6 days on the road...

I'm in Lugano, in the south of Switzerland now, staying at the Monterina Hostel. Been riding 6 days straight from London and its been... well, incredible. We've ridden from Calais to Reims, the Champagne capital, then through stunning Vineyard lined country roads to Dijon. But the best was yet to come. As soon as we entered Switzerland we were in awe. I think we've actually covered some of the world's most beautiful riding roads there are. Winding S bends and hairpins up and down the faces of the Alps. We've spent 3 days just riding a long way around them, in the middle staying at a mountain chalet with an incredible view. Its a shame theres no way of uploading any photos yet, so I guess you'll have to wait until I come back. I've been a bit over enthusiastic about the toe scraping on the low bends and half of my new oxtar boots are gone already!

So far accomodation has been all dorms in hostels. We came across a wave of aussies and kiwis following the world cup in France and now its a mix of everyone. The quality of the hostels are great, mainly pretty clean. Not camped yet tho! Not really found a right place, but will do hopefully.

In summary, the most poignant incidents so far have been.... my sleeping bag falling off the back of my bike almost knocking Dan out in the process. Me dropping my bike on my leg spraining my knee (don't worry its ok) after trying to attach my panniers. Engine oil leaking from the casing during the motorway due to a loose screw and... getting losts for hours in Dijon... the one way road capital of the world... :)

Covered about 1000 miles now. One more night here, then onto Verona, Venice, Budapest, Prague and Krakow... Theres not much opportunity to use the internet, so updating will probably be quite slow, and besides we're enjoying ourselves too much! Hope all are well, will update soon!

Look after yourselves and each other people...

Sukz