Free for the price of none

Order has been restored, for good or for bad, and Sue is now cooking whilst
I titillate the keyboard.

We are now seasoned 'wild campers'. Well we have camped wild for 5 nights
over the last week, but not yet on the large beach area that Sue previously
mentioned. Instead we have been based in the town of San Vito Lo Capo and
have mixed between wild camping at the beachfront in the town, and a handy
sosta just on the edge of town. The sosta is very useful for filling up and
emptying out, use your imagination, and also topping up Noddy's batteries.
It is also a good place to sit it out in bad weather as we did on Wednesday
and Thursday. The rest of the week we have been parked up about 5 metres
from the amazing sandy beach that lines the bay, and we were only a minute
or twos stroll to the shops in the town. San Vito is a delightful place and
especially at this time of year because it is quiet. We think it gets
extremely busy in the summer months. The sea is several shades of light
blue, thanks to the lovely white sand and the sunshine, and the town is
edged on both sides by huge rocky hills.
Our 2 spells of wilding it were 2 and 3 nights length. It takes a while to
get used to limiting water usage and knowing how long our supplies will
last. Over the last 3 nights we only used about 40 litres, and that's for
washing up and showering, not to mention tea making! We do stock up a bit of
emergency water in our water cube (15l) and a few used 2l water bottles just
to increase our capability as Noddy's main tank is only about 72l. The main
problem we have is the wastewater (not the loo) as we can only hold 38l. You
have to be creative and look for suitable places to drop the waste if
possible or just return to a site or sosta if no options exist.
Anyway, we are quite hooked on the idea, especially as it's FREE! In the end
though it is something we need to get used to as when we venture on our
world tour we will need to be quite adept at going wild and managing on
limited resources.

Whilst in town we have walked, cycled and enjoyed the mainly warm and sunny
days. We had a couple of wet days this week with hail, thunder and
lightning, but it would be greedy to expect sunshine all the time. We have
also managed to catch up with Anne and Steve, our neighbours from Finale,
for a few days, which was very nice. Kevin and Libby, our other English
travelling companions departed further south on Friday in search of a nice
campsite to chill out at but I am sure we will bump into them again over the
coming weeks.

Tonight we are back at the sosta to 'service' Noddy before leaving this
idyllic seaside town and heading south along the western coast of the
island. We have not yet decided where our next stop will be, perhaps Marsala
or Mazara del Vallo, but you can bet we will be 'roughing' it again very
soon.

Finally, I would like to announce that Sue has found a friend in a beautiful
little kitten here at the Sosta. As you may or may not know this is a minor
miracle, but the wee thing is so friendly and sweet. It follows you around
everywhere and is most keen on getting into Noddy. It has been lifted out on
a few occasions. I have spent quite a few minutes here and there playing
with it or photographing it. We shall miss the little thing.

Ciao

M&S

We found Poo but Piglet was nowhere to be seen

Greetings to all the hard workers and retirees out there. The author of this
blog is taking a break (cooking dinner) so time for me to step up to the
plate.

We did manage to leave our home of 4 weeks and head out to Palermo. We found
the parking lot (our home for the night) with a slight detour and managed to
avoid any accidents. These people drive like maniacs, road signs, road
markings etc have no meaning at all. Anyway we spent a pleasant afternoon
wandering around the streets of Palermo, avoiding all the dog poo on the
pavements. Seems like most of the city is being rebuilt. We visited the
cathedral, the seafront and spent a few hours in bookshops trying to find a
book we are after. Went back to the van and joined our Ipswich neighbours
(Kevin & Libby) for tea, they had been at the same site as us in Finale.
They told us about the Cappucinni Catacombs that were up the road from the
parking. There are 8000 bodies there, mostly hanging from the walls, some of
them still look quite life-like while others are almost skeletons. We saw
the leaflet they got from there and the pictures are quite funny - there's a
picture of a couple that look like they're talking to each other. They said
that some of them look like their arms might be falling off as they are
dropping out of their sleeves. Needless to say we rushed there to see them
the next day but it wasn't to be, they were closed on Wednesdays. Were we
disappointed or what ! You're probably thinking we've got sick minds but it
would have been very interesting. Before leaving Palermo we saw some
amazing mosaics in a church and a great food market - there's was loads of
fish for sale but it would've been too smelly to cook it in the van.

We then went on to Sferracavallo, described as a small fishing hamlet in the
guide books, what a dump. We managed one night there and left the following
morning to go to Mondello, an idyllic beach resort that is frequented by the
rich in summer (and us in winter). It did have a nice beach and really yummy
cakes. Then we went on to Castellamare del Gulfo, another town on the coast.
We stayed at a sosta (motorhome parking) that was a bit of a shock when we
first got there, not what we were used to but for 10 euros a night we
couldn't complain. We spent 3 days there. The Ipswich couple were there as
well so we did loads of socialising and the odd walk into town.

Today we went to Segesta, to see the temple and theatre from 416 - 424 BC.
We then took a drive through the countryside up to San Vito Lo Capo. Passed
a lovely beach where loads of motorhomes were rough camping and all going to
plan we shall be trying it out tomorrow night - free accommodation. Will let
you know how we get on.

