Middle-aged flash packers

Yesterday’s walk on the north side of Etna was definitely not a walk in the park.
The hike started from the Refuge Citelli. It was a sunny day, very good conditions. We walked through a wood then on to the main mountain.
The hiking was very difficult because the lava is basically tiny black pebbles of pumice. It’s like walking through coarse sand, so it’s so much harder on the legs. To add to the problems, one very steep part of the ridge meant a scramble up constantly shifting terrain. There were the odd rocks to hang on to but many of these were loose, resulting in either you slipping or having to avoid one hitting you.
We eventually made it to 2700metres and had a good view of the back of the main crater. It seemed very active with lots of gas being emitted. Steve would have liked to have made it to the observatory (the furthest point we were permitted to walk to) but the clouds were gathering and I was pooped!
Climbing down was much easier as we could slide down the lava pebbles – a bit like running down a sand dune.
When we got back, we had a long chat with Charlie, a shower and then went straight out to eat. We went back to the restaurant we discovered last night.
We sat next to some quite strange English people. Very Home Counties, probably in their late 60’s. They shared one beer between the three of them and seemed to be translating Greek/Roman transcripts. I felt I should be on my best behaviour but my quail was impossible to eat without picking it up and gnawing it.
Today we are spending our last couple of days back in Noto as we liked it so much.
This will be the last day of my Sicilian blog unless something extraordinary happens, so it’s arrivederci from me!