SICILY’S ROADS
11TH November
ALL THE WAY BACK TO PALERMO
After a long fruitless diviation through mountain roads we finally joined the coast road again. Graham found a convient place to stop and we browsed the map and worked out the fast route to our destination. He put Sutera into Miss Satnav again, but this time to make sure we kept to the right route he also put in several towns we needed to pass on the way so we would not be deviated. The coast road was a fast modern highway, it took less than an hour, but I enjoyed some elevated views of the lovely bays before we finally turmed onto the smaller highway. It was close to the sea reort of Termini Imerese, quite a way from where we had started that morning…
WE’LL TAK’ THE LOW ROAD!
Although the road was slower than the coast road it was well maintained and much better than the mountain roads we had taken that morning. All went well, including passing through the beautiful little town of Caccamo, I so wished we could have explored further. (We could have done so if we’d taken that highway in the first place.) It went well until we turned off on the country road to Sutera and our bed for the night.
By this time it was dark, and Miss SatNav took us to the wrong town – but it was right nearby, and I had remembered the road sign that Graham, of course, ignored (preferring his talking toy.) When we finally arrived we found we had been on the road 9 hours – instead of 2.5 if we’d taken the highway – or 3.5 if the mountain roads had been in good repair…
To add insult to injury, the engine warning light on the dashboard came on as it had in Grottole.
SUTERA.
DAY 6:
WHAT A PLACE FOR OUR CAR TO PACK UP!
Our third overnight stop was right in the centre of the island, at the top of a mountain. It was a bit hard to find in the dark, but luckily a petrol garage situated at the bottom of the small town was open and two guys were inside drinking beer out of bottles. Graham went in and showed them the address, I watched them shake there heads and point upwards to the shadowy mountain that loomed above us. Graham got out his phone and gave it to one of the men who jabbered into it then handed it back.
When he got back into the car Graham told me that someone would come down to guide us up as we would get lost in the dark. Two minutes later the father of the house and his fourteen-year-old son drew up in his car, and led us the three-minute drive remaining. We were literally on a high mountaintop. Not Everest, of course – but there was only one outcrop of rock we could see that was higher.
WE ARE WELCOMED WITH A PROPER CUPPA –
Our hosts were charming, and spoke English. They gave 120% care. They even produced proper English tea and cakes, which we all shared in the kitchen, while they showed us where everything was for a self-service breakfast. The bread was freshly oven-baked and the butter in a dish; high quality all round. The husband arranged for our car to have emergency attention– and the mechanic did not charge for the small adjustment.
WE AWAKE ABOVE MOUNTAINS
Our room was slightly bare, but two gorgeous, colourful quilts completed a Scandinavian look, and the bathroom was also spotlessly clean. I ruthlessly woke Graham at 5.30:
“Get up! You’ll want to snap the view from the back balcony.”
We had never seen such a sight, apart from something similar once from an aeroplane, but at midday.
This time the rising sun was striking a sea of mountain peaks – BELOW US!
We cannot recommend this place enough – IT IS SUPERB!
Text by – Jackie Usher, SWWJ. (aka author Debbie Darkin, & ‘Graham Liverpool’ on Trip Advisor.)
Photographs by – Graham Usher.
