I was awake for a long
time during the night. Stomach cramps felt like the onset of trots and I
thought I might have to make a dash for the camping ground’s facilities (we
only use Mabel’s toilet for No. 1s). The symptoms changed to nausea but nothing
came of it. Whatever it was (last night’s dinner had been in the fridge too
long perhaps?) it stopped me sleeping but I did get through a good chunk of Peter
James’ second Roy Grace detective novel which I was really enjoying.
After four nights at
Camping Sabbiadoro we were moving on to Nicolosi on the flanks of Mount Etna so
we could visit the volcano tomorrow, but more importantly it would put us
within striking distance of Catania where the DHL tracking site now showed the
replacement satnav was available for collection.
As usual when leaving a
camping ground we drained our grey waste tank and filled with fresh water. The
cramped site made these tricky operations requiring Jane as ground marshaller
to see me round two very tight ninety degree bends flanked by trees, walls and
buildings that could inflict a lot of damage on Mabel. Then there was a long
reverse down to the camper service point so that we could then drive forwards
out of the camping ground.
Mabel’s satnav was having
another bad day, refusing to accept there were any satellites in the sky. We
weren’t too worried by that as we knew we could rely on the satnav App on
Jane’s iPad.
We had decided not to
hitch Smarty to Mabel in the camping ground in case we met oncoming vehicles in
the very narrow roads between the ground and the main road. Not only can’t we
reverse more than a metre before Smarty sets off at a tangent, the roads were
so narrow we wouldn’t be able to open Mabel’s doors to get out and unhitch
Smarty if it came to it. Instead Jane led the way in Smarty and I followed in
Mabel. It was a good plan, we did meet a couple of cars which did the decent
thing and reversed into side roads to let us past. As on our arrival I had to
fold in the left door mirror to get through.
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| A Tight Squeeze For Mabel Leaving The Camping Ground (Note left door mirror is folded) |
Once on the main road I
drove 5 km, or so, to a spot suitable to attach Smarty. Having finished our
pre-flight checks on Smarty we noticed Mabel’s satnav was up and running! Jane
took over driving duties at that point. While it was less than 100 km to
Nicolosi, Jane didn’t like the look of the urban sprawl around Catania we would
have to pass through in the final stages of the trip.
Jane’s stint was entirely
on an autostrada that took us northwards passing the enormous oil refinery at
Syracuse. The hills flanking the Gulf of Catania were crossed on a series of
viaducts interspersed with tunnels. The viaducts were supported on Corten steel
girders which the Italians use a lot, although it’s not good practice to use it
in proximity to the sea (corten steel is left unpainted, a rust film forms on
its surface and that prevents ongoing corrosion – unless there is salt in the
atmosphere).
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| Road Worker Waving Red Flag To Slow Traffic To Let The Concrete Truck Out |
There was a light
overcast – up until now in Italy we have had nothing but clear blue skies all
day, except for the last two days when they were replaced by thunder storms
later in the day. As we emerged from one tunnel we spotted the unmistakable
silhouette of Mount Etna – a slightly darker grey than the clouds. The shape
became more distinct as we neared Catania, the island’s second largest city
after Palermo.
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| Our First Glimpse Of Mount Etna Through The Haze |
We swapped driving duties
at a filling station just before we were due to leave the autostarda. The local
roads were initially tight, becoming very tight in the town of Mascalucia and
we only just got past a concrete pump alongside a building site. After that the
roads got wider but considerably rougher giving Mabel a good shaking for many
kilometres as we climbed up the flanks of Mount Etna. Camping Etna turned out
to be a small site on volcanic sand set amongst trees and about 900 metres
above sea level. A man emerged from a caravan as we pulled up, he had no
English, but it was OK for us to stay two nights and he and Jane helped me
reverse onto our pitch adjacent to an empty swimming pool. As is customary in
Italian camping grounds, the man took my passport (UK) as surety against us
paying when we left. Unlike other camping grounds there was no office, Jane
wondered whether we would see the passport again.
