May 5th.

..our last day in Sicily

On our last day we took the easy drive to the Gorges of Alcantra and booked a special dinner with the best restaurant around Riposto - only 7 km from the marina. 

I say the ‘easy’ drive. In practice just ‘getting out of Riposto was always a challenge as there is no simple main road. We must have driven down EVERY road in Riposto so we know! (It reminded us of the 60’s TV cult series in the UK, ‘The Prisoner”. If you remember, our hero was transported to an idyllic village but every attempt to leave this village failed and he ended up back in the main square again.) Our great driving and navigations skills were up to the task and we only had to turn back once on the whole journey and that was because a bridge that had collapsed or something so we had to detour.

..the dam that may have changed the course of the future!

The Gorges of Alcantra are only a few meters wide but more than 20 meters deep having steep vertical sides. They have been carved out of the slopes of Mount Etna and formed by the overflow of lava over the eons. Parts were still closed as a result of the latest outpouring, but John and Bob went for a paddle and John, being the inveterate construction engineer decided to build his own dam in the middle of the river and divert the water!  We are sure that John’s dam has changed the course of history. I.e the change in water flow resulted in a farmers crop not growing that meant he couldn’t afford to send his child to ‘that’ particular school that meant he didn’t meet the that teacher and then didn’t go into politics after all and then didn’t become the next Italian President! OMG!

There was an interesting farmers market giving free samples away. So we had a nice buffet lunch. Here we bought our Orange liquor after having to try quite a few sample to be sure we had the right choice!

..um, we think are going to be a little late for our reservation

Dinner was booked for 8.30pm.
We left at 8.00pm to give ourselves plenty of time – we are used to Riposto! 

The restaurant was only 7 km away but we should have been warned when the restaurant’s receptionist asked us if we have the Lat/Long coordinates.
hmm..
Two hours later, one more phone call to the restaurant and we still couldn’t find it!
Though we think we got close.
Road signs yet again disappeared, road names changed without warning and it was pitch black everywhere.
Two hours and still failure!  Ugh!  We should have taken a taxi. 

We gave up, parked our car back at the marina and went back to a small wine bar in Riposto we had been lucky enough to find previously.

Oh well.

We get ready for our main sail this year so far.

The 290 mile trip east to Pilos in Greece.
We expected the sail to be at least two days and it would probably the furthest distance from land in any direction thus far since taking delivery of Timeless.  (Mind you 2 miles or 200 miles doesn’t make that much difference when you are at sea in a storm!)

The next morning we prepared the boat to leave. In particular we uncovered the delicate parts of the boat that might have been damaged by Etna and took off the awning. The winds were finally in our favor.  John and Bob went to the local chandlery for bits and pieces so they could catch our dinner one evening.  Les and Cathy did some last minute provisioning at the local fish, fruit  and veg markets - we were ready to sail.

..would we catch dinner, or would we starve?