Follow the Mountains : Italy - Day 1: Fleeing into Parco dei Nebrodi

Yesterday, I made it to Sofia by bus and then Catania (Sicilia) by plane. I arrived just before 11 pm at my hostel and started to research, what I would do the next day. I had thought about taking a bus to Mt. Etna at 8:15 am the next morning and then hike on the Sentiero Italia North - first a little bit on Sicilia and then rake the ferry over to the main land. But the weatherforcast was really bad for Mt. Etna until Sunday, with lots of fog, rain/snow and cold temperatures. In Catania however, it was so humid warm (24° C at night when I arrived), that I was sweting all night. I decided, that I want to see Mt. Etna but don't want to stay in Catania. So I came up with the idea, to hike a little bit in the Parco dei Nebrodi, which is basically the only forest left in that region, until the weather gets better. There should be a bus going around noon or in the afternoon, giving me a bit more give to sleep and get organised. After that I took a shower and managed to sleep a few hours.

This morning, I woke up early, despite of the lack of sleep but stayed a little longer in bed. Crazy, but I had 3 hostel nights and in all of them, I didn't sleep more than a few hours. Time to pitch my tent again and get some sleep ;) The hostel provided breakfast which was a joke, so I went to a supermarket to buy some food. And I was just so annoyed by all the people, noise, the fact that everybody seems to have soooo much time and expects the same from you, the Italian chaos,... I just wanted to leave. I had looked up a village, I wanted to go, but the bus to that place leaves at 2 pm, which means arriving at 4 pm and then it's still a little to walk to get to the forest. Since I had to check out at 10:30 am, I did some more research and found another village, where there seem to be regular busses or trains going. Not perfect, because I will have to pass that town again, when I want to hike to Mt. Etna and its a while to reach the forest, but I was eager to leave town. So I decided to go for the second option.

After a quick visit at the tourist information, I headed to the train station but had to wait 1 h for the next train. So I got myself some ice-cream (I am in Italy after all) and then waited for the train to come, which was of course late. I had looked at the map and decided to get off one station earlier than my stop. I could have gone off two station before as well, but it would have been further to walk to the forest. Well, the train didn't stop at the stop, that I wanted to get off. So I ended up in Randazzo after all, which meant a muuuch longer hike to the forest. The train ride was warm, noisy and full. And in addition it had just started to drizzle, when I got off. I was annoyed! It didn't get better, when I heard a concert of dogs, wherever I walked. All were far away or locked away, but there will be this fear forever... But then I hiked over pastures for some hours - no people, good 4WD track, only cows, no rain and I even passed some unexpected water! Live was good again ;) I was just a little afraid, that the forest on my map might not exist at that point, but might start later on. But no, when I came around the corner of the mountain, I saw the start of a beautiful oak forest! I set up my tent and am listening to a concert of cow bells and some thunder in the distance.

Not sure, where exactly I hike tomorrow, but I think it's going to be a leasure day on the forest. And then I think I can start heading to Mt. Etna on Sunday, to be already there on Monday, when the weather is supposed to be better. But I might just stay on the North side of Mt. Etna, instead of walking all the way around. It's a National Park and you are not allowed to camp and there doesn't seem to be much forest... Sadly, you can't walk up very far on the North side, but hopefully there won't be as many tourists on that side. I think I will take a bus and ferry to get to the mainland. Looking on the map, it seems like hiking on Sicilia is probably mainly on pastures with hardly any forest to hide and camp. But I still have time to decide on that!