It was the final three miles that made it worse. A hard hilly 48 mile day culminated in a three mile, uphill detour to a headland and my campsite for the night (Camping Riva Smerelda for reference if you’re compiling a list of places to avoid in Sicily)

It was really grim. Not so much an end of season feel, I was used to that, but a feeling that the place was about to be condemned. The suspicious looking unfriendly woman dismissively told me the advertised restaurant was closed ,there was no Wi-Fi and the tent pitches had been relocated to the car park. It’s not a massive list of requirements you need as a camper, and I wasn’t being a prima donna to expect the basics, otherwise I’d have wild camped . I was ready to lower my already low (😊) standards right down but this place was spirit breakingly awful .

I sat on a step near the toilet block,the duelling banjo theme from Deliverance running through my head and threw myself into booking.com ….

Before all that the ride had been good. Another hot day, I seemed to be making slow but steady progress. The miles rolled by via a couple of cafe drinks stops.

Ever present on my left were the Lipari islands ,and Milazzo, the town I was heading for, was the main ferry port for the island group. Even so, I didn’t expect Milazzo to be so nice . A palm tree fringed town harbour with a large Liberty Lines ferry also featured diving trips and other water sports-plenty of yachts and catamarans were in harbour too,and the waterside restaurants were crowded with people obviously straight off a boat.

It was this buzzing cosmopolitan town that I’d cycled through to get to the campsite, so it made the contrast even greater. A bit like passing up a full roast dinner for a mouldy sandwich .

Anyway the “find accommodation near me” fairy had done her work and within minutes of arriving I’d turned tail and was speeding down the hill under an amazing sky to an excellent B and B (ReUmberto bed and breakfast ,for reference if you’re compiling a list of places to go in Sicily 😊)

The place was so nice and such good value I took an impromptu rest day in Milazzo. My navigation phone was playing up and needed fixing, I needed a haircut and some supplies,and the bike needed a fettle..decision made