And so as the moon shines brightly over Santa Margherita, the great 2009 tour is almost over.

It was a tour of two halves covering a long and gruelling 5 weeks.

The Blog thanks those that followed the tour and doesn't blame those that chose not to.

Where will the next tour go to? Will there in fact ever be another tour? Your Blog has no idea.

Cheerio.

Friday

The last day of the tour.

Your Blog has lost his spectacles and for the first time can't see much beyond the end of his nose. All places visited in Santa Margherita (pictured) over the last two days have been contacted. No-one has seen them but everyone is appropriately concerned.

The only place left to try is La Gritta so unfortunately another visit and another Margherita must be undertaken in search of the missing specs.

Great Bars of the World - No.5

La Gritta, Portofino

Now there are many great bars in the world apparently but as far as your Blog is concerned La Gritta is numero uno.

It floats in the habour and serves great Margheritas. Which is why your author always calls it the 'floating Margherita' bar.

Your Blog may not have been recognised by Collina in Viareggio or by Sol on the train or indeed by just about everyone in Northamptonshire but none of that matters because when the Blog arrives at La Gritta the bar staff instantly start preparing the Margherita. Now that's real recognition.

Thursday

Mrs Hayes was off on another long hill walk so your author caught the little orange bus to Ruta where there are very nice views of Camogli and the coast towards Genoa.

After such exhausting trips it was good to meet up afterwards at Colombo's.

Great Bars of the World - No.4

Colombo's

Named after Christopher Colombus who is remembered with a statue opposite the bar and who had a house just down the road in Genoa.

This place has style and there is always a shady table to watch the the goings on at Santa Margherita

The Blog is confident many cakes will have been consumed by Bloggers in the Blog's absence because this is the Enable way.

So to join in, virtually, here are some local ones. Sadly none of them were eaten by your author.

Wednesday

The tour chilled in Santa Margherita. Sometimes your author thinks too much time is spent travelling to see different places and not enough time appreciating where you are.

Here is the statue of the beautiful, serene and very trustworthy patron saint of our town. Santa Margherita.

She seems a very Enable type person don't you think?

Great Bars of the World - No3

Nervi has a very long cliff edge walk that goes on and on and lives up to the name of the town.

Thank goodness Bar Marinella provides a half way point to refresh, even if the best seats do hang over the end of the cliff.

Tuesday

Back on the train again for trips to Nervi, Bogliasco (pictured here) and Sori.

The Blog can report that the trains here always run on time and usually travel at great speed. We have Mussolini to thank for this, if nothing else, as he made it his life time goal.

However, whilst the trains back home are mostly inferior to these Italian ones, there there is no equivalent to the M&Ms Bar. At least the Kettering to Nottingham Express sometimes provides a refreshing beer (or two) after a hard day.

Monday

Trips by train to some more local delights.

Chiavari, with interesting old streets and some nice shops, and Zoagli.

Zoagli, pictured here, is a small village with a habour suprisingly not spoilt by having the railway line run right over the beach.

A bottle of wine and two glasses were taken to some steps to watch the lights across the bay.

Yes even The Blog can manage a little romance when pressed.

A bus returning down the hill was not due for ages, if ever, so it was necessary to walk back! this unusual activity included your author.

In the fantasy world that is The Blog, Nozareggo is high on the list of places to move to.

Mrs Hayes fancies a project and the front gate to this one caught her eye.

There were no other passengers on the trip up the hill to the tiny village of Nozareggo.

You would have thought it would be full to bursting given the great views over Santa Margherita.

These little local buses will take you to all the local places and back and are great as long as there are no more than 10 customers. Usually, however, there are about 50 people fighting to get on and stay on at any one time and in this scorching heat it is not fun.

Sometimes though, when the bus is going somewhere no-one wants to go, you can find yourself alone with the driver.

Sunday

And do you know, when we woke up on Sunday morning our town of Santa Margherita was all pristine again. No-one would ever have known there were such goings-on the night before.

As it had been a day or two since the last visit another visit to Portofino was overdue. You just can't visit this place often enough

Usual travel arrangements applied.

And a great festival it was, whatever it was for.

Early on there was a regatta, a diving exhibition, a slide show and film.

It hotted up later with rock bands, karaoki, Cuban dancing (why Cuban when we we not in Cuba?) and orchestra's as seen here.

Every little square in the town had something happening.

