This morning is a treat! It's the first morning since we stayed at the agritourismo in Segesta that is both peaceful and with no rush to go.

After an uninterrupted night's deep sleep we pull back the cab curtains and lay in bed watching the rising sun light up the north east side of Mount Etna. A steady plume of white smoke or steam is carried along in the breeze. It is after 09:00 before we start getting up.

Sunday's debacle and our decision to linger here has proved a double bonus; we receive messages and texts from three different friends informing us of road closures due to the Giro d'Italia cycle race having a stage around Etna today. Looking up the route we find we drove part of it yesterday, but the race doesn't come close to us here.

We are about to set off for a walk when the owner comes across with a plateful of a fruit we don't recognise. We go to take one each but he says no, take the plate. The small orange fruits have been chilled and are a bit like sweet peaches, with 3 or 4 shiny brown stones inside. Later we learn they are loquats.

Our walk takes us along a quiet road with vineyards and lava stone walls. Most of the time we can see Etna's plume, certainly more than yesterday's stationary cloud. Lizards scurry about but thankfully no snakes like we have seen while driving.

Back at the site we sit under an olive tree and have cheese and salad for lunch then get a few housekeeping jobs done; tyre pressures, water tanks and a general tidy up of the lockers and cupboards which get disshevelled with the bumpy roads.

Then it's a bit more relaxation, watching coaltits flit in an out of hollows in an olive trunk, chatting with a Dutch couple who are pitching their tent and keeping an eye on the volcano.

Then Ali makes a pasta dish and we watch a bit of our Sicily DVDs having now seen many of the places featured.