It's been an eventful few days. After leaving Vienna I headed for the hills. When I say hills I mean mountains. Alps to be exact. This is motoring heaven. Apparently everyone else thinks the same thing. A lot of folks are enjoying the roads and the countryside on two wheels and four. I have spent the past three days trying to get a nice even wear on my tires as difficult as this can be with a full load on. I spent another night in Austria in a place called Sattendorf. It was by a lake surrounded by mountains and stands of pine. The hotel was nice and the breakfast the next day was even better. I then set off to do some serious riding through the alps. Right from the word go my joy was smashed to pieces because the bike was running rough as a b******. Loading up the engine was causing the bike to shudder and miss. Not what you want when riding through motoring Meccas like cortina and other stops in the Italian alps. What a b******. I got as far as Trento and had enough. Just as well. About an hour after I pulled up a hail storm rolled in and dumped ice and rain, the likes I hadn't seen since I was living in Queensland. This also prevented me from getting a good look at the bike. I called it quits for the day and headed the the hotel restaurant for dinner. So! Tartare has nothing to do with fish or capers or anything like that. Now I know. Tartare is raw minced beef. Still I ate it and it was not bad. Throw in a bit of pasta in mushroom sauce and I walked away happy with the meal. I got up this morning a little unsure of what lay ahead of me. After a breakfast I loaded up and headed to the service station (about the only thing open in that town on a Sunday morning) and started my attempt to fix the bike. Firstly I found a loose spark plug cap. The chain was also getting dangerously loose. After I remedied this the bike is running like a top and I have not had a problem with it all day. And just as well because the roads have been some of the best yet. Zig zagging up over mountain passes and down steep hillsides. Pure joy. I have found myself next to a lake again and this body of water is big. Lake Garda is long and is flanked on both sides by alps that literally go all the way into the clouds. First stop was a beer and swim. Cool but not Baltic. Very refreshing. After a swim a beer I jumped on the bike and headed north up the lake to find food. Through a couple of wrong turns I found a locals spot and had a pizza. it was huge and arrived on a plate but hang over the edge on all sides and made a mess of the table cloth. i am sitting in the hotel writing this now with the occasional break to chase mosquitoes who have invaded through the open window. Anyone watching would wonder what i am doing standing on the bed hitting the ceiling with a dirty sock. I must make a move tomorrow to cover some distance so not so much fun riding - more grinding the kms. I have 10 days to get to Ibiza.