After a lovely kip in very comfy beds we all enjoyed a good breakfast in the hotel trying to make up for not eating enough the night before.

We then took the bus to the train station for the 9:15am to Lyon, our first of two trains to get us to Nimes only to find it cancelled and that today was a national train strike day! After a bit of queuing we are told the next train to Lyon is 11:30am so we have time for a drink and a wander down to Lake Geneva in the rain.

Our journey to Lyon is on a packed train but we all get a seat and enjoy the views of the magnificent Rhone river and the Jura mountains albeit through a very dirty window. Once we land in Lyon, T and Mark queue up to try and get reservations on the fast train leaving at 14:06 to Nimes but it’s all sold out. Our original reservations were for an earlier train but we have no idea how we’ll get our money back ….

We enjoy a drink in the sunshine outside Lyon station and take the slow train to Valence.

Double decker train this time so we head for the top deck. It’s empty so we easily get seats together and enjoy the scenery. In Valence we were originally going to have to wait one and a half hours for a train to Avignon but luckily there’s one leaving in 20 mins so we hop on that instead. That will give us three hours in Avignon to see the sites and get some food.

Dragging or shouldering our bags around Avignon we see Avignon Cathedral, the Palais des Papes and the Pont D’Avignon. Beers and nibbles in a bar near the station, the happy hour sign outside drew us in! We nearly get to eat a McDonald’s but as usual run out of time and have to head to the station to catch our fourth and final train of the day to Nimes, the 21:48.

We arrive at 10:16 and happily our hostel is close to the station.

This hostel is down-market compared to Geneva. Three basic bunk beds crammed in a room with a tiny window and €3 for a even tinier towel. However it’s cheapish and clean and we are very happy to have arrived. We dump our bags and visit the bar.  It’s been a very long day travelling for over 14 hours but we got here in the end!