Door to door was 2,000 miles of touring around Northern Spain. The highlight was Santiago De Compostela, now officially my favourite place ever. The city has a fantastic, happy and relaxed vibe, mainly due I'm sure to the number of "peregrinos" arriving footsore from the Camino. One morning we saw a group of South Africans arrive, parading into the square by the cathedral, singing, dancing and waving flags. Absolutely joyous and moving.

Other holiday highlights include:

- walking out of a restaurant in Benavente and hearing the strains of a familiar tune as we walked back to the hotel. Playing in a tent were a local youth Big Band cutting loose on a medley of Supertramp hits. Further back towards the hotel we came across the village elders strutting their stuff to some cheesy cod-flamenco being delivered from the town bandstand.

- The youth of Pontevedra turning out for a weekend of drunken madness. The city bans on street drinking in the centre (apart from at bars) but once a year allows it for a whole weekend. The kids take full advantage with teams wandering around carrying large plastic bottles of rotgut red wine from around 11 a.m. onwards. By 11 p.m. there were a lot of very drunk and noisy people out on the streets, but as far as I could see there was no trouble, and very little police presence either. By 11a.m. next morning the rubbish had been cleared and streets hosed clean of piss and red wine. Imagine the same thing in the UK?

- Discovering Pimientos De Padron. Small, sweet, fried peppers eaten as a tapas. Approx 1 in 30 has a kick to it. Delicious and sold in every bar in Galicia. Also sold in Wolverhampton Waitrose I discovered yesterday.

- Oviedo. An incredibly elegant northern city.

- Unexpected discovery of a tiny walled town (Uruena)not mentioned in any tourist guide. Driving along, round a bend and there it is, sat on a hillside like an El Cid filmset.

- Albarino wine. Lots of it.

- Schoolboy sniggering at place names such as Ardon and Cuntis.

- Finally, on the boat on the way back we were watching some of the coverage of El Papa in Madrid. Visiting Escorial to meet a load of nuns who, whilst waiting for his arrival, indulged in a mexican wave. Sound of Music meets Father Ted.

Sounds like you've been having an interesting time yourself over the last few weeks. I'm sure its all been said but remember we're here if you need us.

you didn't get me any trainers either did you? Or any donuts?