After four nights in Salvatore's bungalow the weather has cleared a little and it is time for me to continue towards Sicily. The road climbs up another 200m before I ride down a very steep road back to sea level.
Up again, 500m this time and it starts drizzling. On the way back down towards sea level I stop at a lookout and Antonino starts talking to me. He has lived in Australia for many years and still collects a pension from the Aussie government while he lives in Italy! He invited me to dinner and offers his couch to sleep on. I gratefully accept.
In his house my bike hangs out next to the salami he made. Dinner is local sausages his cousin made served with wine made by one of his friends. I love this part of Italian culture. Different regions have different specialties and many people make and produce their own food, olive oil and wine.
It's pouring rain in the morning and I leave the house covered head to foot in rain gear. As I continue down the hill the skies clear, I have a great view of Sicily and a rainbow appears. Pefect. I soon arrive at the port just in time to hop on a boat to the island.
After a quick Skype with dad (Happy Birthday!) I am pushed along by some more tail winds. I have a couchsurfing host arranged in Palermo and I am meeting up with Charlie there in a few days time.
The sunshine and tail winds hang around until about 3pm. And then the rain starts. The cycling is not the most pleasant, the road is busy and there are lots of industrial areas. I find shelter in a half constructed abandoned building for the night, happy that I am not camping in the pouring rain.
The next day emerges cloudy, better than rainy. A roadie cycled with me for a while. I was working hard to go 20km/hr on the flat to keep up and he often had to stop pedalling and coast to slow down for me.
He spoke little English and my usual approach of using lots of hand gestures and body language to communicate was difficult whilst cycling. He was kind enough to buy me a peice of cake and a coffee for morning tea.
The afternoon brought some stunning cliff side cycling, which was a little bit difficult to appreciate due to the howling wind and pouring rain. At one point I stop for a photo and notice the rain drops flying up over the cliff from the wind pushing them upwards.
I find another abandoned building to hide in tonight. This one was a whole apartment complex, many of the doors unlocked and the apartments still furnished. I lay my tent ground sheet over and old bed and sleep on the matress.
I wake up to sunshine in the morning! I cycle for a while with a group of men out enjoying the fine weather on the weekend. At one point I cycle past a sign that says 65km to Palermo. A couple of kilometres later a sign says 71km to Palermo! Where did those extra kilometers come from?
I enjoy some beer and chips at the beach watching the sunset before settling into another half built house that has been abandoned.
It's sunny again in the morning and I actually manage to work up a sweat climbing a small hill over a headland. The view of the med is amazing in spots and a few trees are in bloom, hinting at the upcoming summer.
One of the most least enjoyable things about cycletouring is trying to cycle through cities. Palermo is not so bike freindly and even on a Sunday afternoon the traffic is horrible.
I manage to navigate my way through town and out the other side. My couchsurfing host, Salvatore, lives in Sferacavallo, a village about 10km from Palermo. I eat some Gelato while I wait to meet Salvo.
Once at his place, I drink a beer and then I am told his friend, Barabara, will be doing a yoga session. 75km cycling, a couple of beers and then an hour and a half of yoga, I was a little tired after that.
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