Oh dear, what a day. From hell to frustration through all levels of hell again, more stress ...... ad infinitum, only to finish the day in the most stereo-typical country English pub, it was almost unbelievable.
So the day started with an expected 0814 departure by TGV from Avignon to Gare de Lyon, Paris.
Hurdle 1 : Even at that time in the morning, only having to come from a short distance from Marseilles, the train was 30 minutes late by the time it got to Avignon. We knew this was going to cause problems because in Paris we only 1 hour and 15 minutes to get from Gare de Lyon to Gare to Nord to catch the Eurostar to London (1213 departure).
Needless to say, late into G. de Lyon. Trip on the Paris RER was uneventful, and got to G. du Nord at just on 1200. Safe ..... so we thought.
Not bloody likely. Checkin for the Eurostar closes 30 minutes before departure!! What?? TGV lets you on up to 2 minutes before departure, why 30 minutes for Eurostar?? It's only a train, not an airline! Bit pretentious, so we thought.
Went to the Eurostar ticket office, explained, and lo and behold - despite our online purchase printouts stating non-changeable/refundable/transferable/and every other un-erable, they just swapped our seats to the next train at 1313 for no extra charge. Kudos to Eurostar for that one, which relieved a bit of the stress (bit only a bit, there was still more to come).
So, when we re-fronted for the checkin 30 minutes before departure, we privately felt a bit embarrassed. Depite the fact that the UK is part of the EEC, and most countries in Europe are now "borderless" as far as travellers go, not so the UK. At the railway station, we had to go through French customs, UK immigration, UK security, etc, etc. which took about 20 minutes before we got on the platform. So no wonder there's a 30 minutes check-in requirement.
Trip from Paris to London St Pancras was uneventful (20 minutes spent in the tunnel under the Channel), quick trip on the Tube to Paddington for our connection to Bath.
(I was a bit apprehensive about the 20 minutes travelling under the channel but I had ABBA blaring through my headphones and played solitaire and wurdle on the iPad and the time went quickly!)
Missed our Bath connection, of course (1430 departure)!! Not so lucky this time, pre-purchased tickets down the drain, phooey on that train company FirstGreatWestern. Bought new tickets to Bath on the 1530, due Bath at 1700.
But wait, there's more ..... we had a car booked to pick up in Bath at 1600! Tried to ring Europcar, with the number on our booking printout, from the train .... "Number not available, please ring this number ......" (an internationalcall centre). Anyway, they were very helpful. Bath Europcar wouldn't close until 1800 anyway, but the call centre would ring Bath and let them know we're still coming.
Got the car OK! Bit of a hassle finding our way around Bath to Sainsburys and then getting out of Bath, so arrived in the most delightful English village of Limpley Stoke a little late, but our accommation was ready and waiting. It was a Best Western Motel but looked like an od country house.
(Greg became very excited at Sainsburys which was built on the site of the terminus station for a long closed railway line. You could still see the shape of the original station and he reckoned he could still smell steam engines).
Rather than the a la carte menu at the motel we headed down to the Hop Pole Inn for dinner. The food was great but what we enjoyed most was eavesdropping on the locals who popped in for a drink. A steady streamed of people and the occasional dog squeezed into the small snug to chat and drink. What arange of characters, it was like being on the set of The Vicar of Dibbley or As Time Goes By.
Day over.
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