You never know what you'll wake up to. Among this morning's birdsongs are the unmistakable chimes of a cuckoo. In the early sunlight the trattoria looks like a painting; warm brown stones, clay tile roof and claret roses by the arched doorway. Ali goes to say goodbye and asks if they have a business card for a souvenir. They don't, but instead Senora gives her a menu and a little terracotta side dish.
We set off up the hill towards Piazza - there's no way out - Armerina. The tour buses have all gone this way so it must be OK. There are tremendous views of the Duomo, high over the town before we get into its narrow streets again. We follow the Gela signs up steep bumpy roads marked no buses and lorries, so which way they go remains a mystery, but at last we see yesterday's hardware store and we know we're out on the right side.
The road to Gela is more rolling green landscape best viewed from the viaducts. Towards Gela it flattens and we see the towers of the refinery and other industrial works. We stop for fuel at the first garage we find. It's attendant service which means premium price but we get a windscreen wash into the bargain and don't lose any Euro notes.
From Gela we take a quiet road to Scoglitti on the coast. This is Sicily's main fruit and vegetable area and it's a sea of polytunnels and growing houses, all shielded by bamboo which we assume are windbreaks. We see peppers, aubergines, vines and fruit bushes but most of it is hidden under plastic. Trucks trundle about piled high with fruit boxes.
At Scoglitti we park on the seafront for lunch. It's good to see the sea again after our days inland, the distant jade waters turning yellowish where the surf crashes into the sand. Appartments and villas lie dormant out of season and many are for sale.
After lunch we have only a few miles to our destination of today, the fishing village of Punta Secca.
Todays diary was to have been called 'Salvo's not at home', because at Punta Secca is the fictional home of TV detective Inspector [Salvo] Montalbano. As fans of the series we thought we should see the famous beachside house and balcony. Parking just out of town is easy, but as we wander through the town to the seaftont we see barrier tape, crowd barriers and an assembly of people in the side streets.
We get to 'Salvo's house and people are waiting by barriers. The Inspector's grey Fiat is parked outside. Tripods and lamps are being humped around. We' ve only gone and turned up on a filming day!
There is a buzz of anticipation in the crowd then some of the production crew move people along the fence. Lights are illuminated and adjusted. Then a cheer as actor Luca Zingaretti, aka Montalbano, steps out from the production van and walks quickly down the line of waiting fans with a quick handshake, high five or tap on the arm for everyone, saying ciao, ciao, as he goes then disappears in through his front door.
Radios chatter, a crew member asks the audience for 'silencio' and Luca does his lines inside the house, before being seen briefly at the door and on the terrace and when the takes are done he walks quickly away to the Audi waiting to take him to Ragusa for more filming tonight.
So, of all the random days we might have come to Punta Secca, we never expected to find Salvo was at home and that we would be touched by Montalbano.
The rest of our walk around this sleepy fishing town seem insignificant after all that.
We return to the van and drive 6 miles to the camperstop at Marina di Ragusa. It's a big tarmac camperstop with all services, run by a friendly chap called Toni who has an English wife. It's all free but donations are welcomed, except for electricity at €2
Well there was another day that didn't quite follow the script and all the better for it!
Unfortunately we couldn't rustle up one of Salvo's famous pasta or salad dishes for dinner, but filmcrew style burger and chips did us just as well.