H-Day 13 Marsala - end of Via Mazarese

We've reached Marsala. The west side of Sicily.

445km so far.

The last 10km it was mostly walking on a busy small street along the coast. 10k before, we were hiking on a sandy piste next to the sea. The really strange thing yesterday evening had been that it has been quiet for awhile. At about 19:00 it started that more and more small cars appeared on these roads. Driving slowly, and people starring quiet strange. Driving fore and back. In circles. Actually I was looking for a sleeping spot and then this strange thing. My only guess was that these are tourists in cheap rental cars looking for the best location to view the sunset. But still after sunset, there have been quite a few of them around. Much more busy as usual. But we've finally found an old half constructed building to get some protection from wind and rain.

The idea had been to get up at 4:30 and start walking 12k to the next town, before it starts raining and having thunderstorm. I got up, packed everything together and wanted to start. But Lupo refused. He couldn't walk well and I think he has seen the lightning far away on the horizon. He is afraid of thunderstorms. So I decided to unpack everything again, have breakfast and lay down. And the thunderstorm arrived 2h later. At 10:30 I woke up again and the sun was out. Even the forecast has predicted rain until 13:00.
Now it was time to leave. It took awhile until Lupo got warm and could walk almost normally. Always if he is cold he limps more or less. Scary.
But it worked out and we could make the boring road to Marsala. Actually not so far away you can see two islands. Both mountainous. From the map, it must be Favignana (Isole Egadi) and Isola di Marritimo.

Now we try to find a wind protected place and rest.

Actually here our trip on the Via Francregina Mazarense ends. Normally it is heading inland now to Palermo. But we will stay at the beach (road) hiking to Trapani. It is the western starting point in Sicily for the Sentiero Italia, which we actually want to hike. A long distance joining path through Italy from the CAI (Club Alpino Italia).. It got famous singer years ago where there young people have created this idea. But then it got forgotten until 3 years ago. Where since other young people created a project called Va Sentiero. A crowd funding project. They've hiked in groups the whole trail, documented a lot and I think they've also marked a bit. It is not always 100% identical. But mostly they have a nice webpage which is made like a travel guide.
www.vasentiero.org
You can watch there some YouTube videos about the different areas of Italy. Short clips.

Now, walked huge parts of the via Francigena Fabaria and Mazarense I can conclude that the Fabaria is much more worth to hike. Better signed, much more interesting and scenic. More variations.
The Magna Via Francigena from Palermo to Agrigento should be a nice but more "crowded" one. It would be possible to combine it with the via Fabario and hike to Mount Etna. Probably a nice solution too.

But our intention is the mountainous SI. Which will be more demanding and remote. Unfortunately now in April also colder. But that's something we can not really influence.

37.300 steps - 28.3kmRead more