Day 4

This was always going to be a challenging day to complete on time. I awoke early after another bad night's sleep. The room was small, but the Hotel Dock Milano building had obviously had a grander past. It was very close to the station.

The Frecciarossa was a few minutes late arriving.


We soon made that time up as we climbed up into the Alps. I had gone for Business class again and had the biscuit option rather than sandwich this time. We followed the Dora Riparia up to Oulx station, then passing Bardonecchia we went through the long tunnel to Modane, down the Arc valley to Saint-Jean-du-Maurienne and on to Chambery. The scenery was delightful, but no snow to be observed on the mountains visible. We then went to Lyon via Aix, whereas we had gone under Mont Grele on the way out. Then it was up the superfast route to Gare de Lyon. We arrived on time at 13:23. I needed to get to Gare du Nord promptly for the 15:02 service. There were delays on RER's D line, so I took the A line to Chatelet les Halles and onward on the B line arriving in plenty of time for the check-in.


The service to St Pancras was on time which left me just over an hour to get to Paddington. The tube strike meant a brisk walk in the rush hour. I had time to stop at Marylebone for a meal deal before making the 17:36 service back to Taunton. We left on time, but lost 16 minutes along the way. That meant I had to request a lift to make the evening's skittle match.

I think leaving Turin by train at 7:15 and being back in Wellington for 20:15 was an achievement. 

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