A taxi takes me back to the station and here I have a real problem with SNCF. If you close the toilets because you are seeking to make station improvements then at least advertise the existence and location of the replacements. I understand that they might not have the same capacity but some travellers need those facilities. Not a single sign that I could see explaining where the temporary toilets might be. Luckily a member of staff was able to direct me – and she was only there looking for a passenger in need of assistance whom she could not find.
When planning the trip I paid little interest in the first trip today as I just needed to get from one branch line to the other branch line which commences at Nimes. So a TGV is great and I had no idea that the line runs almost along the edge of the Mediterranean between Adge and Sete with the Med on one side and the Etang de Thau on the other. In bright sunshine. A lovely trip. At one station we wait for a long time – but we are on time so it is built into the timetable, presumably for connections. At one station our departure has been announced after about 5 minutes and two people opposite realise they should have got off the train and make a rush for the door – they did not return so I assume disembarked.
In Nimes I have time to kill and therefore walk up Avenue Fuecheres which is tree lined and leads towards the older part of the town – dragging my case however makes it a relatively slow journey. At the top of the Avenue I find a Roman Arena – which I am advised is the most complete one in existence – I merely look at the outside . I return to close to the station and have lunch as I know getting a meal later in Clermont-Ferrand could well be difficult. The highlight is a proper steak tartare – which was excellent.
Then the cool of the station before the train appears on the display boards, picking up some food for dinner before we depart. Now I have to admit that I have a sneaking suspicion that I covered this line, southbound, on a night sleeper in 1976 on my Interrail – but as it was in the dark I did not see the scenery and so I will consider it a first traverse.
This is known as la Ligne des Cevennes and it snakes north joining the line out of Clermont-Ferrand I used yesterday at Arvant. The unit is bi-mode but runs in diesel at all times (there is a short distance at each end which is electrified). The distance is around 148 miles and takes 4 and a half hours so around 33 mph today. Based on what I saw I thought the gorges and similar were more attractive than yesterday. But perhaps some of the time I was on the right side of the train today!
Interesting ticket check on this journey – and implies a potential problem. Obviously we are eventually in a remote area but we have not gone that far when the tickets are checked. I now find that the barcode is NOT on the phone itself. I go through the menu items (there should be a single link to the current ticket in the app) and it will not display. The guard is understanding and eventually enough of a signal becomes available and the ticket displays. It strikes me that the app creators have not thought this through. Tickets in the UK are delivered as similar barcodes in pdf format and can be held on the phone locally without the need to access a remote server – travelling across Europe I would have expected something similar as being recognised as essential given how remote some lines must be.
Motive power between Nimes and Clermont-Ferrand was 84699 which is a dual mode unit but ran entirely under diesel power – even when overhead power was available throughout the journey. Alstom Coradia family with 242 units in service starting in 2013. They are widespread across France providing a decent ride – although today we did not experience much in the way of high speed – as the line has a lot of gradients and curves.
Arriving in Clermont-Ferrand there was an ancient diesel at an adjacent platform which was photographed – but precisely what it was doing I am unsure. I then retreated to my hotel, booked in with a cup of coffee and I find that Jackie has been watching the soaps since she returned. I now have great difficulty getting the Synology Drive to sync – the phone seems to work but the ipad – which is what I would like to use for the larger screen simply will not sync properly. So annoying.