Original subtitles

I'm rejoining the rails for another epic adventure.

Are you excited? Who wouldn't be?

I'm travelling around the globe again.

Riding some of the most legendary trains in the world.

To experience more spectacular railways.

Look at this place!

From the Arctic Circle...

Oh!

..to the glorious Andes.

And the heart of Europe...

Isn't it fantastic? It's just a ticket hall!

..to the edge of America.

Oh, this is amazing!

And I'll venture off the tracks to discover awe-inspiring places...

England!

..extraordinary people...

..and unforgettable experiences.

Hey! Hey!

It's staggering, isn't it?

Ahh!

Here I am again, back at St Pancras Station in London

and ready to hit the rails.

Last time I went east, all the way around the world by train.

But all that globetrotting made me realise there is

so much more to see.

So I'm going to do it again.

But this time, in the opposite direction.

And I'm kicking off with a route through Europe,

so, of course, there's only one train to start off in, isn't there?

And, as usual, I'll be bringing this little lot with me.

Come on, lads.

Excuse me, can I squeeze through?

Here we go.

This time, I'm heading to the south of France to begin my adventures.

I'll make a stop on the coast in the Camargue...

..then cross the border to Spain's Costa Brava.

I'll race down to Barcelona, head west to the capital, Madrid,

and then end in Portugal.

I've been to Europe before, of course,

but most of the time it's been zooming over the Channel

by plane or hurtling down a bunch of motorways.

I think going by train would be a really good way to do it.

The railway network is so extensive

that you can get virtually anywhere, all the tourist spots.

But the hidden gems as well.

In the summer, there's now a direct train that links London and the

French Cote d'Azur in six-and-a-half hours.

And it delivers you right to the heart of Marseille.

This is St Charles Station.

I'm changing trains here,

but with an hour to kill, I'm going for a wander.

We are now in the second city of France.

It all looks a bit non-descript now, doesn't it?

But then you get to these steps.

Pow!

What a great, imperial statement.

And steps themselves...

..it's like climbing up an enormous wedding cake, isn't it?

And if you look down that street and beyond, those chimney pots,

there is the reason that Marseille has thrived

and been so successful for centuries.

The Mediterranean Sea.

Marseille was the gateway to France's once great empire.

That means there were loads of dockers and sailors working here.

The sort of people who kick off when they get stroppy.

Like in the French Revolution.

In the year 1792, on this very street, the Rue Thubaneau,

a group of Marseille revolutionaries gathered and sang their song,

the Marseillaise.

# Allons enfants de la Patrie... #

They were about to head north and get to Paris for a massive punch-up.

And they didn't care who tried to stand on their way.

And the song became so popular,

it spread throughout the whole countryside

and was sung by all the people marching towards Paris.

And a few years later, it was decreed to be the national anthem.

MUSIC: La Marseillaise.

While this old port used to be a bit dangerous sometimes,

in recent years it has attracted more tourists.

It's a great jumping off point to explore more of the south of France.

And I'm back at St Charles Station to hop on a regular regional train.

I'm heading around 50 miles along the coast

to where the Med meets the Rhone.

And a lesser-known part of Provence.

France has the tenth longest railway network in the world.

And unlike Britain, which had the Beeching cuts in the 1960s,

it didn't axe its less popular local routes.

So in France you can travel all over the country on the regional lines.

And I'm heading for deepest Provence by rail.

A few miles south of Arles Station is the area known as the Camargue.

When someone says southern France to me,

I think of gorgeous young women in bikinis and sunglasses

on the Cote d'Azur.

Or valley after valley crammed full of vineyards

or beautiful little stone houses nestled in the hills.

What I don't think of is the Lone Ranger and Tonto.

Look at these!

Are they not the most exquisite horses you've ever seen?

These magnificent white Camargue horses

are native to this marshland region.

And for the past 500 years,

they've been used to wrangle herds of prize-winning bulls

by the Gardiens - Europe's only surviving cowboys.

And today, I'm going to saddle up and give them a hand.

How are you going to decide which horse to choose for me, Patrick?

You want to tell me, maybe, you know?!

Well, I think a very placid one.

One who won't run away with me!

So maybe this one?

They're very tame. This one? Yeah.

What's this one called? Kerido.

Kerido.

They're not actually wild, are they?

No. They live like wild horses.

All the year alone and outside.

But they are not wild.

So we'll take Kerido? Yeah, I'm happy to take Kerido.

Come on, Kerido.

This way.

