Most Inspirational Moment
The best days on the trip were Monte Cofano, the island of Levanzo and the cable car trip to Eriche. I went by taxi on the free day to the salt museum in Trapani which I'd recommend. If you want to go to some of the other wildlife salt flats on an organised trip you need to book that before you get to Trapani !
Thoughts on Group Leader
Benoit is competent but at times seemed badly organised, leaving things rather late to sort . He doesn't come from the area and was out of date not having been since the Spring so didn't know about the impact of the wildfires and had never been to the hotel we used in Trapani. The wildfires in July have burnt Monte Monaco so that walk wasn't possible though we were only told that when the coach arrived there and the guide saw it for himself. Instead we had a longer bus trip to the far end of the Zingaro coastal path and did a shorter walk , which turned out to be very similar to the second day which was a bit disappointing.
Advice for Potential Travellers
You can fly direct to Palermo from Luton , Stansted and Heathrow so you don't have to stick to the Group flights from Gatwick though Exodus didn't seem to know this when I booked. I went with EasyJet from Luton and the flights were pretty much on time. There is also a very good airport bus service( regular and reliable) from the Port at Trapani back to Palermo in 1 hour 10 mins for under EUR 10 so don't get stung by the extortionate transfer cost Exodus quote on booking for non group flight members (they quoted me £199 !). The trip notes suggest all the transport is by private vehicle. In Trapani we also used public buses and taxis. The public buses are cheap but not very frequent and take a very slow route into town. The rocky beaches are small and can be busy and you need aqua shoes or sandals to enter the sea. The sandy beaches are very busy and rather spoilt by lots of back to back sun beds and sunshades. It can be quite windy . The Scirocco winds impacted on a couple of days. The walking isn't hard but some of it is in the heat of the day and some of the group found it too rocky underfoot so you need to wear proper boots. I stayed in Palermo before the trip and would recommend a couple of days there if you like history.