains may be required!

May 20th 

Very wet morning. In the end we decided to stay and chill and finish researching the campsite option. Dried up enough to attempt to get some things dry that had unfortunately been left out. Good to do pretty much nothing for just one day.

May 12th punta to Scicli

Sad farewell to the best campsite and our toilet and them lovely bread man and the efficient host. Hot,hot day today and humid with a haze to the light. New tyre purchased in Santo Croce then on to scicli. What a stunning town. A UNESCO site for very good reasons. Whilst eating our lunch we heard a passing Italian telling some English speaking women that filming was taking place at the town hall that doubles as montalbanos police station!!!!! Then came the most surreal 2hrs. We managed to see the main characters and got pictures with them!!!! Chatted to a lovely couple, the female one saying that last time she had done anything like this was when the Beatles were filming hard days night! We then felt the only way to end this fab day was to stay in sicli, at cada de montalbano. A lovely apartment. Then we brushed up and had a meal out for the first time since the Dordogne. An excellent day!!!

May 12th sicli to simeria

Another hazy day. Short cycle down to the coast. Tired today after the antics of the previous day. Campsite OK but not a patch on our previous campsite. Early night called for to recover.

May 11th

Cycled to Ragusa today. Coffee stop at Santa Croce Carmina which is a lovely little town with a very busy little main square frequented by lots of more mature men sitting under the shade of the trees. We then continued to Ragusa, a steady uphill if about 25km. Ragusa appears to be split into 3 sections, a less than attractive urban sprawl, an old town on the grid system lots of Sicilian towns have and lastly the true old Ragusa. Unfortunately once we had trapsed through the first two and then eventually found the third, with the iconic view granted, we couldn't face going down to go back up into it!!! Boiling hot. So we had something to eat too a couple of photos and turned round!!!! Then luckily it was a free wheel down to Marina la Ragusa. Just up the road from punta la secca. A sleek resort obviously popular with wind and kite surfers. Back to camp for last time. Got some handy info from some of our fellow campers, then shattered, off to bed.

May 10th Punta Secca

Trip to Montalbano village and house. Lots of others obviously do the same pilgrimage. Chilled on beach while Dave did two paintings. Very nice relaxing day. Though village obviously attracts lots of Mont fans, not touristy at all. Back to campsite and sorted lots of things including putting lovely clean clothes away. Little things......