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Published: July 19th 2012
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The morning following our amazing trek up to the top of Stromboli was already proving to be sweltering. It was nearly 30° C at 7.30 a.m.!
We needed to get a hydrofoil back to Lipari where Carmelina wanted to recee a walk. "The other path has fallen away into the sea", she said! So at 8.30 a.m we were gliding smoothly across a millpond sea towards Panarea, our first stop. It was going to take one and a half hours to get to Lipari.
We had just missed the bus for Acquacalda, the beginning of the walk, so Carmelina managed to find a taxi-driver 'friend' who could take us to the trailhead. Timing was a bit tight as we had to be in Vulcano at 4 p.m. to catch the boat back to Cefalù.
The drive round to Acquacalda took us through one of the old pumice stone quarries. Did you know that pumice is actually solidified frothy lava? We didn't! You certainly see lots of it floating around when you are swimming in this area. Apart from using it to rub the hard skin off your feet, it's also used in many other things: it's a building
material, an abrasive in polish, pencil erasers, cosmetic exfoliants and it's used in the production of stone-washed jeans too. Pumice is also used as a substrate for growing horticultural crops. Ok, I just googled all that!
The mines and quarries here are now all closed as a few years ago the islanders had to decide whether to keep the industry or allow the area to become a UNESCO World Heritage site dedicated to the continuous study of vulcanology worldwide. This meant that 400 men lost their jobs which is quite a large number over a population of 11,000. Already many people from these islands emigrated in mass, during the last century, to Australia and the USA. Conditions were agreed and UNESCO paid compensation to the people as well as financing various eco-sustainable tourism projects to create new jobs.
Restrictions of what can and cannot be done on these islands are fairly rigid now and a proposal to build an airport on the island of Lipari was quickly turned down. You can, however, arrive by helicopter from Sicily if you don't want to hang around for hydrofoils. Another problem they have here is that there are no natural underground
springs, being that they are all volcanic islands. All water arrives from Naples in large container ships.
The 'friend' dropped us off at the beginning of the trailhead by which time it was around 11 o'clock. Under normal circumstances we are finishing our recee walks at this time, not just starting them! Carmelina set off at her normal mountain goat pace with the written notes on how to get from one side of the island to the other in 3 hours. Already feeling the heat, I decided to lag behind - to enjoy the view! Well, that was my excuse, anyway. My walking companion is 100% Sicilian blood, brought up in the scorching hot city of Perth in Australia, so she's used to the heat. Her shadow is an English rose, wilting fast yes, at that particular moment, brought up in 15°C summers with lots of rain, so will never get used to this heat!
The first part of the walk is uphill for a good hour and a half, following an old semi-paved mule track which took us past old, abandoned allotments and a few stone shacks. There was a lot of black ossidian, the glassy lava
stone, incorporated into the path which made it look shiny and slippery.
Looking back, the view really was glorious as the beach of Acquacalda was directly below and the island of Salina directly opposite. But it wasn't fully appreciated, I'm afraid, as the hill seemed never-ending this morning and every bend brought just more hill round its corner. Basically, I think my sugar count was really low as we'd hardly had any breakfast and our meal up the top of Stromboli last night was just a boiled egg and a few green beens. Against all our good advice to would-be trekkers and years of experience in leading groups, we hadn't bothered to bring any energy food with us!
On I plodded, mumbling things under my breath,with the sun beating down relentlessly on the back of my neck Every so often Carmelina would started enticing me, or more like taunting me, with the promised swim I would get at the end of the walk.
On every recee we always calculate some time for getting lost as the notes never quite seem to take into account all the turn offs. Fortunately, today, we turned the map upside down, which
always seems to make more sense somehow, and re-traced our steps without going too far off the track. After what seemed like hours, we finally arrived at the top, just below the peak of Monte Pilato, where amazingly there were three huge, white plastic benches for the weary walkers like me to plonk themselves down on.
From then on it was all down hill to Canneto and that wonderful swim. Just before passing through the village of Lami we came across a very poignant memorial to all the men who had lost their lives in the pumice mines and quarries over the years. Through the village of Lami the only sign of life in the mid-day sun, was an elderly gentleman sitting outside the church and many thin, stray cats sprawled in the shade. No dogs today.
To get down to Canneto we crossed roads and wound our way down lots of steps and old paths through the houses until, suddenly, round the last bend, there was the beach! One of us - guess who! - only had to shed a few clothes as she had thought well to put on her swimming togs before setting out this
morning! In no time at all I plopped into that turquoise Mediterranean sea and swam for miles - well, a few hundred yards anyway - to refresh my body and soul and in anticipation of that plate of pasta we were going to have in the restaurant across the road any minute now. After a plate of spaghetti with mussels, we commented on all the lovely walks we have done so far on these islands, including the one today. I had already forgotten that hill!
We only had to catch the bus back, from where we were, to the port where we hopped on another hydrofoil to Vulcano and picked up our boat for Cefalù.
An unexpected trip round the coastline of Vulcano to see all the various rock formations was an added treat to the day and then we settled down to a pleasant snooze to fill in the couple of hours before arriving back in Cefalù.
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