Our visit to Switzerland turned out to be just a straight drive through. We had thought of stopping for one night but sat-nav issues (tunnels and narrow valleys with not a lot of sky in view) combined with Sue's dodgy eyesight for reading maps decided us on heading straight for Italy.

There was a massive queue for the Gotthard tunnel so we took the interesting route over the Gotthard Pass (6800ft +), great fun using the remapped engine going up, a bit worrying about how the brakes would hold out going down. Lots of low gear and no problem. This is a general view of the road, the next pics are ones we took from near the top of the pass, just a couple 'cos it was bloody cold up there but very spectacular.

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So we pressed on for Lake Maggiore on the Swiss/Italian border through beautiful scenery in the south of Switzerland - failing to stop to take photos then regretting it as usual. No border formalities just waved through. As is it's wont the sat-nav took us through a few nice little villages with nice narrow little roads until we reached Ispra on the banks of the lake and found our campsite for the next few nights.

This was a chill out stop so we walked a bit, took in the scenery, read a lot and enjoyed a couple of good pizzas at the site's restaurant, a pleasant rest before lots of partying at Monza.

A couple of pics of us wandering round the lake. Very lovely scenery, just pure relaxation. We were also fortunate to have really nice neighbours on the site, Howard and Jo who had stopped here on their way to the Amalfi coast.

Leaving the lake we made a stop for provisions and then headed for the hustle and bustle of Monza.

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