en-route to Sicily

Trip to Sicily – Blog No 1

Well, here we are in the sunshine in Palermo!!

It was a (mainly!) straightforward trip, and it’s not till we’ve downloaded the photos we took en-route that we appreciate how much we’ve seen, even on what was more the ‘getting there’ part of the trip.

We left home about 18.00 last Tuesday and headed for the Chunnel. We were pleased, even though we were about 10 hours early, that we were allowed into the security area, where we spent a quiet night. (Thanks Anne & Will for the tip). We were also able to take an earlier train than we had booked, so by 9.00 am our time/10.00 in France, we were on our way, taking a new route for us on non-toll motorways to just south of Lille, then on excellent N roads (now often renumbered as D roads), but the sat-nav knows the best route, so we don’t have to worry about the fact the road numbers keep changing in an attempt to confuse us!

We managed to find Aires either within just 100s of yards (metres!!) of our route, or right on it. At Dole, where we were one of 6 motorhomes spending the night there, we had a walk round the historic town, dressed up in its Christmas lights - a lovely town in an interesting area - one to keep in mind to revisit. This was our view while we stayed there.

Having prepared for the worst but hoped for the best as far as weather was concerned, our wishes were granted and we had sunshine every day but one. It did get colder and crisper as we headed towards the Alps and the Frejus tunnel, but during the day our lowest temperature was 0 deg; somewhat colder at night, no doubt, but we were quite cosy inside with the heating on.

Until we got right to our highest point, this was the coldest scene we encountered

And then eventually we did encounter a wintery, snowy scene

Heading up the long slip road to finally access the péage and the Frejus tunnel we were stopped and required to produce our passports before being allowed to cross into Italy. Thanks to the Paris attacks, the Schengen agreement has been compromised – not that we blame the French at all for checking who is leaving the country at the present time. Hopefully they will catch all those responsible for the attacks in Paris, but as we obviously didn’t fit the descriptions of any of the suspects it was all done efficiently and properly, but with a smile – you can’t ask for better than that.

Into Italy and heading to Turin there was a line of old castles – someone has always been fighting someone else.

Turin. Home of the Fiat motor company - Fabricca Italiana Automobili Torino (I never knew that!!): poor, badly governed Italy succeeded where we failed with BMC/British Leyland/ whatever - now BMW/Tata; and also home to the Turin Shroud.

It did seem to us that Jesus must have been a man of uncommonly large proportions, about 3 times the size of most men.

But then of course what we were looking at is not the real shroud - that is put away in a hermetically sealed box for its preservation. But that’s not real either, as carbon dating has proved that it dates, at the very latest, from the 12^th Century. Not that any of that seems to have diminished the extent to which this famous relic is venerated, judging from the numbers of worshippers there giving their solemn respect.

A more recent addition to the Torino heritage seems to show that Britain is perhaps not, as we had thought, the most celebrated nation for the quality of its ‘chippies’.

We stayed at a place called Chieri, about 10 miles from Turin, which will be memorable for two reasons: first, we noticed a steady succession of cars going to a kiosk in the corner of the car park on which the Sosta (Italian motorhome stopover and service area) was located. This had to be investigated, and it turned out to be a supply point for refrigerated sparkling water, those coming to it filling their water bottles after inserting a key into a slot.

As far as we could understand this is a facility available to local people, presumably to benefit from a natural source. This seems like a very useful service, especially in a hot (for most but not all of the year!) country. Perhaps we should be lobbying our councils for similar facilities suitable to our climate? What would it be – hot chocolate maybe, with a tot of brandy?

The second reason for remembering Chieri is that we took a wrong turn and ended up in the in the historic centre.

No, the road in the picture wasn’t really the tricky bit, that was earlier when we were supposed to turn left, but could no way do so; with traffic queued up behind us (and no-one sounded their horn, as that is now an offence in Italy unless there is imminent danger [although it doesn’t stop them from hooting in traditional fashion down here in Palermo!]) we had no choice but to go the ‘wrong way’ up the remaining street straight ahead of us against the no-entry until we reached a wider street at the T- junction. Surprisingly no-one swore at us, in fact the locals were very helpful, while their expressions clearly conveyed that they had some pity for the poor ignorant foreigners. Fortunately the Carabinieri, the Polizia and even the local Vigili Urbani all had bigger fish to fry at the time, so with the helpful gesticulations of passing shoppers showing us how best to avoid a repeat performance we were soon on our way, on suitable roads, once again.

Finally we got to Genoa.

Finding the docks was a challenge – the signing in Italy is only helpful if you have 20/20 vision, and can pick out the sign you want from the other fifteen on the same post while avoiding parked cars, pedestrians and vehicles coming from every direction, all interlaced with squadrons of scooters and motorcyclists slaloming through the traffic as if they are part of some video game.

Finding the ticket office was the next challenge – directly behind the docks. We were advised that without a ticket we couldn’t stop on the docks, but were given helpful directions by the security man who spoke good English, together with a note to allow us the ‘easy way’, through the docks (without a ferry ticket) so we could get a waiver from security if we were stopped. He said it would be 3 km by road – well, it might be if there were no road closures (with a complete absence of any diversion signing) and you hit all the right turnings first time (which we didn’t). Finding somewhere to turn is not an option when you realise that you’re not getting to where you should be, and there are very few roundabouts to use to reverse direction and get back to the target area of town.

Finding a parking space is a challenge – we eventually found the ticket office and parked on a yellow line – well … everyone else was! The helpful lady at the ticket office summoned her best English (much better that our best Italian!) to make sure we got what we wanted for our journey, cabin and on-board meals.

We managed to buy our ferry ticket and return just as one of the earlier mentioned law-enforcement troops was about to book us, but he kindly let us go without a parking ticket when we looked suitably humbled and said we were going right away: (no “I’ve stated so I’ve got to finish” - no doubt foreigners are too much trouble  )

Finding a legal parking space is an even bigger challenge – by now we were ready for a cuppa and something to eat. We had to go six miles, at about the speed of rush hour traffic in London or Bristol, before we found a place to stop.

Suitably refreshed and now with a map of the Genoa waterfront roads clearly printed in our heads we returned to the docks to await our ferry to Palermo.

He docks were a haven of tranquillity in an Ocean of chaos.

We had arrived safely thanks to helpful Italian officials (10/10), but no thanks to Italian drivers (I’ll allow them 5/10 for missing us), or to Italian road signing (0/10)

A 20 hour trip on a flat calm sea saw us safely to Palermo and after a short 1 ½ miles drive (½ hour in the post rush-hour (??!) traffic at 19.30) we arrived at the secure Sosta we had targeted for our time visiting the city, more of which later.

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and New Year