We left France and headed into Switzerland. We had a lovely night on the banks of lake Lucerne. John ditched the boat in to a marina … Just shoved it under the trailer of a fair sized yacht and we parked in the street. Went for a walk for 1.5 hours right on the edge of the lake … It was lovely. Still cold but not raining.

Next morning we headed up in to the Swiss alps to cross into Italy. There was a huge traffic jam that we were in for 1.5 hours … Uphill so the clutch didn’t like it much. The drama was that the main tunnel – 17 km long is only one lane. Once we got through there the drive was great … Snow capped mountains and the highway was terrific. Switzerland has the best toll system … You buy a sticker for 32 euro per year, whack it on your windscreen, and that is it. No tollbooths and dramas with credit cards (France) and scrabbling for change.

The roads deteriorated once we hit Italy with a huge truck presence. Around Milano is a nightmare. The good news was Italy likes our credit card.

We arrived in Mandova …. With a wow … Isn’t this pretty. Surrounded by a river … Which looks like a lake. It is a walled city of about 60 000 people. One of the contender boat builders lives here. We contacted him and met he and his family at a restaurant for dinner … Together with a surprise guest … Shaun from Melbourne who has bought a new boat and has flown over for a week to rig it up. He makes all of his owns parts. Then he is coming back for the worlds in four weeks.

The Italians ordered for all of us … Two pizzas the size of car tyres for six adults and two little children. Bloody hell! I’ve have never seen anything like it … Joe you would have loved it. In the end they took two whole pizza boxes home for lunch the next day.

So today I am being a tourist in this lovely city. This morning I visited the Castello Di San Gorgio and Palazzo Ducale. After that I wandered around … Trying to keep the feet moving, and after lunch … Compulsory … Bloody siesta drives met nuts … Everything closes for 2.5 hours … Hopefully I will get to visit Palazzo Te.

News from the Camino … They are still walking in snow! I will try and forward one of Mandi’s photos.

Europe is still cold … I headed out with two layers of long sleeves this morning … Now wishing I had of brought another jacket with me.

Not sure where we are going from here …it depends on the weather … Hard for me to keep up with john’s hourly change in plans!