And the wine and beer flowed and flowed.

In order to save energy for the festival marathon that would start at 4pm, the tour chilled out in the town.

There is always a good wedding on show on a summer Saturday here and today was no exception except that it was good for some and not good for others.

Just as this happy couple were being properly confettied another couple arrived. The groom may have been a footballer (topical, as it was Saturday) because he arrived in a baby Bentley draped in a Sampdoria flag (Sampdoria are a local Italian premier team for non-footballing Bloggers) and wore a very bad shiny bronze suit and over gelled hair. When the second bride saw the first bride (or WAG) was getting all the attention she was very very miffed and stormed off catching her stiletto in a crack and tumbling over.

What's more (and sad) the first wedding had a lone figure, a young man of groom type age, observing from a distance and when the couple emerged from the church he could be seen to be upset and he slumped away down the hill, pausing once to look back.

This is the very same church where Wayne Rooney and Coleen got married. Mrs Hayes said it was Wayne and Colette. She always gets names wrong.

Saturday

Back home there is no proper football as there is an uninspiring round of internationals. This means a worry free day for Simon.

Meanwhile in Santa Margherita it was going to be a big day. A festival day in fact.

Your Blog is still trying to find out what the festival is in aid of but who cares, a really good time is going to be had by everyone.

This place is going to do a roaring trade as it serves the best take away pizzas in town.

And the final 'terre' (or the first if you travel in the opposite direction) is Riomaggori

Whilst the Blog travelled by rail and Mrs Hayes travelled by foot it was remarkable that we both seemed to arrive at each place at the same time and always just in time for refreshments.

So it was goodbye to the 5 and back on the train again to Santa Margherita.

This one is Manarola.

The Blog may not have adequately presented the 5 great (but tiny) communities that make up the Cinque Terre but each one is different and enthralling.

Italy, as keen Bloggers will know, is your author's favoured place. Everything about it delights and inspires but occasionally, only occasionally, you have to worry about the place.

Why would they put the faces of these unsavoury characters on bottles of tasty wine?

The views are most agreeable. I am sure Bloggers will agree.

There is Corniglia perched on the edge, we can all feel like that some days.

This is Vernazza

Friday

The Cinque Terre (5 lands).

This is a world recognised area of environmental importance and very beautiful to boot.

The 5 small communities, 3 of which perch impossibly on a cliff edge, are called Monterosso, Vernazza,Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.

Your author was hoping to post stunning pictures from the boats that transport everyone from one community to the other but the sea was apparently too rough,even though the weather remains scorchingly hot, for the boats and so train journeys were necessary between each place.

As you may have guessed Mrs Hayes walked all the way. Your Blog now feels he should have at least walked the stretch known as Via delle amore.

Here is a picture of a quiet corner of Monterosso

One of the local girls listens to her i-pod.

Thursday

A five minute train ride to the splendid Camogli.

The Ferrari did not feel quite appropriate and in any case only semed available in red.

But then we saw this. It seemed to epitomise everything about the Blog. In fact the perfect Blogmobile.

The Blog has been thinking for some time that it was time to replace the trusted Honda. But Bloggers will know how the Blog places loyalty above almost all other virtues. However there does come a time when you just have to move on and so today seemed just that day.

An automobile befitting the Blog's image was needed and here was just the place to find such a vehicle.

It is tradition that shoppers visiting the Galleria should put their foot on the bull's testicles and spin round three times. This is supposed to bring good luck.

Whether it does or not your Blog can't be sure about but there were plenty of shoppers waiting their turn to put the boot in.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is a very impressive shopping arcade built in 1877. Sadly the designer, one Giuseppe Mengoni, fell from the scaffolding to his death before it was finished.

A visit to see Leonardo da Vinci's fresco The Last Supper had been booked. You have to book 3 months ahead. Your author had seen the masterpiece on the last visit to Milan so you could say this was the second sitting of the Last Supper.

Of course, as followers of the tour will recall, like the Sistine Chapel, no photos were allowed. Your Blog is sure someone would have disobeyed the rules and taken a quick snap but that someone wasn't on this tour.

The picture shown is of a gruesome statue in the Duomo of St Bartholomew, having been flayed alive, carrying his own skin.

Wednesday

The tour visited Milan, the fashion capital of the world perhaps and therefore, you may be thinking, an inappropriate place for the Blog to be seen.