Whoop!

Here we go.

Patrick's family owns one of the oldest ranches in the Camargue,

which stretches over 500 hectares.

And they're very proud of their centuries-old ranching way of life.

So you really are a cowboy? Yeah!

So you don't dress like this for the tourists?

This is your working clothes? I'm a French cowboy!

I didn't know such things existed, but it's brilliant!

Well, I've got myself a horse.

A hat.

And even the seal of approval from Patrick's dad.

Very good.

Let's get those bulls!

Let me get this clear.

I'm in a field with 50 bulls.

Not 50 - 100. 100!

That makes it so much better!

BULLS BELLOW

Those bulls, why do they kick the dust like that?

Because they want to fight.

"Come on", they say, "Come on!"

You just stay where you are!

Oh, my God!

We're heading straight for them!

With me...

TONY CLICKS Come on!

PATRICK WHISTLES

What does the whistling mean?

Err... Go away.

But slowly, you know?

PATRICK WHISTLES

You want them to go away fast!

Oh!

Oh!

Whoa!

Patrick told me to stay near him but he just keeps galloping off!

PATRICK WHISTLES

WHISTLING QUICKENS

Oh, no! Oh, no! Oh, no!

Whoa.

That's better, that's better!

It's actually slightly scary!

Whenever I come to somewhere as wonderful as this,

of course I feel an enormous affinity

to the people and the animals.

But there's part of me that's thinking,

"Hang on, this isn't going to last."

"Capitalism and globalisation aren't going to let this place flourish."

But this whole area is a protected nature reserve

and Patrick said to me that as long there are bulls

and as long as there are Gardiens to look after them and the horses,

these ranches will survive.

And that's pretty positive, isn't it?

Coming up...

I continue my journey of discovery in beautiful Barcelona.

Where I find out what it's like to live in a Gaudi masterpiece.

All the tourists can see you all the time? That's muy importante!

And I pitch up

on one of the greatest football stadiums in the world.

I still get a shiver down my spine seeing it for real.

It's day two of my trip through southern Europe by train,

and after time spent herding bulls in the south of France,

I'm on the high-speed train.

I'm heading down the coast to the very bottom of France

and the base of the Pyrenees where I'll cross into Spain.

I certainly wouldn't have seen all this if I'd been in the car,

would I? All this...coastline... massive inland waterways,

the foothills of the Pyrenees over there.

Mind you, it is all at 200kph, but it's still pretty stunning.

France was the first country in Europe to have high-speed rail

when it introduced these TGV trains in the early 1980s,

but France and Spain have only been connected by direct high-speed

train since 2013 after a new line was built through the mountains.

Travelling by train's so easy.

Here we are on one side of the Pyrenees in France,

and thanks to the 5.2-mile long tunnel,

here we are on the other side in Spain.

I'm heading straight to the Costa Brava.

My first stop is Figueres, where I'm jumping off to head a few miles east

to the coast and the small town of L'Escala

and I can't wait.

This is one of the first places in Spain

to become a package holiday hot spot.

What I'm much more interested in these days is seeing what

life's like for some of the locals.

Fishing was once the lifeblood of the Costa Brava

and 40-odd years ago L'Escala Beach would have been awash with

fishing boats.

But as more and more tourists invaded with their sun beds,

the fishermen were moved here to the nearby harbour.

Classic sign of a fishing boat coming in,

you see all those gulls swirling around.

Just below them you can

just about make out the little mast of the fishing boat coming in.

I think I'd expected something massive like a huge trawler.

It's quite cute, that, isn't it?

I've come down here this morning

because if you want to know what life's like in a place

like this, you need to have a chat with the fishermen.

Hi, I'm Tony. Hi. Was it a good catch today?

A good catch? A good catch. Three tonnes. Three tonnes?

Three tonnes of sardines.

So you're a very rich man. Oh!

THEY LAUGH

We need help. You need help? OK.

First interview I've ever done where after three minutes I stink of fish.

HE LAUGHS

Most of these sardines will be sold in Spain, but some of them

will end up in the UK.

When you're eating one of these back home,

remember, it could have come from right here.

This is your sister's restaurant? Yes.

I've got an invite to try some of the sardines for breakfast.

Hola! Hello.

Locals Augustina and Mary have lived in L'Escala all their lives.

Are you going to join us?

No, she have to work. She's busy. Very busy. OK.

So how do we eat these? With the fingers.

Wonderful. I like it. I like it, except it's very hot.

