Thursday 11th May

There are few things better in the world than waking to the sound of breaking waves. With Basil positioned less than 50 metres this was what greeted us this morning.

Shortly afterwards the hooting of a horn presaged the arrival of a bread van! There were clearly enough off grid campers to make his trip worthwhile and Sarah nipped out to purchase a couple of pastries for breakfast and some rolls.

Half an hour later another van arrived, this time selling lovely looking tomatoes. Unfortunately our fridge is full of the LIDL variety and so we had to pass on those.

Our main activity for the day, other than admiring our surroundings, was a walk. I had discovered there was a 17th Century defensive tower about three and a half miles (5.5km) around the bay. The skies were blue and so having packed a couple of rolls for lunch and water for Skye and us, we set off.

Inevitably where there are German campers, as night follows day, there will be fat naked men. We had barely walked half a mile when there, tucked into a rock crevice, where presumably he thought he was hidden from view (not that normal deters them), was a rotund sunburnt man with his unimpressive manhood exposed. I don’t know that the man was German but since 80% of the campers in Sicily are of that nationality, and based on past experience, I think it likely!

The walk was beautiful. It more or less followed the water’s edge on rough tracks. The route was flanked by an amazing array of wild flowers, all of which were unfamiliar to us. After two miles or so we were overtaken by a German couple on bikes. After a brief chat we agreed to take each other’s photos – much better than a selfie.

We arrived at the remote tower to find a few benches to sit on for lunch and even some discreetly hidden portaloos. I had read online that the tower used to be blighted by rubbish, but since it is in a nature reserve the authorities have clearly made an effort to clear it up.

The history of the tower was detailed on a nearby notice board. This area had indications of small inlets having been cut into the rock to allow fish processing. These date back to at least Roman times where it is supposed that they were used for preparing the famous Roman Garum, a kind of fish sauce.

This area is one of the best in Sicily for tuna fishing and from the Middle Ages onwards the area around the tower was utilised for tuna processing. In the 17th century it was decided to protect the valuable tuna processing by building a defensive tower. The area was prone to raids by North African pirates in search of slaves. The tower is called Tonnara del Cofano which is rather confusing because the literal translation is “The Tuna Fishermen of Cofano”.

We walked back to our idyllic camping spot and spent the rest of the day admiring the scenery!