An inauspicious start as I finally lost my temper with Patrick, who was as ever using his teenage tact to refuse to help or prepare in any way to ride the day.

If any Sicilian Mafiosi were around they would therefore have been a bit startled to see a lycra-clad family bust-up in the street, followed by me being advised by Jo just to set off and ride and let things calm down!

That I did, but soon got a text from Tizz saying that she, Bernard, Martin and Richard were not sure of the route and heading for the autostrada and could I wait! I waited by the roadside and did some light blogging. They caught up and we retired to a very smart wayside cafe for a proper breakfast.

Onward up the SS114, the route looked really simple and even the hills towards which we were heading didn’t look too daunting! But……!! We approached an autostrada intersection only to see road closed signs and a diversion on to the motorway. Ignoring the signs, we continued to find that the entire bridge over the Simeto River was missing, and looked as if it had been for quite some time!! We were only 200m from our turning, but we had to embark on a long detour through a nearby industrial estate in search of an alternative that avoided the autostrada!

The iPhone satnav is really brilliant for this – we’d have been literally lost without it this time! One section of rather dodgy road took us past signs saying “private” and “no access” and of course this was the point chosen by fate to bless poor Martin with yet another puncture, and we couldn’t have been more conspicuous if we’d tried!! Finally fixed, we found a bridge and set to to find our way back to the planned route and the meeting point in Francofonte.

It was desperately hot – Richard recorded 42 degrees C!! – as we passed the spectacular reservoir Bonifica del Lago di Lentini on our right and finally picked up the SS194, even though Tizz made a late bid to get lost just before that! There then followed a long hot climb to Francofonte, and lots of messing about trying to identify the right junction to meet the van. The support team had parked at an Agip fuel station that was fully equipped with coffee, food and cold drinks. Trouble was, we’d taken so long to get there that it was shut for siesta!

We were literally mad (guard)dogs and Englishmen (and women) out in the fearsome midday sun! Crazy!! The crew had nonetheless got some bottles of iced water and other stuff so we topped up, had a break and set off for Vizzini.

A 6-mile climb ensued, spreading us out along the road in the heat, where every slight ripple of breeze was like paradise! However, we soon got to the turn-off and from there it was a gentle and scenic descent to the Esso station in Vizzini where we were to contact our host, Mr Emanuele Cataudella. Whilst we ate ice creams he kindly came out to find us and took us to the house where we would be staying – he in his car, the van following and then 5 cyclists behind in convoy.

Vizzini has never seen the like!! We unloaded the gear and then took van and bikes to Mr Cataudella’s main home for safe storage. We’ve got a girl’s floor and and a boy’s floor and fantastic views over the mountains that we must clb tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last day but I suspect Sicily will not give up without a fight!!!