Exploring The French Riviera, Monaco and the Rhône Valley by Train, part 2

Great Rail Journeys Tour and Cruise in the South of France:
The Rhône and Saône

Our TGV from Marseille brought us into Lyon Part Dieu station, some distance from the quayside at which our river cruise ship, the Amadeus Provence, was waiting, and we were met by a coach which took us through the busy streets of this fascinating city to join the ship. The whole ship was hired by Great Rail Journeys: there was our group and the standard class group who had been with us on the Riviera, plus a couple of groups who had gone direct to the cruise, one by rail and one by air, I think. All of the excursions were included for members of all four groups, as well as optional activities on board the ship. Our Tour Manager Kevin said farewell and handed over to Judith the Great Rail Journeys Cruise Manager, who had been our cruise manager last year on our tour of the Bordeaux vineyards - it had been less than a year since we had last seen her. She was joined by another Kevin as a helpful colleague and Andreea, the Amadeus Provence's own Cruise Director.

Once we were all on board and being welcomed, the ship set sail up the River Saône for Beaune where we were to enjoy the first excursion of the cruise. Our cabin for this trip was stunning. Generally we choose an ordinary cabin on the top deck, giving a good view through a decent window and a reasonable amount of space. There are just a few "suites" available at a considerably higher price and we have never considered these worth the extra money, but a couple of months before departure I had received a letter out of the blue from Great Rail Journeys offering the upgrade to a suite for just half of the normal price. It was still a lot but we decided to take this opportunity, which we might never get again, to experience the top grade of cabin. I presume they must have had unallocated suites on their hands and continuing demand for cabins and so offered the suites to regular customers such as ourselves, but, how ever it worked, we had the best accommodation on the ship, with a lounge area and a balcony as well as all the usual excellent facilities we have come to expect on an Amadeus ship. Indeed, this was the most spacious and best equipped river cruise boats we have ever used, with lots of power sockets in our cabin and even a small (well, tiny) swimming pool aft of the sundeck.

Docked at Chalon-our-Saône, we were divided into three groups and taken by coach for a short guided tour of the town of Beaune and for a wine-tasting at a cellar in the town centre. This is in the heart of the Burgundy wine area with its rich red wines. But there is more to Beaune than wine: it is a fascinating medieval town with a rich heritage and some interesting buildings. After some free time we were taken back to the ship for lunch. As always on these cruises, the meals are all on board and included in the price of the holiday. We opt for the light buffet lunch in the lounge bar rather than the main meal in the restaurant, reserving that for dinner: it would be all too easy to put on a lot of weight on a cruise!

The ship returned to Lyon through the pleasant scenery of the Saône valley and that evening we enjoyed a welcome dinner, slightly more formal than most, and were introduced to the ship's officers who were to look after us. 

After breakfast the following morning we were taken on a tour of Lyon by coach and on foot. We began at the basilica of Notre Dame de Fourvière, high on a hill overlooking the city centre, which gave us not only an interesting building to visit but also the opportunity to se the way the city is laid out, beginning at the confluence of the rivers Saône and Rhône and growing in stages. We reboarded the coaches and then back down the hill explored one of the oldest parts of Lyon, along the right (west) bank of the Saône. Here were narrow streets and even narrower passageways between them connecting a myriad of apartments behind the shop fronts.

The Cathedral of Saint-Jean seen from Notre Dame de Fourvière

We had time for coffee and some personal exploring before returning to the ship for lunch. The ship set sail down the Rhône towards Tournon sur Rhône where we arrived by evening with time for a stroll before dinner on board.

The following day was Sunday and breakfast included sparkling wine, although it was German, not Champagne! Indeed, considering that we were largely a British group of passengers on a tour of France, there were no British crew and only one French person that I noticed, the First Captain, who spoke only French and had to have the Romanian Cruise Director translate for him when he spoke to us. 

