Robin and Barbara Cooper are forming an advanced party and cycling the 1,500 miles from Greece to London over three weeks. They’ll be joining the big group in Lucerne this weekend but have already arrived in Switzerland. 

We started by riding straight through passport control into Switzerland without stopping thinking it was just roadworks. It all looked a bit amateur in my view. The route to Bellinzona on the way to the main Alps is very hilly and we got stopped on the way and told by the gun-toting police to get off the main road. I don’t know where they wanted us to go because there is only one road into the town. In the end we waited for them to go and rode very quicky into town. Off to base camp tomorrow before we climb Everest, sorry, St Gottards Pass. Hot today, around 90 in the shade. Very beautiful scenery, lakes, mountains, lovely cars, all very neat and tidy and so many police. Ultimately though what’s the point? OK we’ve got – Toblerone, cuckoo clocks, penknives and very expensive coffee and drinks and er…. that’s it. We got lost in the hills this morning but like in a fairytale my trusty rescue dog arrived in the nick of time. Whisky galore. Thank goodness. R and B xx

A friend for Robin

This is our only rest day. The ferry is steaming across the Adriatic. There’s just been an incredibly efficient and determined safety drill – are they expecting something? All the riders are scattered over different parts of the boat – reading on the deck, snoozing in the bar. Our original intention was to come through Bosnia Serbia and up to Austria. Then the insurers simply laughed at the idea, and the distances were a bit too meaty to accommodate in a two week summer break. A whole kilometre to the hotel bed tonight and then back on the road early for 120 miles along the coast through Rimini before heading inland. We begin climbing towards the Alps on Friday.

As always the heroes of any such trip are the support crew who drive the van carrying spares and lunch. They scurry off to hunt for bread cheese and fruit for lunch and carry 100 litres of water – we are drinking up to 10 or 12 litres a day in the heat. Roger and Sue are doing a fantastic job.