Back to Sicily and Italy

We arrived back in Sicily on a very efficient ferry, hoo ra for that and made our way to Ragusa arriving as it got dark. No dramas , as we arrived and saw the garage the owner obviously spotted us on CCTV and opened the gates to our underground parking. 

Happy with that, even better we had a beer before going to bed. We have been to ragusa before and the following day in crazy temperatures we marched across town up and down thousands of stairs to get yet another photo of the Cathedral.  I was officially knackered, at night we eat in the restaurant and had good crack with the boss who we found out had been an extra as a policeman in our favourite sicilian TV show inspector Moltobano 

The symbol of Sicilia and the IOM !

stairs everywhere 

yes we walked ( mostly climbed to the church in the distance)

churches everywhere 

stop for a well deserved beer

After 2 days we left Ragusa and headed to Palermo, it was very hit and I had a bit if a crabbit fit heading through Gela on the coast, it was very busy, stop go traffic and road works everywhere at one point the traffic ground to a halt and it was the police carrying out a raid, the uniformed guys stood around but the plain clothes guys just abandoned their car in the middle of the road while they got out, combed their hair, adjusted their sunglasses. Made sure their guns and landward were straight so I couldn't resist shouting abuse and waving my arms at them, they seemed bemused and checked out our numberplate as we rode by, Fiona was convinced we would get stopped but thankfully it didn't happen.

We stopped for lunch halfway across the island, it was 36 to 38 degrees! Got the crack with some locals who were out for a run on their bikes. One of them had a daughter who had recently opened a tally bakery in Dunblane so I now need to go there and surprise her with a photo of her dad!

As expected the traffic and driving got worse and worse the closer we got to Palermo, we had to activate Vietnamese mode to get through it. Eventually we got to the ferry port where surprise surprise we were kept waiting for hours to get on the ship and it was surprise surprise very late in leaving. 

Shit service for the 22 hours voyage and we managed to miss the restaurant opening so we lived off croissants from the cafe.

We tried to get a late check out which effectively means you don't get thrown out your room until 15 minutes before the ship gets into port but the woman didn't understand us so we decided to blag it. They made the announcement to vacate the cabins and avout 15 mnutes later rattled on our cabin door, we ignore it to start with but they came back, I answered the door in my underpants  and told them we were going nowhere, then they radioed somebody who told me we didn't have late check out and we had to get out, the two guys at the door said  5 minutes I said no, 15, then they threatened me with security, to which I laughed, so 15 minutes later we left.

Of course the ship was late disembarking but Fiona is now the Queen of forcing herself off the Ferry and at 9pm we rolled onto the Autostrada at Genova, At 11pm we stopped in Dolceaqua to grab  a carry out pizza and a vino and at 11.30 we were in Rocchetta where Bruno was waiting for us with the keys to our apartment. A very long 24 hours , time for R&R 

the guy in the middle has a daughter in Dunblane, small world

hot hot hot

watercooling the t-shirt and neckscarf helps

at the port

unusual waiting for a ferry 

The Med

Fi on our cruise 🤣

Dolceaqua 

waiting for a carry oot 

And that's all for now, keep on Keeping on  

Italy and Malta

After hanging about in Durris it was back to board our GNV ferry, actually watching the staff doing feck all apart from smoking, waving their arms around occasionally and encouraging a group of stray dogs hanging around the port! 

After a long wait we boarded at 9.45, we had been in the queue since 6pm!

The usual joke , where can we put the bikes to make it really awkward thing going on, the fillipino deck hand asked me to move my bike, I asked if he remembered me from the outward journey, and he laughed and said yes, well I'm not moving my bike another inch, he laughed and said OK. 

All the bikes on board were fed up by the time we got into our cabins. Problem was after 4 hours sweating in bike gear our cabin card wouldn't unlock the door, we called the steward who done exactly the same as we had, he then got hold of a senior guy who had keys and using the key we finally got it open. Then we had to sign for a metal key, what a joke.

We met a Mexican couple who are doing a bit or European touring on a triumph 1200 adventure which they garage in Durris, we had good crack with Fernando and Angelica, super nice couple who were at the first call heading to the Edinburgh Jazz festival. 

