So anyway…
Fanny and I spent June riding through France, Switzerland, Belgium and Italy. Fanny on her bright green Kawasaki ER6F and me on a KTM 990 SMT.
Fanny somewhere along the Simplon Pass in Switzerland
Me on the KTM in Chamonix
But before Fanny flew out from China to join me, I decided to fly out to Sicily and hire a scooter to explore the island.
I had been working really hard over the previous year and was a bit tired after the Coast to Coast yomp across northern England. Also, I had nowhere really to go having been unceremoniously kicked out onto the streets and subjected to unnecessary nonsense and drama by the evil Ayatollah of Wimborne and my 怕老婆小弟弟.
So, Sicily it is.
I booked a cheap and very basic British Airways flight from Gatwick to Catania, together with what seemed to be the entire lower middle middle class of Great Britain (as John Cleese would describe). Common people going to Spain, the lower middle middle class to Sicily, and the upper middle middle class to Cornwall. Or so it seemed.
A few “tornadoes” to tackle on the scooter in central Sicily.
I rode the east, south and central parts of Sicily and visited most of the tourists spots, like Catania, Siracusa, Etna, Modica, Taormina etc… All lovely, but my favourite by far was central Sicily, and in particular Agira that I found so beautiful and peaceful.
Breakfast!! So, the general plan was during the two weeks in Sicily to ride (a bit only), drink copious amounts of coffee, eat gelato or raspberry sorbet, look about at stuff, amuse locals with my three Italian words, ride a bit more… and then stop for a beer or two. A tad lonely without Fanny, but the locals were very friendly and kind.
Set a route on Google maps on my Apple telephone and then generally ignore it! I loved the back roads pootling about at 30- 40 kph in the hot sunshine
Catania… very pleasant.
The Italians absolutely love parades. It gives them a chance to dress up and prance about. It also gives old people something to do between idling about outside cafes
The beast… my transport for 2 weeks. Brakes didn’t work very well, oil light was on the whole time (not my engine), but apart from that .. perfect for the job.
Rode up the twisties to Mount Etna and then an unnecessary 4×4 taxi truck for final leg up to the crater. It was asleep.
Lots of charming old towns and lanes across all of Sicily
Very charming, indeed
A beer and a good book, relaxing in a street cafe enjoying perfect weather …. a proper holiday
Different book and a different drink…. same idling about though
View from my room in Agari… Mt Etna and a plume of smoke in the far distance. By far the nicest place I stayed. It had a 9.7 rating on the booking.com and trip advisor. I could see why.
Looking down from my room …. very nice. After its been hoovered or what ever they were doing for me I spent a relaxing afternoon reading, drinking and swimming.
Link to Facebook videos that I live streamed while riding here and there. Bit boring for everyone else, but a lovely reminder to me… and that’s what matters.
Morning coffee on my patio roof garden before heading off to explore again on the scooter
I don’t normally like swimming pools as I always find a discarded Band Aid plaster stuck to my forehead when I get out… but I make an exception with this one. I was the only guest, too!
I enjoyed the flora and fauna … reminded me a lot of South Africa
Only two good days with a boat. The day you buy it, and the day you sell it.
Perhaps if you owned this one, such worries about money don’t apply… just other worries instead.
A lot of churches and cathedrals in Sicily. This is just one of hundreds I stupidly photographed. I realised when I got home and flicked through the album that they all look the same.
Links to Facebook videos I live streamed as I mooched about:
South coast of Sicily … I stayed in a lovely B&B
Central Sicily … with Mount Etna always somewhere in the background. Hot, dry, nice breeze, smelt awesome.
Lots of hill towns … all very charming and relaxed … except the rowdy scooter boys of course.
So, I get tempted by a very pretty Sicilian lady (aren’t they all) to a selection of cheeses and salamis …with beer of course. If I remember there was donkey salami, goat cheese, Sheep cheese, the local stuff (delicious)
Another short clip from Facebook Live …. needs reducing
Another B&B … all found with booking.com and very reasonable
Which reminds me —-The Mayor of Sheffield —- what an arse. It pleases me no end that I spend so little time in England.
The bars in the early evening serve food with your drink….so much so that there is no room for dinner!! In fact, I was told that bars compete with each other to attract customers. Good stuff.. I like a bit of healthy competition and a free bun
A nice evening setting. Popular with tourists. Food pretty good. Beer excellent.
I am rather fond of mooching around piazzas
A uniform so smart it has a PhD from Oxford
East Sicily — just north of Catania
It is Italy after all
Veal … and a surprisingly good orange and onion salad … strange but tasty
sword fish … not best I’ve had… but OK
If I am giving the impression all I do is drink beer and idle about … that would be about right.
