5 March 2024 – Italy’s Toe Nail

Miles driven today = 34

Total Miles to date = 2,061

We really have had a colossal amount of rain over the last few days.  It was hammering down when we went to bed last night and it was hammering down again when we got up this morning and it didn’t really properly let up until midday.  Getting out of Tropea was interesting with full tanks of diesel and water and we had to employ traction control to get us up the steep, slippery hill in order to access the road out of town.

We took the SP22/SP23 inland over the eastern end of the Tropea Peninsula and past Capo Vaticano before dropping back down to the coast at Nicotera.  

We made a slight inadvertent diversion at San Ferdinandino which resulted in an accidental tour of a container terminal but quickly got ourselves back on track and shortly afterwards we had rumbled through the waterfilled potholes to a great little sosta in Tauriana. 

It really is a lovely little spot.  As well as being just across the road from an impressive beach, there is a waterfall tumbling down the cactus strewn rockface to the rear of the parking area.  Not bad for €15 a night including hook up.

There is also a tower standing on the top of the cliffs.  Google Maps reckons it would only take us 2 minutes to walk there.  I doubt even an Olympic standard climber would be capable of managing that.

Once we were as certain as we could be that the rain had finally done one for the day, we popped our shoes on and went for a stroll.  There is a small harbour just down the road with the usual mixture of fishing and pleasure craft.

Some of the boats have definitely seen better days and I doubt this one will ever sail the Seven Seas again.

Looking further along the coast we got our first glimpse of Sicily, which you can see here beyond one of the numerous container ships which plough up and down the coast.

This rather poignant statue appeared to be in memory of local fisherman who have lost their lives at sea.

You can see exactly what I mean about the amount of rain we have had from this stretch of road at the far end of Tauriana.

The one thing which has really disappointed us about Southern Italy is the amount of litter and trash that is just dumped.  I know it’s still quite a long way from being peak tourist season at the moment but Tauriana is primarily a holiday resort with numerous guest houses and restaurants.  I’ve no idea whether all the locals get their bin bags out and go for a massive Wombling session before the tourists all arrive but it would take a huge effort to get the place to even start looking reasonably presentable in places.

But the beach across the road from the sosta really is lovely, with golden sand and sparkling blue sea, once the Sun finally started to shine.  

I’ve just booked our ferry tickets to Sicily for tomorrow.  It’s €50 one way or €88 for an open 90 days return so we’ve gone for the latter.  It’s fair to say I’m just a little bit excited!

6 March 2024 - Ferry across the Messina Strait