Our coach took us a little way out of Tournon sur Rhône to the terminus of the Petit Train d'Ardèche, a preserved section of the once extensive Ardèche narrow-gauge railway system that first brought transport and prosperity to this region. We only had time to travel half way up the line, through spectacular scenery, before enjoying and included local drink and nibble and being taken back through the narrow lanes by coach to the riverside and our ship for the usual buffet lunch.

All aboard, the ship set off for Avignon along one of the most scenic sections of the river. Spectacular views could be had from the sundeck, and from the pool deck at the stern and river terrace at the bow. For most of the time the canopies could not be erected on the sundeck because of the need to pass under low bridges and through locks with gateways over the river, but this did not affect the pool deck of the river terrace. 

The next day we woke in Avignon and again we were split into smaller groups, each with a local guide, and we set off first of all on a tour of the town on one of those tourist road trains that you see in many tourist towns. Our guide was able to peak to us through the train's passenger address system and we were shown all round the town centre and the grounds to the Papal Palace, including many narrow streets that a coach would not be able to reach but which we'd never have had the time to visit on foot. Last time I was in Avignon I visited the Pont d'Avignon but not the palace, and this time it was to be the other way round, for a guided tour of the Papal Palace was included in our cruise programme.

Art exhibition in the palace: all this is made of cardboard, the artist's chosen medium

After the guided tour we walked around the town on our own for a while, mostly looking in shops, and then made our way back to the ship for lunch. The lunch menu this day was a special "Taste of Provence" menu with a selection of local and regional specialities. I think I tried everything, including that well-known (in England) dish, escargot (snails). The trouble was that so few people wanted to try the snails that those of us who did were served a generous portion and we did not know whether we'd like them ... Did I like them? They were OK: I did eat most of mine but I shall not be looking to choose them again. Maybe frying them might work ...

The Taste of Provence Lunch

The afternoon was free time and we opted stay on board and relax rather than spend a little more time in Avignon. Later the ship set sail for Arles and we were able to enjoy the scenery over dinner. Some effort was made to serve regional dishes all the time on the cruise, as well as regional wines. Wine, and water, is included on these cruises so you only need to buy drinks between or before and after meals if required, and we found that we really did not need to do that.

Arles was stunning. I knew, of course, about its connection with Vincent van Gogh who lived there and painted scenes there, but I had no idea about it rich Roman heritage, some of which is no only still extant but still in use! The one disappointment was that van Gogh's "yellow house" is no longer there but the rest of the street in his painting of it is still recognisable. Real efforts have been made by some business owners to present their buildings in the way that they appear in the paintings, and many of the scenes have really changed very little since his day. I was very impressed by following the Vincent van Gogh sites with the local guide (who was actually British in this case but still struggled not to speak to us in americanisms!), but for me the highlight was the Roman ampitheatre which is still used for public entertainment to this day, including variations on animal sports that go right back to the Roman Empire (although these days neither the animal nor the sportsman is expected to die).

The games played at Arles Arena are "Courses Camarguaises" with Camargue bulls bred for the purpose, not the traditional violent games but ones where the men, usually young local men, attempt to remove ribbons from the horns of the bull - and it is the bulls who are the stars. They have famous names and large fanbases who follow their exploits and watch them play against anonymous human sportsmen ... and successful bulls are buried with great honour when they die (of old age). We were to see some Carmargue bulls later that day on the second stage of our stay around Arles.

There was a lot to take in at Arles and it is certainly well worth a visit. We finished the guided tour at the hospital where Vincent van Gogh was taken after the famous incident when he cut off his ear. It is now a great place to remember him and includes a café and gift shops.

After lunch on board the ship we set off by coach for a tour of the Camargue Delta, seeing the Camargue bulls and the famous white Camargue horses along the roadside, along with distinctive style of houses with curved north ends to protect them from the Mistral winds which from time to time blight life in that part of the country. The coach took us to the Parc Natural régional de Camargue where we had a long walk around lakes to see thousands of birds native to this part of the Mediterranean coast.

