Sicily - Hailstorm at Punta Braccetto

Punta Braccetto is almost on a par with the southern most point of Sicily, and is actually further south than the northern most point of Tunisia on the African continent. The island of Malta is only 90 minutes by ferry from Pozzallo, which is some 20 miles east of where we are on Punta Braccetto.
So let's start with weather since our arrival, which has been mainly good, but it has also given us some very windy and rainy days! There was also the one night when a hailstorm passed overhead damaging some motorhomes, thankfully not ours.
However, let it be said, on some days we still don shorts and sandals, although you mostly need a thin fleece or jumper to keep warm. We can and do still sit outside on reclining chairs whenever the sun is out and temperatures rise to 15+ Celsius over the midday hours.
The campsite stretches from the road entrance all the way to the sea and can accommodate about 30 motorhomes. Large pitches with a choice of sea views or more secluded areas are on offer, each 'van has its own toilet in an ablution area near your pitch. There are numerous showers and basins with good hot water all over the site, as well as dish and clothes washing facilities. Wi-fi coverage is good and all facilities are serviced twice weekly. There is a weekly minibus shuttle to a large fresh produce, meat and fish market in nearby Vittoria. Bread van visits every morning with a selection of breads, buns and pastries.

By day ....

.... by night.

Punta Braccetto viewed from our beach

Make no mistake, as mentioned above we did have one night of severe weather with torrential rain, lightning, thunder and then that deathly silence which means only one thing - hail. It hammered down like there was no tomorrow .... and the morrow revealed several hail damaged motorhomes, cracked skylights and dented body work. We were lucky and escaped damage ....

Signs of trouble

The not-so-placid Med

A carpet of hailstones ....

.... some the size of golf balls.

Even the beach was a washout

Two days later things had settled down again, some made emergency repairs to their 'vans using duct tape and a wry smile mixed with fortitude and resilience - no one packed up and went home. Home meant snow, ice and a minus degrees temperature all over northern Europe and the UK. Rainy weather, with some sunny breaks, has been with us for the past few days but if the forecast is anything to go by sunny weather is back soon.

The weather gave some good photo opportunities