Fernando & Angelica

reversing trucks down the ramp, what could go wrong

finally free

thunder and lightning 

another infinity pool

long day, now time to relax

one of our new friends Graham figuring out his route

not a Bonnie place

beach

teatime 

and again

whisky time

another ferry to Malta

The ship was meant to arrive at 8am and then we had a 300 mile run across Italy but being GNV it was late, at 9.30 my name was mentioned over the tannoy to take my metal key back to reception, what a joke, more interest in getting a key back to actually fixing the door or even running a ferry. The stairs to the car deck were crowded and everyone was asking what was going on to the hapless deck hands guarding the stairs, they kept saying 10 minutes, after an hour I demanded to know what was going on, "too many trucks" was the answer, then eventually they let car drivers on deck 3 go down ( we were on deck 4) at 11am they finally relented to let us go down, then it became apparent, trucks were being asked to reverse down the ramp, each one took 10 minutes, it was 40 degrees plus in the car deck. Eventually Fi and I staged a mutiny, I told the car and van drivers behind us to block the ramp and stop trucks being unloaded, then we got all the bikers together to help turn around all the bikes before getting the car and van drivers to enter the ramp, then we stopped anything else getting on the ramp before we were free. It was 11.45 when we got off the ship

What a joke, problem is we are using the same company to sail from Palermo next week.

So we still had 300 miles to do before reaching our hotel, to be honest it wasn't a bad run despite the crazy Italians try to kill us and them selves with stupid driving. About an hour from our digs there was an impressive lightning storm which we decided to wait out for a bit, I could feel the ground shaking at the service station! We met a guy who complemented us on our bikes, he was a Italian policeman who's name was Guzzi, he proudly showed us his Police id, a bit of light relief.

Eventually at almost 7pm we got to our digs where we met 3 guys from Bristol on bikes, Graham ,Dave and ade, we had a great night with them and ended swapping numbers so they can stop in when they're passing . Funnily they told me they had just asked Google if the Italians had a driving test and they were surprised they did.

Thursday appeared and we had about 30 miles to the ferry to Sicilla, once again people waving their hand which now we just ignore and do what we think is sensible. Out into Messina and onto the autostrada, all good until we came to a toll booth which wouldn't spit out the ticket we needed, I ended up going mental and punching the machine several times but depite pressing the help button and shouting to a attendant nothing so reluctantly we had to push the bikes out and go the the one next door, brilliant 38 degrees and a fully loaded bike reversing out of the lane, nothing seems to work here now, it seems to be in a bit of a race to the Bottom and I can see the UK ending up a close contender. 

Just outside Catania there had been a big accident ( not surprising to be honest) and the traffic was at a standstill, Fi and I filtered, eventually riding up the hard shoulder where lots of drivers were talking waiting for it to clear but they seemed ok so we carried on and then I saw what we thought was a medical incident but as we got closer it was 2 families having a fight, a girl was lying on the road and boys and girls fighting back other. I got off the bike and tried to suss out what was happening but when I walked up shouting at them to behave they got their act together and got into 2 cars and dove up the hard shoulder to a nearby gas station where no doubt it kicked off again. What a bloody day, we got to our hotel around 4pm, another long day in the saddle and plenty to talk about.

Out for a meal at night which was actually very good, the port town of Pozzalo though was a bit rough round the edges, a real shame but the tiredness of the area and the lack of investment is Tangible, a bit like the UK back home, we keep giving money to thousands of Migrants and people who have no intention of ever working and make the rest of the population suffer.

Ealy start on Friday for an early ferry to Malta, a bit of a shock , the ferry was very modern and the staff efficient 

Malta was busy but not quite as crazy as Italy, we had a wee run round, got some photos of the Popeye Village and found our hotel , it is really hot so we are spending time avoiding tourists before we return to Sicilia on Monday.

Nice boat

and quite efficient 

historic

popeye village

lots of steps

church 

beer time

Happy

church from a different angle

I don't have any

and that's it till the next exiting episode, keep on keeping on