Monday 15th May
Team Basil awoke to the sound of torrential rain drumming on Basil’s tin lid. In fact we had been aware of the heavy rain most of the night because even light rain sounds loud inside a motorhome so heavy rain sounds like Keith Moon on speed (look it up kids)!
A quick glance at the weather forecast told us all we needed to know. Heavy rain was expected for the rest of the day. The thought of sitting on a wet car park for 24 hours in the hope of the weather allowing a visit to the UNESCO site tomorrow did not appeal. Our next stop was three and a half hours away and so we decided that a wet day is a good travel day.
The day was spent travelling slowly, because of the previously mentioned reduced speed limits, along almost the entire length of the Southern Sicilian coast. The drive was unremarkable with the exception of how ugly parts of the South Coast have been rendered by Oil Refineries, Chemical Plants and the like.
The final section of our journey featured a different type of visual blight – polytunnels. The whole coastal plain is literally covered in thousands of acres of polytunnels and plastic greenhouses. This is presumably the source of all the beautiful Sicilian aubergines, peppers, tomatoes etc.
Our campsite for the night was Capo Scalambri (36.7934, 14.4895). It is only €15 a night on ACSI and we got a pitch right next to the beach. It is easy to see, however, why it is only €15 a night. It is scruffy and neglected with barely functioning showers. On the plus side it is on the beach and extremely quiet with only four of us on a site with 150 pitches!
Tuesday 16th May
Possibly picking a pitch right next the beach was not a good idea after all. During the evening the wind increased dramatically and as a consequence Team Basil were rocking and rolling all night long.
By the morning the wind had calmed a little and any rain was light and intermittent with sunshine predominating.
We had a walk into nearby Punta Secca, a small seaside town where virtually everything was shut. Much to our surprise, however, it turns out that Punta Secca is a mecca for Inspector Montalbano fans, because in the long running TV series his house is located here.
Sarah and I are not knowledgable on Montalbano so perhaps chunks of the series were also filmed here.
We think we will move on tomorrow because although the beachside location is pleasant the campsite is just too rundown.