We had one real objective for our visit to Varese. To visit the MV Agusta factory and do a tour. We had organised this online last October and now finally the day was near.

We also decided that this stop would be where the bikes would get an oil change, filter and chain adjustment. Greg found a Triumph dealer at Gallarate, only about 15 km from Varese so this was our first stop.

Before leaving Rapallo in the morning, we asked the lady at the hotel reception to write down for us in Italian what we needed to have done for the bike and that we were Australian tourists just passing through - her English speaking skills were great so we took advantage of this. Note in hand, Greg organised with the dealership manager to get the work done on the spot. The mechanics were soon at work and were quite excited about working on the bike all the way from Australia. Photos were taken by the mechanic and by us - police badges were given as gifts and we were soon on our way.

Our motel for the next three nights was in Capalago, only 5 km from Varese. As soon as we were settled it was bike washing time. Greg tries to keep on top of this as road grime builds up easily and everyone knows that a clean red bike always goes faster!

Next morning it was off to find the factory so that we knew where we were going on Thursday for our tour. We also needed to find the local MV Agusta dealership so that Chris could get his bike serviced. This was found in Gavarate - only 5 km up the road. The service organised for Thursday afternoon, we went for a ride around Lake Maggiore.

The ride reminded us of Lake Como which we rode around in 2011. The road hugs the side of the lake and you ride through numerous tunnels - one was 5.5km long - just as well we are not clastrophobic! Before we left the hotel in the morning Kerrie asked if we would be going across the border in to Switzerland. She was told, quite strongly NO! After riding up the east side of the lake - sure enough - there was the border to Switzerland! After purchasing our Toll Pass (just in case we went on a Motorway), we continued our ride around the top of the lake and half way down the west side. We then caught a car ferry from Verbania back to back to our start point at Laverno and returned to the hotel. We were not sooner back than a thunder storm appeared so the bikes were covered and we went off to find dinner.

Thursday morning we were at the MV Agusta factory for our tour at 10am. We were joined by two German bikers and Marco, our tour guide. The tour lasted for an hour and showed how these beautiful bikes are built with precision and passion. They only build a limited number as so much of the work is done by hand - no robots helping here! There were no photos allowed during the tour but we were able to take a couple in the last room we entered where the finished bikes were awaiting deliver to their new owners.

We then went in to Varese for lunch and were surprised at the size of this town - much bigger than we thought with many large homes and colourful gardens.

The boys then went off to get Chris' bike serviced. As his bike has only done 8000km, he had a few issues to be fixed (mirror dangling, no back brakes and a faulty dash light) as well as his oil change and normal adjustments. Kerrie stayed at the hotel and blogged!

Tomorrow we head into Switzerland to start our quest to ride as many mountain passes as we can in the next 3 weeks before we are due at Assen for our next MotoGP.