We finished with a few minutes to look around the village of Saintes Maries de la Mare and its fascinating church with its legend concerning miracles and gipsies ...

We were welcomed back on board with a complimentary cocktail on the pool deck (taking care not to fall into the pool ... as the ship moved off for the next stage of our tour, back to the Ardèche region where we had enjoyed our vintage train ride a few days earlier but which now felt a very long time ago!

On the morning of the last full day of our tour, the ship dropped us off and we were taken by coach to visit the Ardèche Gorge, well worth a visit if you are over this way by road.

Highlights included watching canoeists making their way under a natural rock arch, seeing a meander which one day, in thousands of years' time, may become another such arch, and stopping a a view point to take in the grandeur of the entire spectacle - unfortunately slightly marred by rain which restricted the distance we could see, but not by a lot.

We were then taken to a lavender farm which was fascinating. We learnt a lot about the different varieties of lavender, and saw them growing, and the uses to which this plant has been put, medicinal as well as just perfume.

Back on board the ship we made our way back to Lyons to begin our journey home, and the evening meal was the gala dinner at which we met the rest of the crew and were able to thank them for their attention to our needs. The voyage itself was part of the holiday, of course, and there were many locks to pass through on the way.

A final night on board and we awake docked in Lyons and ready for the train home. We were carefully disembarked by party, there being several different Great Rail Journeys parties aboard this ship. Kevin our Tour Manager was there to gather us together and we boarded a coach which took us to the rail station to catch our TGV to Paris. The train was on time and the journey to Paris unremarkable, which I suppose is all you want a long train journey to be, really! We were spending our last day with people who had been with us for nearly two weeks. At Paris Gare de Lyon a coach was waiting to take our two groups to Gare du Nord and we arrived there in plenty of time for the train to London, passing easily through the ticket gates, the security screening (which is still not as slick as in London) and the two passport checks and then having time for coffee and a snack in the waiting area before our train was called for boarding. We left Paris on time and arrived in London on time, being served a light meal on the way. We made our way unhurriedly to Kings Cross and awaited a suitable LNER train back to Peterborough and onward to Stamford, an easy journey home.

Exploring The French Riviera, Monaco and the Rhône Valley by Train, part 1

Great Rail Journeys Tour and Cruise in the South of France: Nice, Monaco and Cannes

When we briefly visited the French Riviera a few years ago we had a list of things for which we wished to return in due course. I was leafing through a Great Rail Journeys catalogue last year when I spotted and escorted tour by rail which covered a good number of those ("ticked most of the boxes") and included a cruise on the Rhône as well. We did not hesitate to book, including the upgrade to First Class rail travel. Fortunately we had several other tours of various sorts to occupy ourselves so the wait for this exciting rail tour was quite bearable!

The blindness of pure chance, the Casino at Monte Carlo

We packed our cases and then on a Saturday afternoon walked down to Stamford railway station to take the first of the trains of our rail adventure to France. It was a very hot and sunny day and so we were quite warm in the clothes we had kept back for travel, but it was a short downhill walk and we knew that the trains would be air-conditioned. Unfortunately our train from Stamford was running late, late enough to risk not making the connection we were intending to make in Peterborough for the next stage to London - we were in no particular hurry, and our international tour tickets were valid on any train, but I had chosen trains that I thought would be most comfortable and least crowded.

As it happened, though, the train to London was even more delayed. I did look into reserving seats on one that departed earlier than ours would, but no reservable seats were left and we decided it would be likely to be too crowded to be comfortable, so we waited for the train which we had first reserved and found that very few people had waited for it, so there was plenty of space, plenty of refreshments available, and the First Class hostess had plenty of time to serve us. A light meal from LNER's "Deli" First Class menu was served and we were soon in London where we checked in for a night at the Premier Inn in Euston Road which has been our "launch pad" for many a continental rail tour.

