As we are getting tidied up a police car drives through the car park on its rounds, stops where Ali and Grete are chatting in front of the vans and asks for our passports. Is it the mayhem in A Coruna? Is it Nick W's interest in the cannabis magazine in the garage? Has Ali taken too many photos? They copy out our details, wish us well and go on their way. Later as we are driving away we pass them in the opposite direction and get a wave and a smile. We join...

Another sunny morning and the joggers and walkers are out again. We decide we saw A Coruna quite closely yesterday so we drive along the sea front underneath the orange iron standards which support the tram wires and street lamps. On the way we see some of the ornate old balconies which are gradually being screened over, turning elegant baroque facades into modern glass towers. We have good views of the sea, bright blue and green today, and the white spume...

The mist and rain has gone and it's a bright morning. The town looks very different in the sunshine; the river is bright blue, the white church is brighter and the castle walls stand out against the sky. Behind the town there are tall rocks with trees and mimosa, and a statue of a deer at the peak. We use the service point in the aire then set off at 11:20. We find our last Portuguese Lidl in a town called Valenca and stock up the wine at €1.50 a bottle. I...

It's still misty but the sun is trying to break through. Across the car-park the washer women start their morning's work in the communal wash house. Occasionally one comes out with a basket of washing on her head and pegs it on the communal lines, a bird's nest of sticks and string looking like a naked big-top tent. Ali and Grete find a small market at return with fish, pork slices, vegetables and fruit, including strawberries the size of snooker balls. ...

it's a miserable, drizzly and rainy morning. We decide the best thing is for Ali and Grete to get the bus into Oporto. Neither of them is happy this morning, the showers were cold, the laundry driers don't work and the [different] receptionist shrugs and couldn't care less. Nick C goes to the wifi room, Nick W tinkers with their van and the girls head for the bus. They have a good time in the city and a pleasant lunch, despite the rain. Oporto is Portuga...