Wheels Around Europe . . . . . . . : Cannero Lake Maggorie to Lucerne Switzerland

Thursday 4th July

We'll the rain that threatened late yesterday and evening never materialised, all we had were a few distant rumbles of thunder.

Cannero is a lovely resort, but it's time to move on and move north.

So today we head into Switzerland and to the St Gottard road tunnel through the Alps.

I think even Sue would agree it was a lovely drive, beautiful sunshine, super smooth Swiss motorway, lovely mountain scenery, no roadworks, no traffic holdups just a clear run into Lucerne.

Even Ed was purring like Cheetah chasing an Ibex, begging me to give it some more welly.

We'll, he chugged along nicely anyway, taking it all in his stride.

We arrived at our parking spot for tonight, right on the town Marina, (GPS 47.04662 8.31822) just 10 CHF which is about £8.07. A bargain when you consider the location and the view.

There is a bridge into town over the river Reuss. I think this may be a tributary off the Rhine, I'll check.

~ It is actually a tributary of the Aare, which in turn is a tributary of the Rhine.

After getting ourselves sorted out, we set off for Lucerne old town. It's about a fifteen minute walk past the train station and art museum.

The old town is absolutely packed with high end watch shops selling their expensive array of finely tuned time pieces for many, many thousands of Swiss Franks.

One after the other, next door to each other, Rolex, Omega, Tag Hauer, Phillip Pattak, how they all find enough customers to keep going I'll never know.

Me ? I just look at my phone for the time, that`s usually accurate, and that must surely be something that plays on the minds of these expensive watch makers in directors board meetings.

I'd have thought that increasingly, young people especially, would turn away from buying these watches. Don't they all centre their lives around their smartphones ?

But for now it seems there are enough punters around willing to part with enough wonga to keep them all going.

There are some lovely views in the old town, especially around the river area.

We headed up to the Lion of Lucerne. This was carved into the cliff in a former quarry following the slaughter of Swiss soldiers in France defending an insurgency against the French monarchy at the time.

It's quite moving if you read the story behind it.

The injured lion has a spear through his shoulder and is defiently protecting two shields, the French Fleur de lays and the Swiss cross.

Next door is the Glacier Garden, this area was excavated in the 19th century and reveals the sub rock beneath Lucerne from the time of the last Ice Age 20,000 years ago when all this region sat beneath 1000 metres of pack ice and glaciers.

Quite an interesting way to spend some time.

Here's a funny story, part of the exhibit is a museum and mirror maze, based on one at the Alhambra Palace in Granada Spain (I've no idea what the connection is either).

And also a climb up to an observation point.

I couldn't go in the museum with Louis but I wanted to go up to the observation point. So I said to Sue, you go in the museum and I'll climb up the hill.

Well I did that and when I got down I expected to see Sue sitting on the bench at the bottom.

But no sign of her !

I waited, and waited, and waited, eventually I sent her a text, "where are you, I need beer now ! "

Nothing !!!

Eventually she emerged, all flustered, it seems she went in the mirror maze, took a photo and got completely disoriented and couldn't find a way out !!!

We'll, I couldn't keep a straight face, it seems she spent ages bumping into mirrors ! I bet the guys in the ticket office were in stitches !

So funny !!!

After all that excitement, it was back to Ed to dine on some lasagne, sweetcorn and salad en van.

It's a really good parking spot here on the marina, I'll do some exploring later on and see what else there is around.

After exploring, there is a large park next to the Marina and there were hundreds of people chilling out in the sunshine, playing games, having barbeques, a few drinks. Lucerne is a very chilled out town.

There is also a lovely sandy beach and I couldn`t resist an evening swim in the lake.

It was an absolutely amazing experience, clear lake water, the sun shining on snow capped mountain peaks, and a view of the town across the lake, lovely. A wonderful place for a swim.

I think I may have a morning swim as well ?

Tomorrow I plan a short drive into le franc.