Our train to Paris was due to depart from London St Pancras International at 08:01 on the Sunday morning - hence the need to travel to London the day before - so with Eurostar check-in now being from 90 to 60 minutes before departure we were up early to meet our Tour Manager Kevin at the Great Rail Journeys office at the station at about 06:40. Down at the international departures area we went through the familiar routine of scanning out tickets, having our luggage scanned and showing our passport to both UK and French border police (now preceded by the familiar well-controlled queuing system which ensures that everyone gets through in a smooth and unhurried way without crushing at the barriers. The queue is partly a "Brexit benefit" owing to the longer time it takes to pass through French passport control but also arises from the sheer size of Eurostar trains which means that hundreds of people all want to arrive about the same time. As usual we had breakfast while waiting for the train, but this time I only needed to buy coffee as we still had pastries left over from the evening meal on LNER.

In Paris the tour group was gathered together and we had the usual Great Rail Journeys routine of walking to a coach which took us through the streets to Gare de Lyon for the next stage of the journey, the 14:08 TGV to Nice. There was time to eat a takeaway lunch from Monoprix outside the station before the group reconvened to go through the ticket barrier together and join the TGV: our seats were on the upper deck of this duplex train, a pair of side-by-side "airline" seats, comfortable enough for the five-hour run down to Nice. As usual on French trains, no refreshments were included in the fare but there was a decent buffet car and we were able at intervals to buy wine and snacks during the journey. It was possible to order for at-seat service but the bar was only two coaches away and it was nice to have a stroll and speak to a real human being to buy our refreshments.

A coach met us in Nice to take us to the hotel, the Malmaison Nice, a pleasant hotel with some art deco features, although we'd have been happy to walk this distance if we'd have been travelling independently. We went for a stroll looking for a light supper but on this Sunday evening we found nothing really suitable and returned to our room for the apples we had brought with us - I really did not miss having a meal: perhaps I had overdone the snacking on the train, but at least we did get a good night's sleep ready for the first full day in Nice.

Our bedroom at the Malmaison

The first day in Nice included a walking tour in the morning and an excellent local guide met us at the hotel and showed us around the city, which is divided by a large linear park along the course of a torrent - a stream which takes run-off from the mountains and hills overlooking the city - the original old city with its narrow streets and the markets, and the new city above with its tree-lined boulevards and expensive shops.  Both sides are very pleasant places to be, as is the park which separates them: we had enjoyed our previous visit here but this time we also learnt the history of the place and why it is the shade it is. From the Promenade des Anglais we were taken to a bus stop where a coach had been provided to take us to visit Saint-Paul-de-Vence, a charming village in the hills just below the town of Vence, which is the twin town of our home town of Stamford. Now that we have tracked down Vence's location we may have to see about visiting it on a future adventure, but we did not have the opportunity this time. Several of the party took the chance of a game of Pétanques at Saint-Paul-de-Vence, but I opted simply to explore the village and take in the views, having played it quite lot in the past.

Back at Nice that evening we went to the old part of the city to find a restaurant that offered salad Nicoise, ending up, rather curiously, at Carpe Diem an Italian restaurant, run by Italian staff but among other things offering this local salad. Ordering in French, Italian and English led to a few misunderstandings but we got it all sorted out in the end and thoroughly enjoyed the salad, the wine and, in my case, a crème brulée. Although we would look around for other local dishes the following day, we kept Carpe Diem in mind since there was more on the menu that would be worth a try.

Tuesday  was a free day with nothing arranged by Great Rail Journeys except the hotel breakfast, and we had determined in advance that we would use this day to revisit Cannes and perhaps spend a little time on the beach. Our Great Rail Journeys tour manager suggested we might like to visit Antibes as well while we were out that way, so we kept in mind the possibility of stopping off there on the way back to Nice that afternoon or evening.

