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This hotel was to prove to be the only place of the entire holiday where I was unable to drink the tap water as it had a saline taste. That evening I took a stroll along the promenade from which one could look down on to the gardens and the sea below, it was while taking in the scenery that I spotted a couple of men practicing kick boxing. Later I had a very nice meal together with my usual carafe of wine while enjoying the evening air, a very pleasant way to end the day, retiring for the night at 10.30pm. (311m) Saturday 10 September, I took my leave and r ode to shor t distance up the coast to Villa S. Giovann To board the 10.30 ferry to Messina on the island of Sicilia, but that was only achieved after I had done a tour of the docks in Reggio looking for the ferry terminal. On arriving in Messina it was very hot so I headed down the East coast but got caught up in a one- way system full of traffic. I then attempted to get up onto the M/way that was higher up the hillside but kept coming up against the blank supporting walls of the M/way I did eventually find an access point and toll. I only rode to the first exit at Roccalumera before rejoining the coast road passing several towns, villages and bays on the way to just south of Taormina where I turned inland to climb up into the hills north of Mount Etna and headed for Linguaglossa and Ranndazzo The whole area, villages and land looked so grey and dirty with the soil where it had been ploughed a rich dark black colour. At Roccalumera I turned north to Capo d Orand rode up a real twisty mountain pass stopping near the top for some more photos as by now the air and atmosphere had become clearer. I rode the higher passes for some time and in places going through light cloud before starting the descent to coast on the north of the island at Capo d’ Orlando finding a hotel shortly after joining the coast road, It had been a pleasant day’s ride stopping for the night at 4.30pm (122m). The hotel was to prove to be the only one to have a swimming pool of the whole tour, after sorting myself out and cleaning up I went for a lovely swim. It has been years since I last swam in a pool and it brought back a few memories, growing at the side of the pool was a lemon tree full of fruit.
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