Day 8 - Train Day + ride to Lourdes

We got up early to get to the train station.

We were nervous about the whole train thing. How does it work? Will there be room for our bikes? How much time do we have to load and unload. 

Well it all (pretty much) worked. We got to experience a few things. 

Arrived early in Montpellier. We were told we could hop in an earlier train, and that we could take the elevator down to the track. ✅

So we hopped in the next train. A bit of a scramble to get a bike hook and some seats, but actually it worked well 

And then we sat in a lovely new train car, comfy seats and got psyched up for the next train. We met a couple from New Zealand (kind of felt like they were us, and actually she lived in Montreal 30 years ago).  As the train pulled into the station and stopped I stood by the door ready to jump out with all the panniers. The door didn't open. I waited. And waited. Heart pounding I continued to patiently wait, until a local reached over my shoulder and pushed the green DOOR OPEN button. 😬

Arriving at Beziers, once we got the door open thing worked out, we were in a middle track with only steep stairs between us and the other tracks. Our new friends carried their bikes down, but guess what? The train on the next track, just sitting there waiting, was our next train! Indeed the conductor walked along the platform and looked at us and said "Solby, Marc and Carolyn?". How's that for welcoming!  

So we hopped in this second train in much less panic, and again found the bike hooks and comfortable seating. 

We had made this connection easily since we had taken an earlier train from Montpellier. And that was a game-changer, as our originally booked train was delayed and we would have missed this one. Some good train energy. 

We spread out and had a picnic lunch, Guy would be proud! And the train filled up, but the exit was quite smooth. 

When we had to change in Toulouse, we had to face those steep stairs down, and then back up to our next train. This train was much busier and there didn't seem to be room for our bikes, even though we had booked them. But, there was. A bit of a squish, but the bikes and luggage got on, and we found our seats. The train left the station and slowed, slowed, slowed and stopped. And this would be the case for several hours. It took about 3 1/2 hours to finally roll into Tarbes, later than we had hoped, but fine. Our new cyclist friend from the train gave us the tip to put all the panniers on the bikes while still on the train as this train rolls flat onto the platform. Good tip! 

And then, back on the bikes. 

A nice 20 k ride out of Tarbes and towards Lourdes, with the backdrop of the Pyrenees. Quite pretty, but rain threatening the whole time, so we didn't do much of anything but ride and set up camp. 

With one important photo in Lanne with the polka dot jersey. 

Tomorrow we will explore Lourdes 

Stats for today. 

An easy ride, but a climb for sure.