The longest journey begins with a single step…
In this case, our journey begins with Barry picking up our suitcases as we prepare to step on the bus near our home in Birdham…
The purpose of this trip is to explore Porto and Lisbon in Portugal and we decided to get there by train and other mass transit rather than flying and renting a car. We also wanted to revisit Biarritz in France where we had been before and thoroughly enjoyed as we passed through. So here we go…
The trip from our house to London started on a bus in Birdham to Chichester to the train station where we boarded the train up to London. This trip went smoothly. Not much happened and nothing was picture-worthy as we rolled through the English countryside where everything was dry and brown due to the current drought. When we got nearer to London, the journey was mostly underground so there wasn’t anything to see or take a photo of. We stayed in a compact hotel near the St. Pancras International train station so we could get up at 4am to catch the Eurostar train to Paris. We had to be at the station by 5 am even though the train didn’t depart until 6:30.
The trip to Paris was uneventful and I must say, boring. Much of the trip was underground and the parts that were above ground looked just like the English countryside so it was hard to tell we were in France. We didn’t see any of Paris on this journey as you immediately go to the Paris Metro (underground) to make your connection to the Bordeaux train. This part of the journey through the Metro to make your train connection on time is supposed to be tough going as anyone who has been on a subway system in a major city can relate. However, the advice we received on how best to do it from a blog titled “A Man in Seat 61”, proved to make Barry’s fears unfounded.
Some interesting information to share is that the trains travel between 135-166 mph and have a max speed of 209 mph. The deepest part of the Chunnel we traveled through was 32 feet below sea level.
Once we survived the Metro, we then boarded the TGV to Bordeaux and onward to Biarritz. That trip was much like the others we’ve had so far; mostly the same farmland but suddenly bursting into sunflowers followed by a few vineyards and rivers the further south we traveled. We also went through France’s famous pine forests and saw some fire damage but we didn’t see the part that was burnt in the dreadful French forest fires that raged in 90 degree plus heat throughout July and August. I didn’t get any photos because when you are traveling that fast, the photos come out in a blur.
So although they say you see more by train than driving a car, that may be so for the driver but so far this journey has been seeing the same thing…only faster.
I must add that I am delayed in updating our trip as the travel days are long and I become too tired or run out of time to complete the work. I spend my little down time uploading the photos I’ve taken to my computer files and labeling them so I can easily see where they fit. I’m writing this as we settle into our hotel in Porto, Portugal where we will stay for a week. I tried to do the posts on the train but the rocking motion of flying at 160 mph make typing impossible. Instead, I carefully take notes in my notebook to post later. Now I’ll post more often as I have lots of photos to share.