We were unsure about what rail tickets we might need to accomplish such a trip, needing some flexibility in ticket validity, and just as I reached the front of the short queue for the local ticket machines at Nice station and was staring at the screen working out where to start a member of the station staff came over and asked (in English - am I that obvious?) what we wanted. When we had told her, she said, "You need a pass," and poked a few buttons on the screen, invited me to present my credit card and then handed me the ticket which the machine had duly printed. "This is for both of you, all day, for two zones on the network," she said, smiling. How helpful it is to have enough staff at stations, I thought, the context of Britain's various disputes over staffing pinging into sharp focus in my mind! Strangers, especially foreigners, need help; we cannot know the ticket validity rules of every rail network across the world, or even across the UK with its fragmented system.

We looked at the departure boards and went to the platform for the next local train to Cannes and started our day out. We had never done this route on a stopping train before and, of course, we saw much more of the coastal scenery than we ever had on a fast train.

We walked straight down to the seafront at Cannes and walked along in what was fairly dull, although warm weather. Some rain was forecast, but predicting the weather is especially difficult here so we were prepared for anything. We each bought a souvenir t-shirt at the tourist office in Cannes and enjoyed a drink at a café we had visited on our previous visit, now trading with a new name. We explored the narrow old streets of Cannes and visited the market - we were seeking a traditional local food, socca, like a pancake but made with chickpea flour, but the only example we could find was at the market and that was soon closing but we were not yet hungry. We went to the public beach and walked along the shoreline as we so often do, and then decided we would move on and visit Antibes to see what we could find there. We found a pleasant seaside town with some nice shopping streets, and after a cool drink of beer at a pavement café began to explore. On our way to the sea some light rain began and we deployed our lightweight waterproof hooded jackets which we had bought for this eventuality before leaving home. The rain became heavier and there was lightning and thunder so most people around were sheltering under shop awnings or archways in the harbour wall and some, unafraid of electrocution, were using umbrellas. Never imagine that rain and thunder only affects UK holidays! We walked back to the station through varying degrees of rain and waited in the rain for a train back to Nice; it was by now the evening peak travel time and there were rather more frequent trains so even though there were some delays our journey was not really affected. We even had space on the train to spread out our jackets to dry!

Back at Nice we went to Carpe Diem again for supper, practising our English/French/Italian ordering skills ...

The following day, our last full day in Nice, included an excursion to the principality of Monaco, a country with no countryside and whose citizens are crammed into a space about 3km by 0.6km and yet who still seem to need cars priced in six figures... Much of the work in Monaco is done by people commuting in daily from France and Italy - these people may well live in houses, but almost every citizen of Monaco lives in an apartment: very, very few have a garden, although the public gardens and the streets are very beautiful. Our excursion included an opportunity to watch the changing of the guard at the royal palace and a quick visit to the casino at Monte Carlo - which doubles up as a museum in the daytime and whose first two rooms can be seen free of charge. in our free time we explored the narrow streets of the Monaco does have a rail station but for this trip we were taken by road coach with a local guide who taught us a lot about the way this miniature nation works.

After Monaco our coach took us to Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild with its nine gardens. The villa was a gift to France from Baroness Béatrice de Rothschild (1864–1934) who was an avid collector and now her collection is available for all to see. For us the gardens were the most interesting feature, and the views over the sea from the house's prominent location on an isthmus.

Dinner that evening was at a local restaurant, Le Clocher, we had (finally) discovered in Nice we had the chickpea pancakes, with salad, that we had been looking for since our arrival there!

After our last night at the Malmaison Nice we packed and waited for a coach which was to take us to the station along with the rest of the party, but the coach did not turn up and our tour manager Kevin has the wisdom to set us off walking while there was till time too walk to the station. Travelling alone I'd have walked anyway, even with luggage, for it was not very far, but for a group the coach transfer does help to keep everyone together  and not all of the party found luggage as easy to handle as I did.

