This would be the longest train journey that I had ever undertaken, Cherbourg in France to Wroclaw in Poland, a total of somewhere in the region of 1,600 miles, and with stops along the way it would take me eight days to complete. None of the journey had been pre-booked and it was open to change at anytime, therefore, there was no guarantee that I would even complete it.
I was at the railway station in Cherbourg, having arrived on the high speed ferry from Portsmouth the night before. I was making my way to Pontorson which is the nearest train station to Mont Saint Michele, where I wanted to visit. My ticket had cost 25.90 euros and the journey would take me two and a half hours to travel about 110 miles, with a change of train at Lison. The train was operated by the French state railway SNCF and was part of their ten service.
Main Square in Cherbourg
I left Cherbourg at 13:46 arriving in Pontorson at 16:12, both trains arrived and departed on time and there was no problem with the connection at Lison and even with my rudimentary French I managed to ascertain the correct platform change. The trains were clean and comfortable and had toilets onboard. One thing to remember when travelling on trains in France and indeed over much of Europe is to punch your ticket in the machine on the platform before boarding, I forgot to do this once in Italy (or rather I didn’t know I had to) and I got a right telling off from the ticket inspector.
I decided to stay two nights in Pontorson and would visit Mont St Michele the next day using the bus service which was also run by SNCF. Once that was decided I could book the next stage of my journey which was from Pontorson to Laval a journey of about 56 miles which would again mean a change of train, this time at Rennes with an hour between trains, the cost of this trip was 22.80 euros.
On the day of my departure from Pontorson I boarded my train which left at 09:16 and was again a local service ten train, we arrived at Rennes at 10:07 and as my connection didn’t leave until 11:05 I had time to explore a little of Rennes. The train station is at the foot of a long street that appears to be the main road in Rennes. Walk to the end of this street and you come to a large building with a park, this took about fifteen minutes, so walking there and back I was back at the station with time to spare.
My train from Rennes to Laval was a TGV and unbeknown to me at this stage all seats on a TGV train have to be reserved, it was only on closer examination of my ticket that I realised it showed a coach number and a seat number. Totally unaware of this ticketing issue I sat in the first spare seat that I came across, there were some people moving about from seat to seat and a gentleman behind me was asked to move from his seat by a lady, he then took up the seat beside me. This is when I became aware of the reservation issue, but I remained in my seat for the rest of the journey.
Once booked into a hotel in Laval and having decided on my next journey I went to the booking office and booked my train for the following day to Lille this journey would take almost four hours to cover about 300 miles and cost 69.20 euros, again it would be on a TGV but this time I was prepared and when the train arrived at the platform I looked for the correct coach and would have sat in the correct seat had it not already been occupied by an elderly French lady. Not wanting to cause a fuss, I stowed my bags away on the rack above, and took the seat beside her.
Lille has two stations Lille Europe where I was arriving, as does Euro star, and Lille Flanders. On arrival at Lille I was undecided on whether to stay two or three nights so I went to the booking office to enquire about my next journey and to see what availability they had on either day and if there would be any price difference.
This next leg was to be the longest stage on my journey, I would travel from Lille to Paris on the TGV then an overnight sleeper from Paris to Berlin and then finally from Berlin to Wroclaw. The journey would be a total of nineteen and a half hours on the train but would take much longer as I would be spending about nine hours in Paris between trains and half an hour or so in Berlin.
At the booking office in Lille they informed me that they could only book my ticket as far as Berlin and that I would have to rebook there for the final journey. The good news was that if I travelled on the Saturday (requiring three nights in Lille) then I could have a couchette between Paris and Berlin for thirty euros less than the usual fare for a seat, the entire fare, Lille to Berlin, was 128.60 euros, SOLD!!!
On the Saturday I left Lille Flanders at 10:00 arriving in Paris at 11:02 as my night train to Berlin wasn’t leaving until 20:20 I had plenty of time for sight seeing. The couchette was a little cramp with six bunks to the compartment ( last time I travelled on a sleeper was from Paris to Venice, on that occasion the same sized compartment only slept four). After a couple of drinks in the bar I was settled into my couchette and had a reasonable nights sleep. I had breakfast in the restaurant car the next day before arriving in Berlin at 08:59, I then had 36 minutes to find the booking office, purchase my ticket and catch the 09:35 to Wroclaw. I did it with time to spare, I only wish now that I had used that spare time to purchase some food and drink for even though the journey to Wroclaw was almost six hours there was no buffet car on the train.
The Scenery quickly changed from city to farming land, and then into dense forest with deer just a few feet from the train. We had a German guard until the boarder and then a Polish guard took over. Outside the sun was shining and it was a glorious day. Inside the train, it was turning into a hothouse, with people complaining to the guard about the heat, windows were opened but it made very little difference. At last 15:18 and I arrive in Wroclaw, on time but tired, hot, thirsty and very hungry as I hadn’t eaten since about 07:00 that morning on the sleeper train. The journey had been a fascinating way to travel through France, Germany and Poland but at this moment in time not one I would immediately want to repeat, thank goodness I was flying home!
