Hi All,

Yes, we made it to Sicily!

Our flight and transfers/taxis worked fine .. but we had a spot of trouble squeezing Christian and his exceptionally wide bike box through the final checkpoint! All ended well!

For some reason, Catania reminds me of Cuba! Yes, the buildings are not the cleanest but the people are so friendly ... just like their flowerpots - over flowing with warmth!

As we left our lovely B&B in  Catania this morning, we started to appreciated the easy going nature of the people as we easily merged with the traffic many times on the easy down hill to the train station. Such a contrast to Girona where everyone was a strict 1.5m from you! We also got introduced to the many roads paved with stone bricks! What a bumpy ride we had at times!

As we headed inland, we started to monitor the dark clouds gathering around the surrounding hills - accented by long rolls of thunder! When Marion and I arrived in Francavilla, we found a hotel-restaurant and settled in for a leisurely 3 hour lunch while the clouds burst open with a record 10cm downpour of rain. (Doug and Christian were father down the hill as they had stopped for a swim at a beach!)

Around 4PM the weather cleared enough for us to do the final 5km 300m climb into Castiglione .. a hilltop town where we are staying 3 nights. What a nice place .. great views of Mt Etna in the mist from today's rain!

We are told tomorrow afternoon will be wet again ... then the good weather settles in!

Cheers all,

Harold and Marion