Pretty streets … we have these plants in Hong Kong… but no where near as lovely
Oooh! cakes and pastries
Nun today and none tomorrow … still keeps the old biddies off the streets
A visit to the Canadian war cemetery near Agari. Beautifully kept and a poignant reminder of the ultimate sacrifice our ancestors made for our freedom. Sicily was the location of some fierce fighting in WWII and many soldiers on both sides died. My Great Uncle Jim (Major James Utley) was there, albeit a staff officer like Captain Darling. He later became Papal Ambassador and lived in the Vatican until he was murdered. A book there somewhere.
Always charming. I like Italy more and more. I revisit a few weeks later with Fanny on our bikes, but the north and east parts. Very lovely.
A gaggle of original Fiat 500s – “cinquecento”
woof!
Bit of an orgy going on there
This dog was not sure of me at all.
Some Germans on Harleys … and a Honda scooter!!
It seems to be a field full of paw paws
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Traveling light … the best way
All is perfectly fine
Right … back on the plane and landing at Gatwick at 2.30 am !!! No trains or buses and so quite an adventure to get home.
A really really good trip. I really liked Sicily. Must take Fanny there…. or even buy “that” villa near Agari one day.
Rupert & Fanny's Big Bike Trip 
Great pictures as usual. Must visit Sicily – it looks like a great place to visit. Any recommendations? We heard you moved back to Shanghai.
Thanks … scooter is definitely the way to get about Sicily. Its not a big place and everything is nearby, and the best bits are off the tourist trail. Yes, we moved back to China.
Sicily looks great. What is next trip? Who is Ayatollah of Wimborne? Formidable, n’est pas?
Sicily was very pleasant and its not every day you can see a live volcano. Lovely weather, pretty wild flowers, Mediterranean beauty, friendly people, good food and wine. Beer is not bad either. I expected to see mafia sitting on donkeys brandishing old carbine rifles, but there was no sign, although I did not go to Palermo. I was told that the new generation mafia work for international banks and law firms laundering the proceeds of online scams and drug trafficking.
BIGBIKETRIP has cease diplomatic relations and withdrawn our Ambassador to Wimborne indefinitely. Fanny continues to be harassed and so she forwards all troll messages unread to her UK lawyer.
How much was the scooter to hire? Is it safe to ride in Italy? btw… your brother has sent an abusive post on FB. Is he all there? Seems to have issues?
The scooter was about 220 Euros for 10 days which isn’t cheap considering that it had a few technical issues (brakes were awful). The Honda 125 is easy to ride and more than good enough to get around the island. Regarding booking, I used “Hollywood Car Rentals” (Catania). But be warned, their website in English wanted 380 Euros… and so by chance I tried the Italian language website, just guessing how to fill in the fields as I cant read Italian, and it turned out to be nearly half price.
Yes….Italy has the worst driving in Europe and you have to be careful. Many Italians drive carelessly while using their smartphone and are clearly texting or watching movies as they drive. A lot of macho speeding, tail gating and lane changing. The major towns are busy, but the interior of Sicily was very very quiet. Rarely saw much traffic.
Yeah, I know about the trolling and harassment… unfortunately most of it is directed at poor Fanny as my sisters and I just block or delete everything he sends without reading. He did manage to slip through the no fly exclusion zone and posted some vitriolic and badly spelled nonsense on my company FB page (yep… a company page.. thats how dim) …. complaining that this “blog” is all about me. No shit Sherlock!!!! I am expecting a complaint that my butterfly FB blog is about Glanville Fritillarys and Green Hairstreaks!!! Ah well, not sharpest pencil in the box, a sandwich short of a picnic, a brain so dense it can bend light, the wheel is spinning but the hamster is dead, out of his depth in a puddle, one neuron short of a synapse, room temperature IQ etc etc. Its not his fault I should add, and one should not make fun of the afflicted. The Ayatollah should buy him a new killing game on X-Box to keep him out of harms way. He likes those… and cheese…. and car exhausts that go pop.
Raaah
Not a lot of info to be found on traveling with a scooter around Sicily… What I found so far is that people don’t recommend it for long distance. Your post is a while ago, but do you know what a realistic distance would be to travel through Sicily in a day?
Sorry for delay as I was locked out of my site. Just got back from Sicily (Aug 2022) and there are far more scooters to choose from and quite a few decent motorcycles. On this occasion we hired a Fiat Panda which was awesome – but actually if you want to go steady and enjoy the scenery you can see whole island in 2 weeks on a scooter – only trouble is to travel light. I wouldnt recommend going two up on one of the rental 125 or 150 scooters – tough going.