Sicily 1998 - Long walk in filthy weather

From Worldtraveller

From Zafferana the road winds up through vinyards and past houses towards the Rifugio Sapienza. We set out for a good long walk along the road, refusing to be deterred by the thick clouds which descended as we hiked. If we'd have been sensible, we probably would have realised that January up a mountain is likely to mean unstable weather.

George and John, at the beginning of our first hike

1992 lava flow in the fog

The weather really was not good

We hiked up past some old lava from 1792, as well as more recent 1992 flows which almost reached Zafferana, to a viewpoint. There wasn't give much of a view when we arrived, but things cleared up briefly.

Still, at least there was plenty of old lava to be seen

Close-up of an old lava flow

Looking down over eastern Sicily

The clouds came in again, and we decided against walking on upwards with nothing to see. By torchlight, we headed back down to Zafferana.

Walking back to town

Sicily 1998: Journey to Zafferana / Long walk in filthy weather / Cable car to Montagnola / Another long walk