Day Two - 530 miles

On the road early heading South towards the Swiss Alps, instead of the motorway route through endless tunnels through the mountains, I detour part of the way onto the old St Gottard pass, a tight & twisty route paved with cobble stones with lots of gravel patches to catch out the unwary.

After the Alps I headed across Italy, past Milan, onto the port of Ancona where I would pick up my overnight ferry to Greece.

En route I diverted to the charming home village of the 7 times world champion MotoGP superstar Valentino Rossi and popped into the cafe for a cold drink.

The weather is scorching and my bike shows the air temperature on the motorway rise to 37c. Eventually I arrive at Ancona just after 4pm for my overnight ferry at 5pm.

My en-suite cabin is quite comfortable.

Not everyone has a cabin and many sleep on the corridor floors.