It was a very long, knee-jerking descent from the summit of Mottarone (1492m), and we were regretting not doing it the other way round, by hiking up and taking the ski lift and cable car down. The views of Lake Maggiore and distant Alps were awesome from the top, and what a great place to find a luge. It's a pity that it doesn't bring you all the way down, but that didn't stop us from queuing up with the kids and having a go. Great fun! After spending a night ...

We eventually left the rain and dark clouds behind, but not until we had driven right across the Alps through Austria and Switzerland, and found ourselves here in Lombardy amidst the Italian Lakes. After stopping for lunch in a town called Pfunds we then managed to get ourselves lost in a couple of misty valleys that turned out to be dead ends before eventually emerging on a long, winding descent from the mountains into the fourth country of the day. Lake C...