{"id":4659,"date":"2016-05-07T19:15:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-07T09:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=4659"},"modified":"2026-05-12T07:51:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T06:51:02","slug":"sunny-soggy-sunny-soggy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2016\/05\/07\/sunny-soggy-sunny-soggy\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunny, Soggy, Sunny, Soggy"},"content":{"rendered":"

When all else fails, let off some steam <\/em><\/p>\n

\"Boats
Boats in San Vito Lo Capo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We are definitely all tangled up in confusing weather.\u00a0 One day it is quite nice and the next day it\u2019s pouring with rain.\u00a0 And the last time I checked, it is warmer and sunnier in autumn in Sydney AND in spring in Hertford. \u00a0So what are we doing in Sicily?\u00a0 We\u2019re trying to find some interesting, beautiful, attractive, amazing sights and places, but we seem to be sadly failing.\u00a0 Neither of us is feeling inspired in the way that we always have been in France, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland and we\u2019re questioning whether we\u2019ve become jaded, or overloaded by the fantastic sights we have previously seen, or is it just not as \u2018nice\u2019 in Southern Italy and Sicily.\u00a0 We have our fingers crossed that perhaps we\u2019ve saved the best till last and that seeing Mount Etna and the eastern coast of Italy will lift our spirits.<\/p>\n

On Friday I needed to just sit and not search.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t want to go anywhere.\u00a0 The swimming pool absurdly closes all afternoon, although it wasn\u2019t really warm enough anyway, so I stayed beside Eileen and pottered.\u00a0 Rodney thought he\u2019d get a bit more training in and set off along the beach to walk to San Vito Lo Capo.\u00a0 He found the route up through a gap in the cliffs into town and had a good wander around before heading back on the coastal route.\u00a0 He brought back some lovely photos and really enjoyed his stroll, apart from the last bit.\u00a0 He met some Germans coming the other way who tried to explain that there wasn\u2019t really a path through, but Rodney, being Rodney, went for it anyway.\u00a0 He scrambled over rocks and jumped across wobbly gaps for about a kilometre.\u00a0 He looked like he\u2019d been on a thoroughly strenuous ramble when he reappeared at Eileen\u2019s door and said I would not have enjoyed it.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t attend that training session.<\/p>\n

\"View
View back towards the campsite<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The beach at San Vito Lo Capo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The Grotto del Cavallo, but not a horse in sight<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The footpath became a rock scramble<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The next day the weather turned again, and we spent the day wandering around the hilltop town of Erice getting soaked in the relentless rain.\u00a0 \u00a0The views from the top must be spectacular on a good day, sadly today there wasn\u2019t going to be.\u00a0 This resulted in our drive on down the coast to Camping Lilybeo near Marsala with a campervan full of wet clothes and bags jiggling about in the bathroom.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Getting
Getting soaked in Erice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Looking
Looking out through the clouds from Erice<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Sunday the weather decided to confuse us once again with a lovely sunny blue-sky day.\u00a0 It\u2019s still not warm enough to call beach weather, so rather than follow the coast, we headed inland and took a road towards Salemi. This western end of Sicily is far less mountainous and the undulating hills are dotted with olive farms, vineyards and cultivated fields.\u00a0 When you looked into the distance, the scenery looked like a patchwork of various shades of green.<\/p>\n

\"Vineyards
Vineyards near Salemi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was an interesting drive, but we did find ourselves having a good old whinge.\u00a0 We have driven across some spectacular viaducts, but the expansion joints, patchwork roads and plentiful potholes are horrific; poor Eileen feels every single one and it makes me wince.\u00a0 They may as well be Roman roads, circa 55 BC.\u00a0 Sign-posting is almost non-existent; there have been quite a few towns that we have exited twice, attempting to find the correct road out.\u00a0 I have no idea how Julius Caesar\u2019s gang ever found their way to Britain, but maybe it was an accident and they were really trying to get to Russia. At all times of the day, roads are narrowed for road works and \/ or subsidence and yet we have never seen anyone working.\u00a0 Actually no, we did see a couple of blokes, once.\u00a0\u00a0 And as for the plumbing, I thought the Romans were pretty big on it, but they have definitely lost their way in that field.\u00a0 Is there anyone who really would still want to use a squat toilet these days?<\/p>\n

\"The
The Italians do love their aquaducts; why go up and down a slope when you can make the road flat……<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Camping Valle Dei Templi in San Leone was where we pulled up at lunchtime on Sunday, and we spent the afternoon making plans to visit the Valley Of The Temples near Agrigento the next morning.\u00a0 Now what will the weather be like tomorrow, I wonder\u2026….?<\/p>\n

\"Lovely
Lovely poppies and the Grotto Cala Mancina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When all else fails, let off some steam   We are definitely all tangled up in confusing weather.\u00a0 One day it is quite nice and the next day it\u2019s pouring with rain.\u00a0 And the last time I checked, it is warmer and sunnier in autumn in Sydney AND in spring in Hertford. \u00a0So what are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8234,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4659\/revisions\/8234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}