Back from holiday, and a near encounter with the biggest news story of last week.

It was pure chance that we decided to stay the night in the Bavarian city of Regensburg. We were travelling from the beautiful Czech city of Cesky Krumlov to the equally historic German city of Esslingen. Regensburg looked a worthwhile stop-over with the oldest bridge over the Danube, dating back almost 900 years, and a miraculously surviving medieval altstadt.

Knowing how German cities shut down for the weekend, we were amazed to find the place buzzing. Shops large and small were open – at 5.30pm on a Sunday. We were curious to see television film crews and their lighting rigs everywhere. Then we saw the bunting and the penny dropped: the Pope was about to arrive in town.

I wish I could give you an eyewitness account of the controversy that unfolded when the Pope arrived. But we left hours before the visit began, passing on the autobahn dozens of police cars heading from Munich – where the Papal tour of Bavaria began. It’s the second time in my life I’ve nearly witnessed a Papal visit: I watched Pope John Paul II’s visit to Cardiff in 1982 on television as I prepared for my A levels in the Welsh capital. That Papal visit to Britain was also controversial: Britain was at war following Argentina’s invasion of the Falkland Islands and the Pope felt obliged to arrange a swift ‘balancing’ tour of Argentina.