Catania

We spent two nights in Catania, and after finding an amazing pizzeria, with pizzas that didn't even fit on the plate, we finally managed to get our first undisturbed night of sleep in five days! Well almost undisturbed, we were woken at 7.30am by several incredibly loud booming noises. Disconcerting at the best of times, incredibly so at the foot of an active volcano. Having Googled "loud booming noise in Catania" I was partially reassured by the response that it might be the volcano, but more likely it was something to do with a religious event. This was confirmed later in the day when we accidentally joined a massive crowd in the main square at the start of a parade for Saint Agata (the patron of Catania).

The next day we set off again, this time to a bay near a town, just south of Catania, called Brucoli. With, very little wind and a calm sea, we could finally get the paddle-board and drone out and just enjoy life at anchor!

With the weather due to turn in the next few days we decided to head to the security of another marina for a few nights, this time in Augusta. Despite just being a normal town between the tourist hot spots of Syracuse and Catania, Augusta has a disproportionately large marina, apparently this is probably a consequence of Mafia activity (a local council will be "encouraged" to build a large structure because someone with friends in high places has a construction or cement company that would benefit from having a bit more work). This did work in our favour as they had so many free berths that we could moor side-on to the pontoon (still more natural to us as Brits than med mooring!)

Although not somewhere we had originally planned to stop, we lucked out and arrived during a week of festivities, starting with a singing talent show held in the town square our first evening (it turns out the youth of Augusta are a talented bunch!) and of course another parade for the local patron saint. I also experienced a true Sicilian breakfast, granita (halfway between a sorbet and a gelato) with brioche. As someone with a sweet tooth, who is rather partial to "breakfast biscuits", I felt like I was amongst kindred spirits.

The forecasted storms arrived with a rather spectacular show of lightning over the headland. The following day, having become a little bored of Augusta we unfolded our bikes and decided to explore the coastline by land. Having heard horror stories of boats losing all electrical power (including the ability to turn on the engine) we watched with incredulity as the French boat that had been behind us in the marina for the last few days set off and sailed directly into the lightning storm over Catania. Clearly, after a while the thrill of sailing loses its edge and people have to get their kicks in more extreme ways, or the French are crazy!

Watching the rain sweep towards us we decided we better head back to the boat. Unfortunately, we weren't quick enough to outrun it and learnt the hard way that folding bikes are not built to be cycled on slick post-heatwave roads, as we performed an impressively synchronised slide out down a rather wet hill! Luckily we weren't going very fast and there was no other traffic, so apart from some small patches of road rash and some slightly grubby clothes we were no worse for wear.

Sadly for Sam things only got worse when a suspected dodgy mussel from lunchtime caught up with him overnight. After putting the lavac toilet through its paces he needed a couple of days to recover so we stayed on in Augusta before heading back down to Syracuse to meet our next guests.Read more