Longer haul home

Broken sleep, and each time the sky outside is flat orange. Finally give up trying to go back to sleep at 04:40, and watch TV — Excalibur, Nadja Applefields, Reporter Blues — until time for breakfast. There at 07:30 on the dot, but I'm not the first one there. Out before 8, having managed a fair amount of eating, to trudge through the drizzle.

The station is busy, there is even another train at my platform before the one I want, heading to Spain. Mine arrives on time, and it's out into grey misty countryside. There are false starts at brightness, at Carcassonne, half an hour to cover all I'd cycled.

An hour to kill at Toulouse, so I can check where I should have gone to start the tour, then get on to a train that's starting from here; though I have to wait for the soft seat indicators to light up, at which point I find I have a window seat.

There is another cat travelling, who mews a bit to start with, and again as I go past to the loo. The canal is obviously next to the track for about 15 min, and another 5 or so if you know what to look for, as we diverge slowly; most of the way to Montauban.

The freestanding church tower was at Étampes.

Metro cross Paris, then Eurostar that's on time at Waterloo, for once. But the Northern Line makes up for it, I have to do Bakerloo and Picadilly instead. Then onto train at King's X, and home.