To The Canary Islands By Train

A resident of BoA

Did you know that a journey by air can produce 10 times as much climate damaging CO2 as the same journey by train? To avoid flying the trick becomes how to get to places other ways and making the journey as much fun as the destination. A few  years ago our challenge was the Canary Islands.

When planning a journey by rail a good starting point is the marvellous Man in Seat 61 website - www.seat61.com This gives information on almost every conceivable journey by train and also gives links and information on ferries. Beware, however - you need to double check all times as these change regularly; also, we found the ferries booked up long beforehand so plan well ahead.

Our journey took shape - walk to Bradford-on-Avon station, train to London, Eurostar to Paris, the wonderful hotel train overnight to Madrid, train to Cadiz and the three day ferry trip to Tenerife. I made the bookings mainly by telephone, preferring this to the internet as I found personal advice very useful: eg - we had a tight change in Madrid but the lady at Rail Europe assured me the Hotel Train was always on time and she was right (luckily!). On the return we decided to take an extra night in Cadiz in case the ferry was late arriving and much enjoyed our leisurely day there.

Another possibility would be to use a company such as Ffestiniog Travel, who offer 'tailor made' journeys by rail, to plan and book the journey for you.

Though planning was at times challenging, the journey itself worked really well and we had many pleasures along the way. All the trains were comfortable and on time and we met some fascinating people including a young Chinese couple who shared our table while dining on the overnight train and were very frank about their government. Our sleeping accommodation was very comfortable with crisp white sheets and a wash basin and there is something special about falling asleep in France, lulled by the clacketty clack of the train wheels and waking to see the sun rising over the vast plains of central Spain.

The ferry, too, was comfortable with well cooked and plentiful food (included in the price) and even a mini pool. We were fascinated to find a small flock of southward bound birds were sharing the boat with us and we spent hours gazing at the blue sea and keeping a look out for passing seabirds and dolphins. On the return trip the ferry spent the first day wending through the other islands so we got a flavour of the whole archipelago.

Our week on Tenerife was good fun. We used buses for the first few days but did then rent a car as we are keen bird watchers and there are some choice spots which are almost impossible to reach by bus or foot in the time available to us. We stayed in a small 'casa rural' in a hill village and marvelled at the fact that even on Tenerife we could eat in small local restaurants with not another tourist in sight. As we made the most of our week, it was in the knowledge that we had the leisurely journey home still to look forward to.