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| Mascalucia With Mount Etna's Flank In Background |
We started setting up
Mabel, I couldn’t get any power from any of the six sockets I connected her
power cable to and went off to find the man explaining, in Italian, that we had
no electricity. He came over with a replacement cable which we substituted for
Mabel’s, but got the same result. He disappeared and came back with a lamp that
he plugged into one of the power sockets. It worked and the man concluded the
problem must be with Mabel. He was correct, a circuit breaker had tripped, I apologized.
It was lunchtime by the
time we had got everything set up. Jane’s stomach was playing up, much like
mine had during the night. She decided not to eat, I went for the usual bread,
cheese and salami.
We were excited as we
headed in Smarty for the centre of Catania 17 km away to collect the
replacement satnav. Jane navigated using her iPad giving instructions to me as
we drove through the busy streets of Catania. I enjoyed the usual games of
chicken with fellow motorists - Jane didn’t, stamping on an imaginary brake
pedal when sometimes a driver edged too close to us from a side street. She
thought I should give way, but few Italian drivers do and no-one thanks you if
you do let them out in front of you. “When in Rome ……” I said.
An hour after setting off
the iPad announced were were within 150 metres of our destination, we found a
park and set off on foot. Then I noticed other parked cars were displaying
tickets. Recalling how we returned to Smarty in Cassablanca two years ago to
find her clamped, we went back and found a machine that issued bus tickets in
addition to parking. We reached the DHL collection point, an internet café at
17 Via Spirito Santo. The windows displayed Western Union signs, but not DHL. I
went in and a man behind the counter shook his head when I said DHL. Outside,
Jane thought her iPad was showing we still had some way to go, but after a few
hundred metres she realised that was not the case. Nearby, a courier driver
(not DHL) was standing next to his van. I asked him where the address we were
looking for was. He consulted with another man and they agreed it was the
internet café I had visited.
We walked back to the
café and I asked another man whether I was at the DHL collection point. In
broken English he said it used to be, but was no longer. As I fired up my
iPhone to try and find where in Catania the DHL package was, the man came back
and asked whether I wanted to drop something off, or collect. On hearing it was
the latter he disappeared into his office and returned with a yellow DHL box
with my name on it. He took a copy of my NZ passport and opened the box, it was
indeed our satnav! On Thursday it was in the City of London, today in a café in
Catania, that’s brilliant service by Adam and then DHL, but the latter need to
update their website – it shows the café to be their primary point in Catania.
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| We Have The Satnav! |
There was more ducking
and diving on a completely different, and much longer, route back to Camping
Etna. We kept our eyes open for a supermarket and spotted a roadside sign
giving the address of a Spar. The iPad showed it was on our route, it was, but
it was closed for siesta! Shortly after we found anther supermarket that was
open and stocked up on some essentials. This is the third supermarket we have
visited recently, none of them had Campari on their shelves which we thought
should be a staple in Italy and something we enjoy as a pre-dinner drink. We
settled for a Campari lookalike instead.
Back at Mabel, Jane was
feeling better – having the new satnav undoubtedly helped. She made herself a
cheese omelette in a pan she had bought somewhere on our travels and was very
pleased with the result. I set up the new satnav, it was just perfect. I sent a
text to Adam letting him know we had it and thanking him again for his help.
I spent the remainder of
the afternoon backing up our photographs onto an external hard drive, something
I hadn’t done for a while and I was nervous after my camera accident on
Saturday.
Late in the afternoon
there was loud ‘crump’ followed by the unmistakable sound of cracking fibreglass.
A recently arrived campervan had reversed forcing the motor scooter on its back into a
tree. The man looked nervously into the gap between scooter and van before
having words with his ground marshaller who obviously wasn’t up to Jane’s
standards.
The Campari look alike
turned out to be good, even if its colour looked somewhat artificial. Our
evening meal was riso with tuna and mayonnaise on salad.
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| Today's Trip (94km plus Nicolosi to Catania in Smarty) |
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