Canfranc is an almost abandoned railway station in the Spanish Pyrenees. It was built as a grand international station linking France and Spain. There is a magnificent tunnel through the Pyrenees most of which no longer carries the railway but carries the E7 highway instead.
There is still one very slow train a day to Zaragoza.
Canfranc is small town with a couple of friendly bars their website is https://www.canfranc.es/
The Trip
This trip started at London St Pancras, a magnificent station now, but it was closer to the condition of Canfranc when I first remember it.
The Planned Route:
London St Pancras - Eurostar - Paris Gare du Nord - Metro - Paris Montparnasse - TGV -Pau - car - Canfranc - TER - Toulouse - TER - Latour de Carol - Le Train Jaune - Villefranche de Conflent - TER - Perpignan - AVE - Lyon - TGV - Lille - Eurostar - London St Pancras
We tend to meet in the Betjeman Arms at St Pancras. The booking in process is very efficient if you have a printed boarding pass or the app but the Eurostar departure area is very crowded and busy now, so we keep our stay here to a minimum. The departure process itself is still very easy.
Gare du Nord bears no comparison to St Pancras. It's very crowded on the platform as you get off and it can take 15 minutes to the Metro Line 4. It's also a long walk from the Metro at Montparnasse to TGV platforms so if you have more than hand baggage I would be inclined to get a taxi. Our Eurostar was about 25 minutes late and we only caught the Pau train because the kind man reopened the gate to let us in. The TGVs going to the South West are often double length and they split up on route so they appear to be never-ending as you walk down the platform.
We had booked a hire Renault Espace for the day for the journey to Canfranc.
We were however affected by a French Rail dispute so the Villefranche to Perpignan was a replacement bus service. Perpignan to Lyon was replaced by a bus to Narbonne, a local train to Nimes and then an unscheduled TGV to Paris. Eurostar amended our
There were 7 of us on the trip. This was the first time we had used Eurail Passes the first class One-Country Pass worked out slightly cheaper than best ticket prices I could find. We travelled first class which is not hugely more expensive and means you can make a business class Eurostar Reservation which includes lunch and wine.
