Our 2015 Tour of Sicily

In October 2104, we planned a grand tour of Sicily on our road bikes, carrying our gear in back backs or in panniers, staying in B&Bs. We decided to use the next year to get as fit as possible and trained on our road bikes on the backroads in the Blue Mountains in NSW Australia and around the countryside of Loro Piceno Italy. 

Our Sicily bike tour was planned for September 2015. We used a printed map of Sicily, and online assistance for the route and hotels from Garmin, Trip Advisor and booking.com. All was organised without either of us having any prior knowledge of Sicilian roads, countryside or driving. 

Sadly in mid July 2015 Jo was hit by a car door and now has a titanium hip/ top of her femur. The cycling tour turned into a driving tour of the roads we were going to cycle complete with the assistance of a crutch and the map.

This is our revised blog driving most of the cycle route.
Trapani to Calatafimi Segesta
Calatafimi Segesta to San Stefano Quisquina
San Stefano Quisquina to Agrigento
Agrigento to Enna
Enna to Nicolosi (Etna)
Nicolosi to Taormina (2 nights)
Taormina to Modica (2 nights)
Modica to Trapani 
Marsala and flying home

Travelling to Trapani and overnight in Fontana salsa

Ryan Air has opened up many routes and given new life into some small resorts throughout Italy.

The trumpet announcing the on time landing still exists in Italy and the Italians on board still clap when the plane bangs, bounces and brakes. We did too - as we thought we had crash landed at first! Sitting on a bucket seat with a 6 week old hip even for 1hour 10 minutes with a cushion underneath is a painful experience and it has taken a day to walk and stretch off the aches caused. It was a welcome relief to walk out of the terminal to find the hire car (not 300m - more like 600m which makes a big difference when walking with a crutch and gammy hip) across another car park.

We arrived in the dark and finding our overnight accommodation was a bit of a challenge as we discovered that despite mapping the routes on our Garmin, both of us had left them behind! With no GPS in the car and the phone almost out of battery power, we reverted to map reading in the dark. The holiday had not even begun and despite a little frustration, we managed to stay calm and find our way.
30 minutes later, several trips in and out of the outskirts of Trapani, we finally found the right turning/set of traffic lights and followed the instructions provided on the internet to Fontanasalsa. Check out: http://www.fontanasalsa.it/

We were treated to an excellent 9pm meal by the owner - with olive oil and a 2005 Syrah from her vineyard/olive groves. This property has been in her family for over 300 years. She harvests her own flower of salt and employs 800 people in the olive picking season (end Sep - mid Dec). A quirky place (e.g. disco lights in the shower) but more on that at the end as we decided to return here for our final night. But it was an outstanding stay - great food, quirky owner and interesting bedroom.