Oxford

It's impossible to explore Oxford without drawing comparisons between it and Cambridge, especially when you're with a friend who has lived, worked and studied in both. In previous visits I've always headed with bananablip and sakalasafari to the world's greatest bookstore where everything, mostly excellent titles, was priced at £2. It sadly seems to have been a casualty of the high street.

Leigh toured me around, starting at St Hilda's, her old college, and then to the city highlights and meadows. The Radcliffe Camera is a stunner. The boathouses are a row of concrete blocks and are more charismatic in Cambridge, whereas the river filled with rafts of punting language students is identical. We snacked at a café on the backstreets, poked around in the covered market and picked up some decongestant in Boots (me, not Leigh).

I took the meandering bus back to Cambridge and left Leigh in Oxford as she was off to Wales. Back at the ranch with Berry and Helen we ordered an Indian but as my guts are still recalibrating, I avoided the mussel curry and opted for plain rice, naan and Bombay potatoes.