Yeah. Mm. That's good.

These are wonderful. Yeah, because they are fresh, these ones.

Yesterday when I arrived here, it was all tourists.

Tourists and amusing lilos shaped like flamingos.

And it felt as if the place had no soul at all. Today...

..down at the harbour, as the fish came off the boat,

it felt like the place does still have a heart.

Yes, it's like this and you can feel that.

In town in August you're only going to see tourists.

But if you came in two or three months, like October, November,

so we get together then. You become a proper town again.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

This place may have a reputation for deck chairs and package holidays,

but today I've seen the old-style Costa Brava -

lots of hard work, beautiful fish and a lovely meal at the end of it.

Long may that Costa Brava survive.

I'm rejoining the rails and taking a local train.

I'm heading for the capital of Catalonia, Barcelona.

This region is Spain's industrial heartland.

So it's no surprise that was the first place in the country

to have a railway.

This is the oldest railway line in Spain. It was built in 1848,

although why they should have built it so that it cuts off

virtually every beach from its local town is beyond me.

But what's left is pretty stunning.

We're heading right into the heart of Catalonia now, which is

an area which is very different from the rest of Spain.

It's got its own language - like Wales has - its own culture,

its own traditions,

but this feeling of separateness isn't just a historical thing.

It raises as much passion now as it ever has.

And to get a better understanding of this passion,

I've come to Barcelona FC, Catalan's very own football team.

Barcelona's famous Camp Nou holds close to 100,000 people.

I must have seen this stadium 100 times on the telly,

but I still get a shiver down my spine seeing it for real.

What you might not realise watching on TV is that the roar of the crowd

when Messi scores a goal is also a call for Catalan's independence.

Andy, you've been here for a long time now, haven't you,

both as a journalist and commentator?

One thing I didn't expect to see

when I came here was those four words - Mes que un club.

That's Catalan, right? It's Catalan for "more than a club".

And that very much sums up how Barcelona feel about themselves

as an institution. They feel that, yes, we're a football club,

but we're a lot more than that. We represent people.

It's about identity, it's about culture, it's about the sense of

belonging and that's very much how the club perceives itself -

not just a football team.

For the last few years, at 17 minutes and 14 seconds

into each half, the fans strike up a chant for independence.

Because 1714 was the year that they lost independence

and became assimilated as part of Spain

and the club obviously has never done anything to try to subdue that.

What happened to the club when General Franco,

the fascist dictator through to the 1970s, was in power?

Cos he didn't like the idea of independence, did he? Not at all.

In fact, he went further than that and supressed Catalan identity,

Catalan language was banned, it couldn't be taught in schools,

couldn't publish books or magazines, newspapers in Catalan.

It was almost a safe haven, this stadium, when it opened in the '50s

for people to come along and sing their songs,

support their team, express themselves in Catalan,

which was something they couldn't do in official life cos

the language was banned,

so I think a lot of the power of the brand, almost, of Barcelona

as a club and being more than a club was born and solidified in that era.

CROWD CHANTS

But it's not just football and politics that makes this

fascinating city stand out from the rest of Spain -

it's also its architecture.

And at the forefront stands the work of the great Antoni Gaudi.

This is Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's most iconic creation.

He started work on the cathedral back in 1882.

137 years later, it's still not finished.

But that doesn't stop over three million people flocking to see it

each year.

Gaudi was part of the Catalan modernism movement

which took inspiration from nature, bright colours and curved lines.

But he took it to the next level

and transformed the look of a whole city.

This is Park Guell, another one of Gaudi's unique creations.

I've come here to meet Bianca,

an architect with a passion for all things Gaudi.

Hey, Bianca, how are you? How are you doing?

I want to find out who Gaudi the man was and what made him tick.

You've got this crazy, crazy kind of Disney World, really, haven't you?

How did people react to this architecture?

This was very controversial. Many people appreciate his work,

but many people would make fun about his solutions, ideas,

colourful designs and crazy ideas.

Gaudi wasn't just famous for creating parks and cathedrals.

He built places for people to live in, too.

Bianca has brought me to Casa Mila to meet one of its residents, Anna.

Can we come in and have a look at your house? Thank you very much.

It's not until you're inside that you realise the building is

doughnut-shaped and the apartments run around its circular edge.

The corridors are so high, aren't they?

It's really luxurious. It's very practical,

but also great luxury and space.

Show me more.

This truly is a great space, but outside I can't help but notice

one tiny problem.

All the tourists can see you all the time!

