The Weddings
The weather in the UK is blue skies and sunshine. Did we need to fly all the way back for sunshine, of course not we are here for the wedding of Anne’s nephew Christopher and his betrothed Amoge, or Ams. We have travelled back a couple of days early to ensure that any travel delays can be mitigated. Nothing worse than finding your low cost flight is cancelled and you have to make the rebooking yourself during the summer. We had decided to be in Sicily for the return to the UK as in both Algeria and Tunisia the fact that you have a motorcycle entering the country is recorded in your passport and stamped out on departure with motorcycle, plus they will not fit in the overhead lockers on the plane.
The locations, yes plural, for the wedding are in two counties, Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire. Why two you may ask? The lovely couple bring together two cultural backgrounds, Nigerian and British, hence the two ceremonies. one at Hinwick house on Saturday 14th and the other at Northampton Cathedral in Sunday 15th.
We travel up on the Friday taking Anne’s mother and get our first view of Hinwick house. What a stunning location for the Saturday wedding and Sunday reception. A casual dinner allows both families to catch up.
Saturday afternoon sees both Anne and I in traditional Nigerian dress for the ceremony as are many other family members from both sides. We were not expecting to be that included. Thank you Chris and Am. I will leave you to guess the colour theme.
Music dancing and a great MC lead the couple and assembled guests through and amazing ceremony at the core of which, in my view, was not only about bringing the couples together but also the respective families.
A midday wedding service at Northampton Cathedral allowed those who had partied late into the night a little recovery time. A beautiful ceremony conducted by Christopher’s older brother Matthew. The couple asked that we don’t take photos during the service so we could be fully present during the service.
Anne’s navigation across country saw us arrive back at Hinwick house just behind the bridal car. Anne jumped out and secured some special photos.
The reception dinner and following party ran late into the night, but we, with Anne’s mother, had headed back to Kent a little earlier.
A wonderful weekend which we could not have missed. Congratulations again to Christopher and Ams and thanks for the invite to a unique event.
The plane is now descending into Catania airport and tomorrow Streak and Storm will resume their journey in Sicily.
– Anthony
Sicily; first contact
The morning light has woken and out of the cabin window a view of the west coast of Sicily appears as we head northwards towards Palermo. Towering cliffs, interspersed with towns and villages greet us as we wander up onto the deck. I am surprised at the density of human habitation along the coastline.
As usual Anne has done all the research and I have not even looked in detail at the maps! I should not be surprised. Only six motorbikes on this ship, two Tunisians heading for Salerno, the ship’s next stop after Palermo and Mauro and Stefania whom we spent a pleasant time with last night are also Salerno bound. They have invited us to stay, alas not this trip with its time constraints. As we prepare to disembark Mauro and Stefania appear on the car deck to say goodbye having got past security to do so. It was such a nice gesture, I am sure we will meet again.
Immigration is a stamp in the passport for me, Customs asks Anne if she has any cigarettes, twice, and we are off in 15 minutes. There is no signage in the dock area as to where the exit is but we are soon out and riding in Palermo’s morning rush hour. As I have waxed lyrical about understanding local driving conditions, after Algeria’s gentle traffic dance, this seems more like a much faster tempo, and yes it is. Within a couple of minutes I get my first, and only nudge from behind. We will have to up our game here and we do. Soon we are heading out of town westwards along the Autostrada.
Our first break is at Castellammare del Golfo, a small seaside town. We park and walk down which, in the heat with all our motorcycle gear, will not be something we will aim to emulate too often. At a local cafe we meet a Australian couple, he lives here now and get a few local tips.
Lunch is taken near Ribera, where the waitress has used Google translate on her phone to show us the gluten free options, clever use of technology. On to our first destination in Sicily outside Agrigento where we were plan to visit the “Valley of the Temples”. Surprisingly for me this is not Roman architecture but Greek. It is the largest archaeological park in Europe and of course a UNESCO World Heritage site. Since all the temples are in a line the round trip is some 5km. Not for us with all our gear but we do end up covering a fair portion. I am not sure why it is called a “Valley” since it is on a ridge, but gives spectacular views to the Mediterranean
At breakfast that morning we met an English couple who recommend that we visit Villa Romana del Casale, a partially restored Roman villa with many of the mosaics in their original position. Our journey takes us on the SS640 a nice dual lane highway inland when on a straight stretch of road, we arrive at the scene of an accident. One car in the central reservation and an SUV on its side leaking fluids over the autostrada. Debris is scattered for some distance before. We head to see if help is needed as we are third on scene. Luckily both drivers are out and ok. Airbags and seatbelts make all the difference. I am very glad our motorcycle first aid kit and the course we took many years ago were not tested.