Our train from Nice was a regional express and took us to Marseille St Charles, with the usual brilliant views of the Mediterranean coast. At Marseille we changed to a TGV which took us to Lyon for the next exciting stage in our exploration of the south of France.

Staying in The Jewellery Quarter

A trip by train to Britain's second city

I have visited the Jewellery Quarter twice before, but only for a day each time. This visit, staying over three nights, grew out of a casual conversation with a friend who expressed an interest in the Pen Museum. Having been there on one of my day trips I enthused about it and we agreed to go together, with our wives, and make a short holiday out of it.

The mural in our train's toilet compartment celebrates the Jewellery Quarter 

We did try to incorporate quite a lot more, including a third couple and a fourth night, but these did not fit in our diaries, and some of what we wanted to do was not available, so maybe next year there will be a post describing yet another visit to Birmingham! 

The continuing dispute between the railway workers' unions and the government-backed railway companies threatened to overshadow the trip with strikes and cancellations (those companies free to negotiate their own terms had already settled with the unions, but those subject to government intervention could not), but we were able to work around these very successfully, Cross Country running just enough trains to get us home on a strike day.

We travelled with minimal luggage and our train to Birmingham was more-or-less on time all the way, affording us good views of the High Speed Two construction sites on the approach to the city from the east. Contrary to popular belief, this line is not just about getting between London and Birmingham, but rather provides a relief line between the north and London, avoiding the congested bits south of Birmingham, with a branch into Birmingham city centre. This branch follows the same "gap in the urban fabric" as our line from the east as it makes its final approach to its Curzon Street terminus.

After arrival at Birmingham New Street we went straight to the Grand Central tram stop in Stephenson Street where we met our friends who had travelled from Warrington by car since their rail company had not been able to guarantee a train home on the strike day. We took the tram to the St Paul's stop, in the Jewellery Quarter and then walked to our hotel, St Paul's House, a former rope factory in St Paul's Square. We had a room at the front overlooking the square with St Paul's church in the middle among the trees and the gravestones.

After checking in and unpacking we booked a table in the hotel's restaurant for dinner and then took a walk into the city centre (actually, St Paul's House is more of a bar-restaurant with rooms than a hotel with dining room). I had hoped that we could attend Evensong at St Philip's Cathedral but it was too early, and probably not choral, with this being half-term week, and furthermore the cathedral was having a lot of building work done so we did not even bother to visit it. We walked down to New Street where we had a little shopping to do at the Apple Store and then to the Bull Ring area and back to the Jewellery Quarter for dinner, a drink and bed. Tomorrow the exploring would begin.

We walked down to Centenary Square via the canalside path and Fleet Street and were going to call at the Library of Birmingham, but this did not open until 11:00, so we continued our walk via Broad Street - taking in the pavement star of Jasper Carrott whose show in Stamford we were missing, ironically, by being in Birmingham - and the canalside to Gas Street Basin and the Mailbox, where we had coffee at one of the coffee shops before returning to the Library. 

After visiting the Shakespeare Collection and the roof garden we made our way through Victoria Square and Colmore Row to Snow Hill station where we took a bus to Aston. This had been going to be a train trip but there was a strike by Aslef and no trains were running in Birmingham; the upside was that as three of us were pensioners this did not cost us anything! From the bus stop we walked past Villa Park and then visited the villa after which it is named, Aston Hall, a Jacobean manor house well worth the trip. I had been there once before, fifty years earlier when I was studying in Birmingham, and I remembered hardly anything! We began with a light lunch at the café, then took the self-guided tour of the house before rounding off with a cup of tea back in the café. Touring the house included quite a lot of learning about the social history of England, notably the Civil War, as well as about the house itself and domestic architecture in general. The parkland around is open free of charge to the public at all times.

We travelled back to the city centre on the same bus route and from the stop at Snow Hill station walked through the Great Western Arcade and down Corporation Street before taking the tram to the Jewellery Quarter stop from where we walked through one of the two cemeteries and then past the (now closed for the evening) craft jewellery shops of Vyse Street before returning to the hotel for dinner again, having seen things on the menu the previous evening that some of us had been keen to try! 

