The final curtain …

Having our final drink last night in bar Pic-Nique, we were entertained by the music playing in the background with a very famous song, but sung in Spanish. I have to confess to laughing a the lyrics when it got to the end, they clearly couldn’t quite make any words fit …

Porque ya sabrás, Que el hombre al fin
Conocerás, Por su vivir
No hay porque, Hablar ni que decir
Ni recordar, Ni hay que fingir
Puedo llegar, hasta el final
I did it my way

Our last view of Sitges as we leave

However, it is now the end … at least of our latest trip. Captain Clarke and I rose and abluted at 06:30 hours this morning and were on parade in reception at 07:25 in order to pay our bill (€17 in local taxes) and take our taxi to Barcelona Hants. As we drove out along the Passeig Maritim I took one final photograph out of the taxi window just as a reminder of where we were and we turned left out of the town and off towards Barcelona. The road to Barcelona was busy (unsurprisingly for 07:30 on a Monday morning in addition to the huge number of visitors to Sites for carnival) but we moved well and were soon well on our way.

Barcelona Sants

Arriving at Barcelona Sants we paid our driver and got out of the taxi. We had arrived over an hour early for our train to Paris, but we would rather that than rush. There isn’t a huge amount to do in Barcelona Sants at 08:30 on a Monday morning but a little people watching and a look at the latest ‘Huelga’ (strike) of ‘Ferrovial’ who have withdrawn services such as buffet cars on trains and logistics support for some unknown reason (well, it wasn’t very apparent to us!). We did, however, find a ‘chiringuito’ (small kiosk) where we bought some lunch to have on the train. As it turned out the strike isn’t affecting our train, which rather amused us since they went to a lot of trouble dragging out signs in the waiting area advising passengers that the strike may affect some services!

Trains to Sitges go from platforms 9 and 10

We boarded the train and I took the opportunity to tether my laptop to my iPad and finish my missive for yesterday. The train seemed to go through an inordinate amount of tunnels when leaving Barcelona … far more than we remembered from either the last trip or from our arrival last week. However our departure was on time and the only minor frustration was the amount of times the 3G signal dropped out. How technology has changed our lives! It is less than 10 years since the concept of tethering a laptop to a mobile telephone was introduced – far less that it has become commonplace and yet I find myself grumbling that the 3G signal has dropped out and that I can’t connect to the web server to complete my daily missive!

On our train from Barcelona to Paris

Actually, talking of this missive, I have been asked (on more than one occasion) why I write these reports on our activities. The answer is simple – nobody keeps diaries anymore, everyone takes far too many photos and nobody remembers what they are all about! I write this missive simply so that I can look back and remember what we did. Ask me what we did in Phnom Penh or how we enjoyed our last trip to Tenerife and I can’t remember (I suffer from CRAFT … Can’t Remember A Flipping Thing) so this is a great way to remember but some people also find the antics of Captain Clarke’s and my journeys amusing and, believe it or not, some actually treat it as a bit of a guide on where to go and what to do!

La Jonquera, just as we depart Spain and enter France

Anyway, enough of the whys and wherefores, I write because I can. As I write now we are just leaving the French station of Narbonne having just passed through the Camargue with its famous white horses and flamingos. The only downside of travelling on such a wonderfully comfortable train at such high speeds is that it is impossible to take a decent photograph out of the train window. I have tried, but it just doesn’t work. I do think that there may be some scratches on my phone camera lens … get this – moaning about scratches on my phone camera lens – l remember the days when you used to ‘Push Button A’ on the public telephone box in the village and yet now I grumble that my mobile phone camera (something that was predicted to be commonplace in the film ‘Back to the Future’ in 1985 some 20 years before it was even invented!) isn’t in as good condition as I would like! It is a reflection on life itself that my mobile phone camera is a higher resolution than my expensive (and very nice) digital SLR camera that I didn’t even bother take with me this time!

Perpignan Station as we head home

We are now headed towards the southern French city of Montpellier and the station Montpellier St Roch before we will turn and head northwards firstly to Nimes and then onward to Valence TGV and then to Paris. This has been a great trip, albeit with a little too much of that exercise thing. Captain Clarke just mentioned that his legs ache … I am not surprised, I have just consulted my ‘app’ and have discovered that we have walked 49.2 miles in 7 days – that’s over 7 miles a day on average! No wonder we have aching legs! As we head north, now having left Valence TGV, the weather is changing almost as fast as the scenery. It was easy to forget that we are still in February and that spring is yet to come but we are being reminded now.

The Eurostar is our last train and we’re home

In just over an hour we shall be in Paris and then, after a short journey to the Gare du Nord we shall be on our way on the Eurostar back to Ebbsfleet. From there we will pick up the car and head home. Looking at another of my ‘apps’ it appears that the temperature at home is around 6 degrees with periods of rain which will continue well into this evening. I have a feeling that within minutes of arriving home with the cold, wet weather and the dark skies, I shall be caged like a prisoner, desperate for my next outing and hoping it will come soon! As we speed our way towards Paris I feel that I have said enough about the Eurostar that I can add no more. So, once more it is time for Rudy to return to slumber. Adios mon amigos, I shall return soon … it is RudyMenTerry!