I had held a long dream to tour the mountain passes of Switzerland. I managed to realise that dream for my 40th birthday and so my good friend Billy and I headed off in September of last year. We were blessed, not only with fantastic weather but an event free trip as well, so we could enjoy what we came to do. I hope my story and photographs will inspire you to do the same.

The start of our tour took us by ferry took us in to Ijmuiden in Holland, close to Amsterdam, so we decided to head for the war cemetery at Arnhem, about 70 miles away, (OK we got lost straight away, but that's the fun of it!). We both wanted to see it and it certainly was very moving, we then headed for Germany and got into some nice country, although finding accommodation late and on the hoof is not great. I think the mentality is that there is something better just round the corner. Next time we will take a good accommodation guide and book in advance, let someone who has already been there do the donkey work. I loved Germany, from tearing along on the Autobahn to the fast sweeping roads and friendly hoteliers, it was great.

We got to Baden Baden and took the majestic 500 road south, heading for Lake Constance and Switzerland. I think in your eagerness to get to the destinations you have looked at countless times on the map, you sometimes miss what you travelling through. Some of the valley roads were terrific, yet all I could think about was Andermatt - bikers heaven!

Switzerland was just as they say it is, clean, spectacular and expensive, although not too bad. The passes are great, and although the corners are very tight in places, Billy and I had no trouble. I actually liked the downhill bits the best, zipping up to the very tight corners, hard on the brakes and drop the nose in, brilliant.

The only down side I found was the heat, we made the conscious decision to keep our jackets on in case of mishap, a couple of times we had to pull off roads, just to cool down in some shade, which ruined our itinerary for the day. Next time we will bring lighter 'day' jackets. I have no idea how guys do it in full leather racesuits, they must boil.

The friendship between bikers is immense, we met some London Train Drivers, who had flown down the French Autoroutes just to do the passes for the weekend, and that was their 3rd trip that year. Apparently a CBR600 does 90 miles on a full tank flat out.

The picture shows the top of the Susten Pass, which we did on a Sunday, thousands of bikes, including 60 odd Harleys on a tour, when they left the Summit top it was some noise.

The last little picture is the Chateau where I had my 40th Birthday. It had the most sumptuous rooms and a fabulous restaurant, heaven. It was also the bargain of the holiday.