The second full day was dedicated to the Jewellery Quarter and the industrial heritage of Birmingham. There was nothing here that I had not done before, some of it twice, but displays change and in different company it's a different experience. We began by walking to the Pen Museum which had been the starting point of the conversation which led to this tour. It had changed markedly from my previous visit but still included the chance to undertake part of the process of making a pen nib. In the days before ball-point (Biro) pens took over the world, 75% of the world's writing was done with nibs made in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter! 

We learnt a lot about the small metal-working industries that made Birmingham the City of a Thousand Trades and put it, by the efforts of the early industrial pioneers (not forgetting their workers!), at the heart of the world's industrial revolution. We'd learn more about the workers at the next visit and on the following day. We thought we might have lunch at the pub called A Thousand Trades but it looked a bit more than the snack we needed and we ended up at Costa Coffee - we needed our coffee break as well in any case - and then had time for a swift pint in the splendid interior of the Rose Villa Tavern before striding on to the Coffin Works!

We walked past the historic Birmingham Assay Office (along with Sheffield, Birmingham successfully campaigned for an assay office to save valuable metal goods having to go to London for hallmarking) and then along the canalside to the Coffin Works, the former premises of Newman Brothers, a typical Birmingham small metalworking company. When we arrived and clocked on I was delighted to find that we were to be shown round by Cornelius who had demonstrated the equipment to me several years before on my first visit to the Jewellery Quarter. A former professional die-stamper, he knows all about the techniques for producing metal coffin fittings, now in very little demand because of the almost universal trend for cremation which requires destructible fittings. 

From the coffin works it was a pleasant stroll along the canalside, past several locks, to the wharf by the International Convention Centre where we awaited and boarded a public tour run by the Sherborne Wharf company. Once we were under way I bought a bottle of wine for the four of us to share as we explored more of the history of Birmingham's industry and the transport systems which kept it all working and provided markets for its products. As far as raw materials were concerned, most was local, with coal and ore being mined in the black country and in other places nearby - when I studied here in the 1970s there were still coal mines working along my route into the city from home and still plenty of steel works and gas and coke works and other "dirty" industries in and around Birmingham. London Underground trains were made in Birmingham!

From the canal trip we returned to our hotel and then went out to a local Italian restaurant for dinner: even after such a busy day I found my favourite pizza margherita too much to finish!

And so to the last day. This time the RMT union was on strike, but there were some trains running and we were able to travel home. We took the precaution of planning to leave two hours earlier than originally planned, which simply meant ditching a final lunch together, allowing our friends to get on the road before the evening peak and giving us one more opportunity in case of a last-minute hitch with our train. Before then, though, the final visit of the tour was the National Trust's Birmingham Back-to-Backs which have to be visited by guided tour. 

The site was originally on the edge of Birmingham and was developed as a single dwelling as the village began to grow in the industrial era. The owner then split his house in two (back-to-back) and rented it out to two families, then built several more until many families could be fitted onto the site. People flocked into the growing city to escape rural poverty and to work in the new industries. Some were highly skilled craftspeople and some worked from home here in the courtyard - the large bay windows of two houses were ideal for small-scale crafts. One street frontage was small shops and in my days as a student the upper floors were used as workshops and storage for a tailor whose shopfront is now preserved by the National Trust. It was he and his family who had effectively preserved this little corner of England for posterity by using it and preventing it falling into decay and demolition. It is less than five minutes' walk from New Street station, right on the edge of the city centre and surrounded by theatres, bars and restaurants. An usual NT property and well worth booking a visit.

Back to the hotel to collect our luggage and then onto the station to take our train home. All went very smoothly in the end: we had a picnic lunch, bought at the station, on the way home and arrived in good time to pack our things away and prepare for the next trip, in just a few days' time!