'I'm on the Market Square'...'So are we, just not in the same city'

Waking to the best of blue skies at Desenzano seemed like a pretty good start to Tuesday and riding the lakeside road which skirts Lake Garda was yet another of those unforgettable experiences we seem to notch up on a frequent basis. The road isn't fast but the views of the lake and the twists through the many tunnels and the small villages dotted around the lake make it one you'd love to ride every day of the week. Some slow traffic meant we didn't get terribly far by lunch and as a quorum of members was present at a hastily arranged meeting whilst sat munching pizza with beer which is an odd thing to be able to buy on draught when paying for your petrol (good on you Italian peeps) the decision was made to ditch Zurich which at that point was five hours away and head for Innsbruck which was much closer. So, like Franz Klammer on his way to Olympic gold there in 1976, we sped off into Austria. The advance party already being established in Zurich meant that we were to be separated for a night but such are the tough decisions which make up the life of a touring motorcycle rider.

The road to Innsbruck was spectacular as the snow-capped Alps passed by on either side and in many cases above us as many tunnels have been built (is 'built' right? ... i'm not sure if you build a tunnel or just dig it out), one actually being six miles long. The first thing we did when we got there was naturally to go to a beach bar... no, i'm not addled by Jagermeister just yet, there actually is a beach bar with sand and plastic glasses by the river. The town is typically picturesque gingerbread house Austrian and you can buy anything there as long as it's one of those dodgy spicy sausages. Our research wasn't exhaustive in this respect so I apologise to any Innsbruck shopkeeper who happens to sell anything else. The payback for cutting today's trip short is that tomorrow we have 450 miles to ride through Austria, a bit of Switzerland and Germany so an early-ish night was in order and astonishingly we were all snoring by midnight.

The teeny-weeny 'country' of Luxembourg awaits us tomorrow. Given our pathetic lack of ability to work our combined five sat navs or heaven forbid to even read a map there's a good chance we'll not be able to find it but as always we'll do our best.