No esta importante? Muy importante! No esta importante!

It would drive me bonkers.

I suppose if push came to shove I could put up with them...

..just for the lounge alone.

What an amazing room, Anna!

Incredible. Will you stay here for the rest of your life? Yes.

Sure.

THEY LAUGH

I think that's a good end to the interview, don't you?

Like most people, I knew that Gaudi had designed crazy

and colourful houses.

What I hadn't understood until today was that he also had

a passion for people, a passion for the space that they move around in,

like Anna's fantastic flat which, quite honestly,

is just about the nicest apartment I've ever been in.

Coming up, I continue my search for surprises in northern Spain

where I'm confronted by extraordinary

echoes of its bloody civil war.

It must have been madness in here.

And I pull into Madrid's tropical train station.

It's great, isn't it?

I'm halfway through my eye-opening trip through southern Europe

and after a couple of days exploring beautiful Barcelona I think I get

why Gaudi was one of the truly great architects of the 20th century.

But there's more excitement ahead.

I'm at Sants Station, Catalan's busiest transport hub,

to head west on one of the fastest trains in the world.

This is Ave, which is Spain's version of Japan's bullet train,

or our HS2.

Actually, the second one isn't really a very good example, is it?

But you know what I mean. It's fast.

In this super-fast train it only takes three hours to cover

the more than 300 miles between Barcelona to Madrid,

so along the way I've got time to make friends in the buffet car.

LAUGHTER

And it means I can afford to hop off halfway for another stop.

For hundreds of years Spain was a major player on the world stage.

It was very rich, very powerful, but between 1936 and 1939

it kind of juddered to a halt

when it became in the grip of a terrible civil war.

On one hand you had General Franco's fascists,

on the other hand you had the Republicans.

I'm getting off at Zaragoza to find out more.

This region saw some of the bloodiest fighting of the civil war.

And south of the city is Belchite.

Wow.

This is all that's left of a small Spanish town that was obliterated

during a two-week military onslaught at the height of the civil war.

Since the troops departed on September 7th 1937,

this site has remained untouched.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

My guide, Isobel, explains that this once beautiful cathedral was

the epicentre of the carnage that took place here.

This looks like it must have been a very old and magnificent church.

Any idea when it was built? In the 17th century.

Wow, so it's a kind of Renaissance building, isn't it? Mm-hm.

It's extraordinary, you go into a little side chapel like this

and initially you think it's just a ruin.

It's only when you get close to it that you see incredible

numbers of bullet holes.

This actually is where the battle started.

Who was defending this church?

The church was defended by the Francoist troops.

This is the fascists? Yeah.

They were situated in the tower and the Republican army broke this wall.

They start shooting the people in the tower.

The people in the tower were shooting them.

It must have been madness in here.

This tower looks like it could topple down at any moment.

Yeah, we have a shell over there that didn't explode. A shell?!

Oh, it's like a black thing sticking out,

like a little periscope or something. Yeah.

Can we move on? Yeah, for sure!

What was the result of the battle? The Republicans took the town.

Six months later there was a two-day battle

in which the Francoist troops took the town again.

So Franco left this as a war memorial to say that the

other side were really bad but his side was really powerful,

and smashed them to pieces.

It's easy to talk about the Spanish Civil War and the tactics

and the politics and the strategies,

but it isn't until you get to Belchite

that you really get a sense of the human cost of all that fighting.

That's so sad.

It's time to move on so I'm hopping back on the high-speed train

at Zaragoza and I'm now heading to Madrid.

It's 170 miles to the capital from here,

but the journey will take less than 90 minutes.

Just enough time to relax

and check out my new state-of-the-art travel pillow.

If only I could put it on right!

Oh, there you go.

This train is so smooth I'll sleep like a baby all the way to Madrid.

I'm in Madrid's Atocha Railway Station now.

All the normal accoutrements of a railway station are here -

the ticket office, the vending machines, the bars...the jungle.

The jungle! It's true. It's this wonderful?

They established this in 1992. There were railway tracks here before that

but there was one big problem they had to overcome, which

was that there was a little lake in the middle of it - very nice -

except that people kept dumping their unwanted turtles in it

until eventually it became turtle city and they had to ship them

all out and drain the lake.

And now...it's great, isn't it?

I've only got one afternoon to explore Madrid,

so time to stretch my legs.

All Spain's major roads lead to Madrid

and this point is where they all start.

It's the geographical centre of Spain.

