Letting the Train Take the Strain

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Yesterday we travelled the length of France, and then some more, to the heart of England. Rail journeys in France are clean , efficient and fast. We left Sète at 7.30, and by 4.00p.m our Eurostar train was crossing the Channel tunnel.

Dawn was breaking as we approached Sète station , and as we looked back down Avenue Victor Hugo, the starlings were just rising en masse from the plane trees and filling the sky with their murmurations.

As we approached Sète station...

The sun was rising over the canals.

The first two legs of our journey via Nîmes, took us on fast double decker trains. After passing through customs at Lille we would board the Eurostar train for London. Although this is just a single decker, there are plans afoot to change to double decker trains by 2031. Apart from the channel tunnel and the line to London which were created to European standards, the rest of the British rail network cannot take double decker trains. However, by putting them on the Eurostar line , this will increase capacity from 19.5 million passengers to 30 million passengers per year. Creating the tunnel sous la manche (under the channel) was clearly a successful enterprise.

We paused to wait for our second train at Nîmes Pont du Gard station. This is a light modern, impressive building, spacious and roomy, so unlike the crowded concourse of St Pancras Station in London that was to follow.

Nimes Pont du Gard station.

At Lille Station we mingled with British crowds as we all waited to pass through customs before boarding the Eurostar train. Many families were returning from holiday trips to Paris Disneyland. It felt rather bizarre to be surrounded by crowds, adults and children alike, wearing mini mouse ears, tall wizard hats, and carrying bizarre plastic Disney figures. The France that we were leaving behind us felt very different to the one that they had come to experience.

But these crowds were as nothing, for the third leg of our journey took us from Lille to St Pancras station in Central London. We emerged onto a station concourse which was heaving with people, and surrounded by numerous garishly lit shops and cafés. Welcome to London!

St Pancras Station was completed in 1862. Once, the largest enclosed space in the world, it has a single span roof , supported by wrought iron pillars...so different from the modern station at Nimes. Ignore the shops and the heaving crowds, and look up! Then , you will see its beauty. The Gothic red brick facade was added slightly later.

From there, we had a short walk to the busy internal railway hub of Kings Cross station for the final leg of our journey to the English Midlands. It was dark when we arrived, exactly 13 hours since our departure. We had travelled the length of France, and felt utterly exhausted. So, did the train really take the strain? Well not exactly. There were certainly some anxious moments. Our first train was delayed at Montpellier, and as we waited thirty minutes for a replacement driver, we worried whether this would this ruin our schedule. Moreover, changing trains , and hanging about in busy station precincts was tiring. But nonetheless, we caught all our scheduled connections . It feels good to eschew the privacy and pollution of the motorcar, and adopt the feeling of being a true traveller, meeting fellow travellers, and so much more.