The sun is still shining on us!
Ciao
M & S

Goodbye to a faithful friend

This has been a very pleasant home for the last 4 weeks. It has seen us
nicely through Christmas and safely into the New Year. Alas, I am afraid it
is now time to move on. We could quite easily spend more time here, but
there is so much more to see out there.
So tomorrow morning we shall depart and head to Palermo, via a few pretty
hill towns, and see what the capital has to offer. Needless to say we shall
not be doing too much driving in the heart of the city, only the foolish
venture there in a vehicle.
After a day or two in the city we will start our anti-clockwise tour of the
island and aim to see all we can by the end of March. Easter is early April
and it will be manic here then, not to mention expensive, so we will rejoin
the mainland and see the sights of southern Italy before slowly tripping
north.
The weather is still very nice indeed. Hot in the sunshine, and cooler in
the shade. Hopefully it shall remain that way for the present, but if not
then we wont get too disheartened as there is always another day, and
another, and another.
Ciao
M&S

One down - fifty one to go

You can't beat the sound of the sea lapping on the shore below, the sound of
birds twittering in the trees, and the gentle tap-tap-tap of keys on the
laptop. I am sitting outside, feet up on the fence admiring the view out to
sea. It's a great life.
It is hard to believe that the first week of the year has come and gone
already. We have been up to the usual, a spot of relaxation here and there.
I am sure you will be pleased to hear that we had some very English weather
for a couple of days last week. It was windy, wet, and gloomy. Thankfully it
all cleared up by the weekend and we are back to enjoying some warm sunny
days again. Yesterday it was very hot in the sun.
On Friday we ventured into Cefalu again to hit the supermarket to do our
once a fortnight big shop. I think we spend more time in the store looking
at things and wondering what they are or how to use them than we do actually
selecting and buying. As New Year has passed there was a sale of left over
Panettone, all reduced. We haven't eaten the one we brought with us from the
UK yet, but we still made a purchase of an interesting looking lemon
flavoured one; well it would be rude not too. It tastes very nice indeed,
but don't they all. They have so many varieties to choose from here.
Chocolate ones, nutty ones, lemon ones, plain ones, fruit ones. They even do
an Etna version with icing on the top half and red candied fruit erupting
from the top, it looked vile.
On Saturday evening we made a fire down on the terraces below us, and stood
and chatted over the warm flames with our new friends, Anne and Steve, from
next door. It was a very pleasant evening warming our knees and staring up
at the stars. Oh and the odd glass of wine or beer helped. Anne and Steve
are heading off on Wednesday west to Palermo and then anti-clockwise around
the island. The French couple with 'Vodka' the dachshund left on Saturday
heading off to Tunisia on a ferry from Palermo. So it is getting quite quiet
down here by the sea. There are still quite a few 'vans parked further up in
the site, but even those have been thinning out over the last few days. Soon
it will be our turn to move on, but no just yet, not whilst we are enjoying
the lapping water and twittering birds.

Ciao

M&S

Happy New Year 2007

It has been a long and tiring 2006, but we have made it into another year.
Life on the road can be tough at times. It may seem, to those of you who are
still doing the 9-5 every day, that we are just on a damn good non-stop
holiday, but let us assure you we all have our problems. Ours may only be on
the scale of what time to get up and what to have for dinner, but they are
hefty issues to resolve for us.
We managed to see out the last few days of 2006 in much the same style as
the majority of the preceding 360 or so, doing very little. The weather has
been pretty good, warm in the sunshine during the day, and not too cold
during the night. We haven't really started to get too touristy yet and
haven't ventured further than the village we are based in, Finale, and the
next big town Cefalu. We manage to find everything in the local shops that
we need for the moment and sooner or later we will make a plan for reaching
out a bit further into the Sicilian countryside.
The sea is so clear here, and not too cold. Steve, from the van next door,
and myself did a bit of snorkelling a few days ago. It was lovely in the
water and there were quite a few fish to be seen. It was bloody cold after
getting out though. It took a good long hot shower to warm my bones again.
I have been on a few cycles here and there, and ventured up to the hill town
of Pollina a few miles inland from here. It was a very nice ride, total
climb of around 800m, but by the time I reached the top the clouds had
descended and the view was limited. There is an amazing amphitheatre right
on the top of the town that looks out over the surrounding countryside
below. I assumed the view was magnificent as I could only see 50ft! It was a
bit chilly up there also, but after a nice easy downhill I retuned to the
warmer seaside climate. I repeated some of the route the other day, not
right up to Pollina, but had a wee mishap coming down. My rear wheel decided
that it was not terribly important to remain in contact with the road whilst
hurtling around a sharp corner, and a few slides and bumps later I was
sitting on my backside wondering what had happened. Thankfully there were no
crazy Italian motorists around and the only damage, apart from my dented
ego, was a few scrapes on my elbow and a couple of holes in my jacket. It
was only made slightly worse as I was out cycling with Steve, so I had to
share my experience. He tried not to laugh too much. Back at base Sue read
me the riot act and has now banned me from going cycling on my own. In her
dreams!
Last night we saw in the New Year in the company of Anne and Steve with a
large pot of Goulash and the odd tipple or two, and a bottle of cheap
Italian 'champagne' at the stroke of midnight. It was a grand night despite
the Italian invasion for the party at the campsite restaurant not to mention
the early hour firecracker show by one of the youngsters in the cabins
behind us. God help him if he is still at it after the witching hour
tonight, he has been letting them off all day.
We are considering renting a car for a few days with our neighbours so that
we can head for the hills. It will be easier in a little runabout than in
Noddy and shouldn't cost too much. More than that we have not yet planned,
although dinner is already sorted for tonight as Anne is cooking a lasagne
for the four of us. It's nice to have one of our major issues resolved so
easily on day 1 of 2007.

Ciao

M&S