D+R London to Milan

Number of rides: 19 Time on the bike: 3 days 11 hours Miles cycled: 955 Feet climbed: 46,430 Degree of knackeredness: total We've had a great time, travelling across 10 countries, staying in excellent accommodation (some not so), eating great food, drinking super beer and unusual wines. We really couldn't ask for more. Can the next trip live up to this? I'm working on it 😁

Got to Milan! Strange start as our hotel is closed on Sun so we had to lock up the hotel and put the key in the letter box! It also meant we were sent to the next door bar for breakfast at 8. Needless to say nobody was there at 8 and when they did turn up they gave us a rubbish breakfast! Anyway the first part of the day was idyllic, riding past lovely villas on the shore of Lake Lugano. Then we went through some quiet towns to the border. Immediately past the  Italian border at Como the road surface crumbled, the cycle lanes disappeared and we struggled on towards Milan. All uphill at first. Then down through villages and suburbs to the city. Amazing route along back streets and a park! Staying in a nice hotel run by a couple of men who gave us delicious, aged prosecco when we arrived. The only hitch is our bike boxes due to arrive on 6 June have yet to appear!

Our fifth day in Switzerland. Where the breakfasts are all top notch. At least 3 different types of hard, Gruyere cheeses and Parma style ham. Eaten with super breads. Even R indulges. After yesterday's exertions, we felt entitled to double-gorge at breakfast. Which we did 😁 The cycling should have been all downhill to Lugano. But there was a really steep 1200 ft pass to get over, which we did not enjoy! The road down from San Bernardino was smooth and wide, with very little traffic. Lots of hairpins, and a wet surface made us take great care on the descent. The last 10 miles, after our ascent of the pass, were through a very industrial area of Switzerland, next to the motorway. A couple of woodland sections helped the time pass. We've arrived in a small hotel on the outskirts of Lugano. Tomorrow, our final day, into Milano.

This was the big day with almost 30 miles of ascent, with various warning signs advising us of this! But there were long flattish parts across beautiful hanging valleys and woods so it wasn't as relentless as we anticipated. We did have to ford every stream like the von Trapps. The climate changed from a sunny Alpine June to a bleak Arctic winter with a formidable wind at the top. The San Bernadino is on the Swiss equivalent of the Scottish 500 so there were loads of motorcyclists on the way up. Cars gave us the thumbs up when they roared past! We made it to the top and were immediately frozen - luckily there was the inevitable cafe there to warm us up. We had to put all our clothes on to get down the few kilometres to our bnb - but it was a lot quicker than going up!

Despite the mileage, some days are harder than others. A lot depends on the wind. Today we were travelling South, with a medium tailwind from the North. Perfect. Add to that the lovely tracks, fantastic scenery and a reasonable distance. Perfect. We've arrived nice and early in a tiny village called Cazis. Nothing to do, but lie on our beds, relax and dream of the future. Help! Tomorrow is the BIG one. We head over the mountains on the St Bernadino Pass. Not the highest. Not the steepest. Not the longest. Not the hardest. But pretty impressive from what we've read. The weather's set fair, the bikes are in good shape, and our bodies tanned and lithe. Read tomorrow's blog for the next instalment!

Rapperswil, where we were last night, is my favourite stop to date. A charming small town on the edge of Lake Zurich with lovely old buildings, little alleys , fountains and terraces. You get a marvellous view of the lake and we watched the sunset. Today we were in the midst of Heidi countryside, riding through meadows and on tracks next to lakes, canals and the Rhein, with the backdrop of the mountains (and snow!) We went through our own cycle tunnels. We crossed through Liechtenstein (which looks exactly like Switzerland!) and are now just over the border in Austria.

We're deep in Toblerone country. A good day today, 46 miles along cycle lanes, mostly next to the road. Pleasant enough, despite the traffic. We also had a good few miles on excellent cycle tracks through beautiful meadows. We passed through Zurich, which seemed nice, but we were running late so couldn't stop. We took the opportunity to get the bikes serviced (hence the lateness). The guy did a good job in two hours, but boy, did we pay for it. We could have bought new ones at Decathlon for less! But after yesterday's off-road tribulations, they needed some TLC - they now ride sweetly and are all set for the BIG day in three days time. While the bikes were in dock, we had a lovely walk up to a mountain top village called Regensberg. Fabulous views across to the Alps. We're arrived in a place called Rapperswil. In a nice hotel, on the edge of Lake Zurich. Snow capped mountains all around, though still a distance away.

Freiburg is a fantastic city for cyclists - we rode along the cycle paths beside the river leading out of town and arrived at beautiful meadows. We had left really early because of thunderstorm warnings. It was such a hilly morning - we pushed our bikes up several kilometres of rocky wooded paths to get over the col towards Switzerland. Which was painful. However, the downhill was great! Off road really for the whole day. Every day we've met road works and barred road signs, most of which we've ignored. Today they were chopping down trees so we thought it prudent to backtrack! The rain arrived at the Swiss border, just 2 miles from our destination so we got a bit wet. The language here is a strange mixture.

We've hung the bikes up for the day - we're free in Freiburg. It started with a walk to the old party of town. It's very pretty and twee, despite being heavily bombed during the war. And clean and tidy, as only a German (and possibly Dutch) city can be. We continued on to a viewpoint, high above the city, with fabulous views in all directions. And then down for lunch. We're now in bed, relaxing before heading out for din-dins. Weather forecast is for heavy rain tomorrow afternoon, so we're starting early.

Having avoided the communal nudist swimming pool yesterday evening we went down to the black, black bar with fairy lights for a drink. The owner sent us out to the most glorious terrace overlooking his acres of land. The building itself is blue as that gives a protective aura. We were all called in to dinner together. One lady turned up in a very little black string dress and suspenders (but minus a whip) but otherwise it all seemed quite normal. The owner bounded from table to table entertaining us all, invited me to feel an assortment of his muscles and gave D a lecture on preventing the destruction of his own (at his advanced age). Dinner and breakfast were delicious! Today we had a mixture of mainly quiet roads, tracks beside a busy road and country lanes. The little towns in Alsace are lovely. We crossed the Rhein on the German border and are now in Freiburg. It's hot and sunny and we had dinner in the Cathedral square. Looking forward to doing nothing tomorrow!