The greatest
mileage in one day and the most relaxed! The
only difficulty was getting new tickets at
Waterloo and that was really my own fault.
The trip was a
great success. Its success has become more
apparent with the passing of the years. We
still talk about it and Alasdair has been
inspired to arrange similar trips for
himself. He has recently completed the
West Highland Way and is doing his
Duke of
Edinburgh Gold Award.
Would I do it
again? Of course!
The Diary
The Commentary
Up at the usual time,
had breakfast, bought some fruit and pain at a
local shop, then went over to the station,
where we got a couple of sandwiches. Then we
got onto our train and it left on time at
10:19. It was not very crowded and the people
were friendly, one women even shared some
rather nice chocolate. We got into Gare de
Lyon on time at 13:56. Then an impressively
quick trip to the Gare de Nord via RER line D.
This gave us ample time to collect our
thoughts at the Eurostar terminal till we left
on time at 15:19. We got to Waterloo after an
uncrowded journey - a very pleasant way to
travel.
The pleasures of modern
rail travel! Air conditioned luxury. Looking
out of the window as pleasant countryside
rushes past. Saw a contraflow on the motorway
north of Paris with a line of cars stationary
in the fast lane trapped between the central
barrier and traffic going in the opposite
direction. At the head of the queue was a car
with its bonnet up. Glad I was on the Train!
Then the pleasures of
British travel. Waterloo was in the middle of
the rush hour. Our ticket was for a specific
train on Thursday! So I had to buy new tickets
to Bristol (£45), and then experience the
homeward commuter rush to Reading. At Reading
we then waited for the Bristol train, taking
the opportunity to phone home and tell C when
we would get in to Temple Meads.
We got to Bristol
just a little late and were very pleased to
find C waiting for us. And we had a tale to
tell.
Well it could have been
worse. The trains did run and they got to
where they said they would at about the right
time. But it was a pity they were dirty,
crowded, noisy, expensive. One was always
waiting for something to go wrong. A contrast
with France.
