Homeward Bound from GRJ’s Glacier Express

Basel looked interesting, but we were a bit pushed for time. We had arrived just in time for our evening meal, which was provided in the hotel next door to ours. The food at the Victoria Hotel was excellent, as was our stay at the Schweizerhof, and we negotiated the short walk between the two without any need for hard hats in spite of the warning! 

This left an intensive day’s travel back home, starting with a coach journey over the French border to Mulhouse. The attractive pink-shaded sandstone façade of Mulhouse station is extensive and impressive, and as so often happens in continental cities, it leads straight out onto a tram or bus interchange. The concourse at Mulhouse was notably different from the more traditional examples we had become used to seeing. It was light, airy and Art Deco in style. However, as our leader pointed out, the rest of the station left a bit to be desired, and viewed from the pedestrian overbridge, the prefabricated sheets that made up the platform canopies certainly looked very grubby.

Our Train à Grande Vitesse [TGV] to Paris Gare de Lyon turned out to be a record breaker. In 2007, it broke the world railway speed record reaching 357.18 m.p.h. That is not far off three times the speed that Mallard was doing in 1938, when she achieved the unbeaten world steam speed record on the East Coast Main Line. The TGV record still holds for travel on rails, though a Japanese Maglev [magnetic levitation] train subsequently got off the ground at 375 m.p.h.

I got a bit excited once we were under way. After all, I was facing the direction of travel, upstairs on a double decker unit and next to a window with great views of the countryside, behind a record breaker and on a train that regularly cruises at 200 m.p.h. on the most up to date sections of track. I just felt that I had to tell my mates all about it on our WhatsApp group without delay. Ian got back to me straight away to tell me that he was simultaneously on a Merseyrail train that had just passed Bidston rubbish tip at 27 m.p.h.

After that highlight it didn’t really matter that I was going backwards on Eurostar again. It was dark outside anyway for most of the time. Luckily, trains out of King’s Cross going in our direction had avoided the excesses of Storm Amy that had been suffered elsewhere. We had enjoyed an action-packed week away. The scenery had been as good as expected. The hotels were all splendid and we had felt well looked after, throughout, by our tour manager. I’m sure that it’s a stimulating and sociable job to have, travelling the world and seeing so many new places, but as anyone knows who has been in a similar position of responsibility for others on the move [in my case, countless times with school children] it’s a 24/7 duty roster with all sorts of unforeseen circumstances to suddenly have to deal with. So, thank you, Hilary, for your sound guidance, clear instructions and good humour at all times.