Highland of Scotland and the Tuscany & Lake Garda Tours - both completely different but enjoyed by everyone

Been a busy period since I last wrote, as both the Scottish Highlands and Tuscany tours have been run and I am pleased to say both proved very popular.

Alison and Roy report that they had a great group of riders and that the weather was kind to them, allowing them to enjoy the scenery and roads in the Highlands of Scotland. They in turn received many complimentary comments so guess we must be doing something right !

The weather was also kind for our tour to Tuscany and Lake Garda, and we enjoyed a trouble free ride across France and into Switzerland, unfortunately the gods decided we were enjoying ourselves a little too much and threw at us what I think is one of the worst days I have ridden in for our transit into Italy. Fortunately, this was short lived and the next day saw us out on the hotel balcony having breakfast overlooking Lake Guarda.

With clothes drying in the sunshine, most people opted for a day off the bikes and a boat trip to Riva del Garda. The sun continued to shine and the temperatures climbed as we made our way to Siena for several days sightseeing of this lovely area. Whilst most enjoyed the historic cities of Florence and Siena a few of us rode the beautiful Tuscany countryside with its winding roads and trademark Cypress trees. Jersey Geoff collected an unusual souvenir in the form of a wheel balance weight which flew of a passing car and smashed his GS1200 headlight lens (see picture in gallery) needless to say he was not impressed – especially when he rang home and found out that you cannot just get a lens but have to order the complete headlight unit at over £300. I guess it was a chance in a million and something I have never considered before, but would hate to think what would be the consequences of it hitting your visor.

Time to head north and following a brief stop to see the leaning tower of Pisa we returned into France via the Mont Blanc tunnel. The plan was to ride the Grand St. Bernard pass, unfortunately due to the high volume of snow Europe has had this year, the signs said the pass was closed, although the tunnel was apparently open.

I have never seen so much snow on the mountains at this time of year before, and it was with some reluctance that we left Chamonix as it was very picture postcard with its snow-capped mountains standing out against blue skies.

Had an uneventful trip back across France using some of our favourite roads and enjoying the countryside in the sun – well apart from a brief thunderstorm that threw hailstones the size of marbles at us, ouch!

(and before you ask, no I don’t know why French villages are deserted – I am sure people live in the houses, perhaps they all hide till we have passed through?)  

Speaking of the French, I have had several people asking me about having stickers on your helmets. To be quite honest I am getting a little fed up of the idiotic regulations that have been coming out of France over the last year, and so I personally will be ignoring this one. If I get fined, I will let you know.

Spoke to Garmin the other day, and received an email back saying that mapsource is no longer been supported and that you should start using Basecamp. This software is free and can be downloaded from the Garmin site. As far as I can see it basically works as per mapsource, but I am in the process of learning how to use it. I still feel there is something fundamentally wrong with the Garmin software, on the last tour we had two identical units with my routes loaded and set up the same and yet at a major junction, told one person to go one way and the second to go the other. My own unit told me to go off a major road run parallel and re-join, I am sure you have had similar situations. I can only say once again, these are great bits of kit, but you must use them as a navigational aid and not follow them slavishly. If this was any other kind of electrical device it would have been returned as not fit for purpose!