It has a magnificent Duomo and here it is.

Most Bloggers will have heard the saying "it's not the Holy Grail".

Well apparently this actually is the Holy Grail ( 'Sacro Catino'). It was taken from the Holy Land by the Italians many many years ago. Your author has no idea how many years ago exactly but who cares because this is your actual Holy Grail and that's all any Blogger needs to know!

Here is the excellent San Lorenzo in Genoa.

There are many treasures inside.

Tuesday

The tour stopped off at Genoa. It is a great city to visit for a day or two. It has all the old back streets with lines of washing and workshops, a great history and a high tech modern waterfront area.

Here is a view of the city.

Great Bars of the World - No.2

Giorgio's
San Fruttuoso

Leaving Portofino the Blog sails on to San Fruttuoso, a tiny community, where you can find an old Abbey and famous statue deep at the bottom of the sea. Your Blog couldn't be bothered to see the statue and instead visited one of the many interesting places to refresh.

Great Bars of the World - No.1

Portofino

Yes these really are 2 seats at a bar

Monday

The much anticipated boat trip from Santa Margherita , around the bay, to the brilliant Portofino. This short but exciting trip always engages the Blog.

Mrs Hayes followed on foot.

More from this paradise later in the tour.

Sunday

A short bus trip to nearby Rapallo where the Blog took a cable car up to Montallegro where there is a very pleasing view of the Riviera di Levante.

Saturday had been a long day but there was time enough left for a walk around Santa Margherita to check all was well. And it was.

Look at this great big vegetable or fruit or seed. Your Blog thinks it is pumpkin?

Perhaps it could be another great Enable debate.

Will someone actually buy this?

And so after a 2 hour train journey up the Tuscan coast passing through all the stations and countryside still so familiar from the 1st leg of the tour, through the Cinque Terre, more of which later, the tour reached Santa Margherita. One of the great train journeys of the world.

And it was exactly as we left it, which was reassuring. Of course, the last time your author was here it was not a Blog tour. It was just a holiday. It was 2007. There was no Blog. Life was simple.

Here is one of the views from your Blog’s balcony at the Lido Palace.

After a good and unusually quick flight we arrived in Pisa again but it felt odd to be there and not be to going to stay in Tuscany.

With an hour or so to kill before the train to Santa Margherita Ligure, your Blog took the opportunity to walk into Pisa whilst Mrs Hayes minded the luggage. Sadly there was not enough time to see the famous jaunty tower once again.

Here is a picture of the River Arno at Pisa.

Mrs Hayes had gone and organised yet another stupidly early 6.15 a.m. flight but why were we going from Luton? We were flying to Pisa again and as all followers of the tour will know you can get to Pisa perfectly well from East Midlands via our friends at Ryanair. Your Blog didn’t want to ask in case it caused an unhelpful atmosphere on the journey down. Mrs Hayes is most thrifty and so the chances are it was something to do with avoiding Ryanair and another baggage fiasco.

So to Luton we went and because of the stupidly early flight an overnight stay was necessary.

To show willing and take on some of the arranging, your Blog had surfed and surfed the internet for a decent hotel in Luton but it seems they just don’t have one. In fact Luton doesn’t seem to have anything. The airport is Luton.

So the one nearest the airport was booked and as you can see from the picture taken from the hotel room, if the Express by Holiday Inn was any nearer to the airport it would be on the runway.

It was more like a motorway service station than a hotel but to be fair it was very clean, very modern and surprisingly very very quiet.

So the final leg of the 2009 Tour is underway and kicked off on Friday evening on an East Midlands Trains train Luton Parkway.

Have you noticed these Parkways springing up everywhere? We now even have an East Midlands Parkway, the station where no-one ever gets on and no-one ever gets off but every train stops there anyway.

They are very desolate places these Parkways but at least the Luton version was very handy for the airport hotel.

Sol Campbell accompanied us. It was good to see that now Sol has joined County he has to travel on 2nd Class rail like all salt-of-the-earth Nottinghamians. He seemed a bit put out though.

Yes it is Italy again.

So what?

It is a great place to be.

The second and final leg of the Blog tour of 2009 covers the area called Liguria (nicknamed the Italian Riviera)

It is fantastic and your Blog hopes to share the flavour of the area and some of the great sights with loyal Bloggers over the next 2 (only 2) weeks.

The tour base is at the brilliant Santa Margherita,