France: Clermont-Ferrand to Colmar

This was another three-train day, weather dull but dry. The journeys (600kms in total) passed comfortably: not many on board. As usual, we were on time. I was pleased to see one of our trains in particular was kitted out for lots of bikes, and that all passengers sat in what was a mobile phone-free zone: jokey signs indicated you could use them between the carriages.

As always there seemed plenty to look out for, though when taking photographs it was never easy to avoid reflections from the windows - none of which of course opened (unlike when we were travelling through Mongolia). We passed along the Rivers Saône (here, near Lyon) and Doubs, and later through vineyards and the Belfort Gap.

We stopped to change trains in Mulhouse,
which my spouse thought should rhyme with "full house."
But the ticket inspector
was quick to correct her:
In fact, it's pronounced like "Toulouse."

Spain: Vigo

James and Penny Symington provided all too good a dinner for us in Porto, considering how early our train left the next morning: I acquired a stiff neck, trying to catch up on sleep on the way North, back towards Spain. Not one of our most comfortable trains.

We had a two-hour slot in Vigo, waiting for our East-bound train, but failed to make the best of it. (Vigo, Santander and Lyon were all failures on that score: they all had something to offer, but we were flummoxed by the lack of left luggage lockers and/or our failure to get to grips with the geography. In Lyon, we got as far as the Metro platform, but no trains came! It was Sunday morning. Memo for future trips: do pre-journey prep when you only have a relatively short time to look round somewhere.)

Quite often during our holiday we came across human statues. They are very much part of the scene in Barcelona's Las Ramblas for instance. Sometimes they are caught unawares: Julius Caesar winked at me in Brussels as he (or was it she?) puffed at a furtive cigarette. I thought I'd lined up Charlie Chaplin for a photograph whilst he was waiting to cross the road in Vigo; but - not having been paid - he turned away.