Look, I'm standing right in the middle of Spain.

Madrid became the capital of Spain back in 1561

and it's a grand old place.

But it's not just the statues and impressive buildings on offer here.

Over in Lavapies you can step off the tourist trail

and get a better sense of the city.

It's the edgy part of town, full of hipsters and trendy bars.

It does great free tapas...

..it's the perfect place to meet new friends...

So, is this the hen do? Yes. Very civilised. Hen do part two.

Just the four of you? Yeah. Aw, that's nice.

..and a mecca for shopping for jazzy shirts...

We're ready for you, Tony. Sorry.

..if only the crew would let me.

But I fancy something a bit more traditional

so I'm heading back to the city centre for dinner.

Behind this wall is the Plaza Mayor,

but buried into it are a lot of tiny old taverns, each one of which

specialises in a different food.

So that one specialises in tortilla, that one in boquerones -

which are anchovies -

but I'm going to have a look at the oldest one of the lot...

..Sobrino de Botin.

This place became a restaurant in the year 1725.

I love this old bar, don't you,

and these great dark beams against the white ceiling.

And this mural here really gives you a sense of age

and the brightness of all that painted panelling

and those dark, gloomy paintings that,

if they belonged to your gran, you'd want them on the skip,

but here they give you this incredible sense of Spanishness.

Come with me.

And through here... Look, if you go that way, I'll meet you round here.

Cos what I want to show you is this oven, which has remained alight

for nearly 300 years.

They specialise in roast suckling pig here

and the Guinness Book Of World Records awarded it the title

World's Oldest Restaurant.

And over the years its tables have played host to a long

list of distinguished diners.

But Antonio, the current owner,

is most proud of the restaurant's royal heritage.

Where did the King sit? Usually they have a round table here

because that way they join in the atmosphere.

But you don't clear the whole of the restaurant,

other people can still come here when the Royal Family are here?

Yes, of course. Sometimes we have a curtain or something,

but most of the time Juan Carlos, he told us,

"Please don't put the curtain."

He wanted to be part of it, and people were toasting with the King.

Oh, that's nice.

I love the idea that the restaurant has a personality that is

brimming full of history. That's what I felt as soon as I walked in.

Oh, great. I'm very glad.

It must be time to find out what food

cooked in a 300-year-old oven tastes like.

And it would be mean not to ask the crew to join me.

Hey, guys. Thank you.

Oh, wow, that looks beautiful.

Oh, great. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Gracias. Shall I serve? Shall I be mum?

Enjoy it.

Madrid's full of delicious surprises like this.

I just wish I could stay and discover more.

But it's an early start tomorrow. I've got a train to catch.

Next, I'm in Portugal's Porto and what a welcome!

Isn't it fantastic? It's just a ticket hall!

I get to ride the rails through the country's breathtaking views.

Gorgeous Douro Valley, which is the heart of Portuguese wine-making.

And I get knee-deep with the locals.

Between these two guys, this is great.

THEY LAUGH

I'm on the last leg of my journey through southern Europe

and so far I've found some lovely little gems along the way.

After exploring Spain, I've headed 352 miles west to Portugal.

This is Porto and it's easy to see why it's called the City of Bridges.

Oh, my goodness!

Look at this.

The Maria Pia Bridge isn't only the oldest bridge in Porto,

but the oldest railway crossing in Portugal.

It was designed back in the 1800s

by Gustave Eiffel, who went on to build some big tower in Paris.

Like France and Spain, Portugal once had a great empire.

Dripping with gold and silver,

sending explorers off all over the world.

And yet all that seems to have just dribbled away.

But after some tough times, the country's in the middle

of an economic upturn.

Lisbon is one of the latest must-do city breaks

and Porto isn't far behind.

Topped with terracotta rooftops,

this entire city is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

And the greeting waiting for you at Sao Bento Station

is quite spectacular.

Look at this place! It's just a ticket hall!

A railway ticket hall! But it could be a palace, couldn't it?

All these tiles were put up in the early 1900s by the master

tile-maker of Portugal, Jorge Colaco.

And he hand-painted them. And they look magnificent.

You couldn't do this in England.

but here it's so pristine.

Local architect Ricardo is a bit of an expert

when it comes to these tiles.

When the train station is built, there's this idea of adding

things that are important for us, so they start...

Over here we can see clearly wine being picked,

being brought from the valley. Over here getting the wheat

and then milling it on this water mill over here.

That's beautiful. It's like a Constable painting in England,

that one. And that's the booze up, presumably?

