Yesterday everything we planned and did went perfectly. Today is a day to forget.
Our destination was to have been Syracuse and we had found three suitable parking locations but first we had an errand for a friend. Just outside Syracuse on the main road is a war cemetry and we'd been asked by our friend to stop by and take a photo of his uncle Frank's resting place. We parked outside, Ali bought a little posy from the flower stall and went in, only to find she was in the civilian mausoleum. The flower seller directed Ali along the road to the wargrave but when she got there it's all locked, with no other entrances to be found. Querying it being locked, the flower woman said it may be open tomorrow but not certain. We leave in a bad frame of mind!
Syracuse is busy and it's road surfaces would challenge military vehicles but we orock and roll into the first car park and it'ss chock a block. Ditto the next two. Maybe Sunday is not the best day to visit but we won't hang around so Syracuse is cancelled.
A few miles up the road is a little port with camperstop by the sea with views of Etna, and although it's reported as rocky we decide to give it a go. We bump our way in to find Italian vans parked at all angles in family & friends groups. We consider waiting as being Sunday they won't all stay, but we remember the gathering in Palmia few weeks back and they didn't get awy until after 18:00. Plus it's 29C too hot to swelter in a stationary van in the centre of Babylonia. We find a camperstop listed in another seaside town, Agnone Bagni, closed plus a 300m reverse down their lane. We think of the beach, but every street to the front is gated. We find an agritourismo 10 miles away and ring up from its locked gate. No vans, rooms only. Fattore Amico? She speaks English, can we write and tell her when we want to stay!
Town parking; more driving. Paterno - dump, Adriano - camper contact listed.
The drive there is quite spectacular, small volcanic hills and rugged lava fields, cactus and vines. But when we reach the carpark it's manic. On a central junction cars are in and out, traffic rushes past on three sides and it's not quite a hill but more than a slope. Fed up with the thought of going anywhere else we wait for it to calm down but after two hours we decide there must be somewhere else. We find a small car park listed 3 miles out of town and chance it.
When we get there it's exactly what we want, a quiet, level car park on the edge of a hamlet with views of the Etna national park and only the ocassional passing car.
At last Ali can cook dinner; breaded chicken with asparagus and rosti cake.