Trundling to Marseilles
Trundling is the word, as the TGV took just under three hours to get from Nice to Marseilles and then four and a half to get from Marseilles to Lille. And it’s not one and a half times the distance.
After my experiences on the journey down with the catering, I decided to bring my own, which I bought from a small supermarket near to the station. I arrived on the train with two bottles of Coke, some Roquefort, some butter, a pack of Trufree crackers, crisps, some fruit bars, two bananas and a free plastic knife. Never forget that, when you have a picnic.
Note too the paper cup from Paul. I can’t drink too well out of bottles, but found that this cup I got with coffee at the airport is excellent to stop my dribbling. But my menu shows the problems you have when travelling as a coeliac. The Roquefort was nice though and went well with the crackers.
The train left on time at 10:28 and it is very much a stop start journey with stops at Antibes (10:50), Cannes (11:00), St. Raphael (11:34), Les Arcs (11:52), Toulon (12:37) and it arrived at Marseilles at 13:20. That was just over twenty minutes late, but then the line from Nice to Marseilles is not a TGV line and carries all types of local traffic.
I think if I go south on the train again, I’ll go as far as Marseilles and then either go to a resort near there like Bandol or hire a car.
Just out of Nice I passed the Marina Baie des Anges.
It describes itself as the world’s most beautiful marina, but that is probably subjective. Anyway, I think it’s awful and is starting to show its age from the railway.
We once went there with our two youngest children and had a holiday in a boat on the Mediterranean. It is perhaps a holiday we never talked about much and we never did something like that again. All I can remember was my youngest’s passion for eating duck every night in the various restaurants we visited and an outboard motor that was very temperamental.
Most of the journey to Marseilles was along the coast and you passed from one bay to another.
Here is the bay at Agay. This was a place that we visited in the boat and it is a lovely sheltered anchorage.
So although the journey is slow, there is a lot to look at.


