by Tom Chesshyre
Tom Chesshyre took to Spain’s clickety-clack railway lines for a 3,000-mile adventure on 52 rides described in his new travel book and our Book of the Month for April, Slow Trains Around Spain. Here is a taster of his journey:
Image © Tom Chesshyre
“I’m from round here and we do not do this,” said the receptionist at my hotel up in the mountain by the old Benedictine monastery at Monserrat.
He was referring to my suggestion to catch a train along a branch line, via Manresa, to Lleida. Instead, he recommended returning to Barcelona, 50 miles in the wrong direction, and taking a fast train to Lleida. “In Spain it is better to go to the big city,” he said. “In Spain we have a radial system.”
He stretched out his arms in a manner to suggest radial, as though showing trains whizzing about from one big city to another – and regarded me as if I were mad even to contemplate my alternative route, which I had just pointed out to him on my handy Rail Map Europe (bought from Stanfords in Covent Garden, of course).
In terms of saving time, he was quite right. Spain is home to Europe’s largest high-speed train network (1,900 miles) with trains hurtling about at 193mph, and it would be far quicker to go the way he said.
But that was not quite the point. As I discovered while researching my new book Slow Trains Around Spain: A 3,000-Mile Adventure on 52 Rides, a great joy is to be had taking sleepy branch railways to out-of-the-way spots, trundling across the country in no particular hurry.
That was the way I did it, setting off from Figueres in the northeast – after a Eurostar to Paris and sleeper across France – and soon leaving Catalonia, moving into Aragon, rattling onwards on narrow-gauge trains to Galicia, down to Madrid and Extremadura, across the centre to Valencia and along the south coast to Seville. A big wobbly ‘S’ of a journey over a month, at times not quite knowing where next.
The pleasure came from this delicious random quality, as well as from being one step removed from the hurly burly of the many millions of tourists who visit Spain each (normal) year.
Then there were the views from the carriage window of plunging ravines, towering viaducts, snow-capped mountains, winding rivers, hazy plains, dusty deserts and remote valleys filled with mile upon mile of olive trees.
Throw in curious, tiny towns with quiet squares, little cafes and looks of surprise at an outsider turning up with a backpack (and an increasingly crumpled railway map), remote villages, old mining communities, hidden places in the hills, blissful spots off the beaten track – but on the slow train tracks – along Spain’s glittering coastline.
Add encounters with fellow passengers, conductors, stationmasters and whoever else might come your way (trains can be surprisingly sociable).
And it all makes for a heady mix of adventure along the tracks.
Spain seems to be made for slow trains. No matter what your hotel receptionist – as helpful as intentions may be – might say.
- Slow Trains Around Spain: A 3,000-Mile Adventure of 52 Rides is published by Summersdale (£16.99)
TIPS ON HOW TO PLAN A SPANISH SLOW TRAINS ADVENTURE
Read up and plan ahead before you go to make the most of it. Here are some suggestions:
- Rail Map Europe (European Rail Timetable, £11.99) – essential for all the little lines.
- Europe by Rail: The Definitive Guide by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries (Hidden Europe Publications, £16.99) – good tips on routes with well-written sections on stop-offs.
- As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee (Penguin Modern Classics, £8.99) – wonderful description of Lee’s free-spirited 1935-36 backpacking/busking trip.
- Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell (Penguin Modern Classics, £9.99) – sharp, clear-eyed account of his experience during the Spanish Civil War.
- Spain by Jan Morris (Faber, £8.99) – succinctly-told overview from the late, great travel writer.
- Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through a Country’s Hidden Past by Giles Tremlett (Faber, £10.99) – the journalist-historian’s insightful take on Spain’s reticence to discuss its Civil War.
- The Train in Spain: Ten great journeys through the interior by Christopher Howse (Bloomsbury, £16.99) – does what the cover says, with wit and erudition.
- The Rough Guide to Spain (Rough Guide, £17.99) – my favourite guidebook.
- Buy tickets via the website of Renfe, the national rail operator, as you go along (renfe.com) or at stations; sometimes online is cheaper.
- Use the internet to book places to stay along the way via Booking.com or Airbnb.co.uk – hostals (small, good value hotels) are perfect and can usually be booked at the last minute.