Onward to Villa Romana del Casale after a quick lunch and a reminder that we are back in the land of the tourist from the prices charged. I have to say that even though after a while I found the scale of the place and the number of mosaics a little overwhelming it really is impressive to see them on the floors where they were laid down over 1600 years ago in the 4th Century AD. We are lucky that an 11th Century landslide buried the site and protected the mosaics for until the 20th century when archaeologists started to excavate the villa site. The largest mosaic is some 60m. / 200ft long. The time and effort, not to mention finding the artisans with the appropriate skills within a much smaller population than exists today. I have read that in Roman times Italy may have had a population of between 7 and 14 million. I am glad we came and saw the mosaics in-situ. A little off the main roads but worth the detour.
We continue to Catania where we get our first glimpse of Mt Etna from probably 50km. / 30 ml. away. It does look impressive and we will visit Mt Etna after a weeks break back in the UK. YES we are leaving Streak and Storm for eight days to return to the UK for a nephews wedding. Normal service will resume later this month.
– Anthony
Tunisia
After my father died last year, my drive to retrace his steps in Algeria and Tunisia during his time there as a young officer in 1950 was not the same as I was not going to be able to share our experiences with him. Added to this, the ferry crossing to Algeria was ridiculously expensive, so we briefly thought we’d revisit Morocco instead and got travel insurance for North Africa for 3 weeks. It just didn’t feel right though. Algeria was calling and so was Tunis. So after Algeria, we just had 5 days left for Tunisia.
My father had passed officer training with such high marks that he was able to chose his posting. In his own words, he wanted an adventure so picked the posting the furthest away: Algiers. After some time there, he asked for 10 days off. Unbeknownst to his superiors at the time, he planned to leave Algeria to visit an officer school friend of his who was stationed in Tunis, in charge of a “rest place for deserving military staff”!! My father was therefore treated as a deserving military superior! Is this where my sense of adventure comes from?
This trip to Algeria and then Tunis was to retrace some of his steps and possibly recreate some of his photographs.
Searching in French in Google and using Google maps and earth was helpful in finding the 3 places he photographed in Tunisia. We went to all 3 of course – only 1, in Gammarth, was a disappointment as they would not allow us in – it was where my father’s friend was posted and therefore my father stayed while in Tunis but was now a fancy 5 star hotel – when we arrived, they said it was forbidden to let us in as we were not staying there. There was no one we could talk to, to sway them. It was pretty gutting.
We went to another place which I knew from his journal he’d visited but was now a restaurant. Wrong – it was still an army base, definitely no restaurant – so absolutely no photographs. A military police sergeant even followed us for ages as we walked away to make sure we didn’t sneak a photo! Well I had done so before we got to the gate. I could sense my father’s pride and cheek.
My father would have walked from this army base to the Belvédère for a view of the city and refreshments.
This felt very special being there.
Onto Carthage, to the residence of the Bey (ruler) of Tunis. The beach must have been much wider at the time of my father’s visit, and maybe the pontoon still in place?
We got a taxi to take us to all those places and to visit the Roman ruins of Carthage which my father visited – thank goodness, as we would not have wanted to walk to the 5 main areas of Carthage ruins in our motorcycle gear. Hopping in and out of the taxi felt like luxury! I have to say that after Timgad, Carthage was disappointing, especially as the museum was closed until 2031 for restauration! We only found that out when I realised that the signs for the museum took us all around and past closed doors. Workers there told us when to come back! And the ruins were impossible to decifer what they were. Picky or spoilt?!
It has been a big day, emotionally and hot and we’re ready to be dropped back at our hotel. But not until after our driver has taken us somewhere for a view. No, we’re done we say. No no you must see this. We drive to this suburb where all the houses are white with deep blue shutters. Very picturesque BUT… The streets are narrow, blocked with traffic jams and all we see are parked coaches and throngs of tourists. No thank you, we are finished. No no, I’ll drop you off at the top and you can walk down, it will be easy. The taxi was not allowed to park anywhere at the top. We relented and got out. Yes, fabulous views but hundreds of tourists and stores all selling the same vivid painted earthenware. Here are some photos of Sidi Bou Said.
The taxi driver was great and when we gave him more than he asked for, he tried to hand the difference back.
Our entire stay in Tunisia was just 5 days. After an easy border crossing at Oum T’Boul, we first headed to a resort which I decided we deserved after all the hard riding we’d done. It was luxurious, we both had a massage and ate deliciously fresh seafood.
Tunis quickly reminded us that the world that has been affected by tourism is not always as honest as what we experienced throughout Algeria…. We had let our guard down a couple of times. Ask for a price before hand and if need be haggle. If not, too bad and pay up even if it’s extortion.
Leaving Tunisia for Sicily by ferry was straight forward, just don’t pack your passport away as you’ll be asked for it by any official that walks past while you wait for the queue to advance. We will be updating our Visas and Border section with details of the 3 border crossings.
Retracing some of my father’s steps has been very special and worthwhile. Yes it is a pity he is no longer with us to share our experiences with him, but he knew that retracing his steps had been our plan. No regrets.
– Anne
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