Leg 1: The Highlights

We're now back in Blighty after a wonderful three-and-a-half months on our European tour and in the tradition of the media when looking back on something, here's our review in simple list form:

Our favourite places:
FRANCE: Toulouse and my Mum's place
SPAIN: Salamanca and Patty's Paradise
PORTUGAL: Porto
ITALY: Siena and Lake Lugano
SWITZERLAND: Baden

Top sights:
Fr: Pont de Gard Sp: The Mezquita P: The Ferreira Port tour I: The Siena Duomo and The Roman Forum SW: The scenery

Fave Campsights:
Theo's: the Dutch campsite at Roses in Spain
Kate's: Camping Darma on the shores of Lake Lugano in Italy

Funniest Moments:
-Stoners on the bus in Zurich
-Polly's finger up the bum
-The Irish for "Two beers, please"
-Poor Chris, "dying alone"
-Patty: "Just run him over, I've got loads more dogs"

Beastly goings on:
-the French supermarket sparrows
-the Italian squabbling chaffinches
-Tripod, the insane Spanish moggy
-Lika, the car-chasing dog in Spain
-Cocky, the car-chasing dog in France
-Bunny, the light-chasing cat in France
-The pool-sipping swallows of Bologna
-The coitus interruptus bat of France

Best beaches:
Xereca, Valencia...Barcelona...Chiaveri, Liguria, Italy

The Biggest Nights:
-Rocket Festival, especially the Sunday
-Bianca Notte, Florence
-On the town in Salamanca
-Flamenco in Seville
-Euro 2008 final in Zurich

Biggest surprises:
-The "fete" at Octon
-The reappearance of Andy and Tracie in Granada

Fave Meal Out:
-Passage de Pondicherry, Paris

Biggest Let-Downs:
-the RAC's continental autoglass partners
-inside the Florence duomo
-San Gimignano (pretty, but too touristy)
-the beach at Cecina del Mare (too many pay-for sections...and as for the riccio...)

The Catastrophes:
-the rear windscreen disaster in Spain
-tummy bugs at the beginning
-Theo's sea-urchin
-Theo's dodgy Austrian pizza

The New People We Befriended:
-Gina and Damien, Nantes
-Miguel and Beatriz, Bilbao
-Andy and Tracie, Spain
-Guillermo and Cecilia, Porto
-Nora and David, Seville
-Pete and Fran, Ayesha, Diego, Manuel and others - Rocket Festival
-Andy and Kerine - Rocket Festival, Estepona
-Patty, Rosie, Raffa, Steve - Estepona
-our chatty French hitchhiker
-Chris and the boys, Rome
-Hannah and Damon, Florence
-Lucia, Zurich
-Bettina and Peter, Baden

Our favourite country overall:
SPAIN: scruffy, beautiful, exuberant, hot, cheap and fun