Yeah, that's one thing we do very well.

We like to drink, we like to party.

It was the Moors who first introduced these tiles to Portugal

back in the 17th century.

The country fell in love with them.

Beautiful. Wow, look at this. Yeah.

And in Porto they're all over the place.

You can see the building over there. Beautiful.

I love this place.

It has the grandeur of Madrid and the vibrancy of Barcelona,

but it feels a little more low-key, less showy.

So what does Ricardo think about his next door neighbours?

What's the difference between the Spanish and the Portuguese?

Don't make me start! I thought it might!

We are very similar in language. We understand everything they say,

they don't understand a word of what we say. I don't understand why.

It's the same phrases and phrase construction

with a different accent. And for us it's easy just to speak Spanish,

we just give a different intonation and we're there.

We like them very much... in their country.

God!

One thing that strikes me about these people

is their pride in their traditions.

Look at this lot.

Tell me about them. OK, so we are a tuna. What does that mean?

It's not a fish. It's a traditional thing from Portugal.

We are all students of engineering, of the faculty,

and then we formed the group 30 years ago and it's like this.

And a big tradition in Portugal, there's a lot of groups.

Each faculty has one. We have ours, you know?

So good. I love this, this is great.

Typical choreography.

Do you make much money? OK, so you have to ask the crowd, I think.

HE LAUGHS See you later. See you.

I'm up here cos I wanted to show you the might River Douro.

And by an eerie coincidence,

it's also the perfect place to show you the most magnificent sunset.

I'm back at Sao Bento Station.

It's the last day of my trip exploring Europe.

Time for one final adventure.

I've left Porto now to get on this lovely little old train.

It's a line that was first opened in 1887, so it's pretty old.

For most of its length it hugs the mighty Douro River,

but I'm not getting off till we get to the gorgeous Douro Valley,

which is the heart of Portuguese wine-making,

so I'm really looking forward to that.

This railway line is an engineering masterpiece.

There's 26 tunnels and 30 bridges connecting all the towns

and villages along the water's edge.

All I know about port is that there's lots of brands with

British-sounding names and it's a sweet,

sticky tipple my Auntie Ethel used to drink at Christmas,

so I've come to Quinta da Pacheca,

one of the oldest port-making estates in the Valley,

to find out more.

There's a word in English - pendulous. Which is kind of dangly.

These grapes, they are definitively pendulous, aren't they?

And who better to educate me than Maria,

an award-winning port-maker?

I think they are not ready. The sugar is not enough for port.

This vineyard produces hundreds of bottles of port each year and,

incredibly, they still make the drink in the old, traditional way -

crushing the grapes by foot.

Tony, do you want to go...? Of course I want to have a go!

But suppose I had athlete's foot or verrucas -

that would be ghastly in your wine! No, there's no problem.

The alcohol that the wine has,

it will kill everything that you have in your foot?

Really? And there's no problem for the wine, yes.

It's very, very, very odd.

You can feel all the...different grapes just go pop, pop, pop!

Thank you, yeah, I'd much rather be in the middle.

We do it for three hours. Three hours?! Yes. Let's do this!

OK.

I'm so glad I'm not on the end, I think

I would fall over if I was on the end.

Between these two guys, this is great.

THEY LAUGH

Now, I know what you're thinking - why are we doing this?

Well, the benefit of crushing the grapes by foot is the seeds

won't break, which could make the port bitter.

And it's rather satisfying.

Very polite of you.

Feel like I've been the naughty boy in primary school

and the teacher's cleaning me up! Sorry, miss!

Time to taste the fruits of my labours

and reflect on my journey so far.

On this leg of my journey I've been to France, Spain and Portugal -

all countries I was a little bit familiar with before -

but who would have thought I'd end up riding with cowboys in France

or learning about Catalan independence at Barcelona's

famous Camp Nou?

And I did it all

while travelling on the most spectacular railways in Europe.

And what a way to end my trip - sailing along the mighty Douro.

This river goes down to the Portuguese coast, then you've

got the Atlantic and beyond it South America,

adn that's where I'm going next week.

Next time, I join the biggest carnival party in Peru...

Hey! Peru! Peru! Peru!

..ride one of the poshest locomotives on Earth...

This is a train! It's actually a train!

..venture deep into the Amazon Jungle...

Monkey alert, monkey alert.

..and fulfil my lifelong dream of seeing the ancient

wonder of Machu Picchu.

Look at that!