We left the south coast of Sicily and Agrigento, beginning the trip
back up north. One more crossing of the hot middle bit keeping to the
coast for as long as possible until we had to cut across for Palermo.
Steve booked the car ferry which departs at 9:00 so we organized our
backpack so we could strip off the leathers as quickly as possible
once we got off the bike - which we were able to do after a scenic
tour of Palermo when we missed the sign for the Porto.
We were much too early for the ferry, but found a shady cafe where we
had a two and a half hour lunch, and then a shadier park which was
perfect for keeping cool and having a next steps planning discussion
(red booking). Then once it cooled down a bit, we headed for the
Porto to pick up our tickets and find the queue for the ferry. Steve
expected this to be 'a bit of a faff' so we left plenty of time, but
quite the reverse, it went swimmingly well and we were ready to get on
our 9:00 ferry at 6:15! So we found some shade, people watched and
had a nice chat with an American and his Irish wife, Bill and Miriam.
A German guy pulled up next to us in line and we chatted with him
too. He had a temperature guage on his bike and at 7:00 in the
evening by the water it was still 38 degrees - well into the 90's. He
said that he had parked it in a sun / shady area a couple days ago and
the temp was 46!
Italy is chaotic, particularly the traffic, but once you understand
that the rule is that there are no rules it becomes doable (if not
understandable). We now squeeze ourselves into traffic with the best
of them and I've even heard Steve beeping his horn a few times!
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