Fort William to Nimes

As a New Zealander living in Scotland, I don't get to see my family that much.

So when my sister told me she was coming to France on holiday, I jumped at the chance to see her.

It's usually the kind of trip I would take a flight for, especially as the cost of getting from the Highlands of Scotland to the south of France by train looked really quite expensive. But I’d recently committed to the Flight Free Challenge, so I needed to throw my gut instinct of hopping onto Google Flights out of the window.

With the help of Flight Free UK’s resources I planned out the 3,400 kilometre round trip all the way from Fort William to Nîmes and Montpellier in the South of France and back again by train. By combining a seat on the Caledonian Sleeper, an early Eurostar, and an advance ticket on the TGV from Lille, the cost came in at £306 all in for the return journey. A lot more palatable than I was expecting!

To break up the trip I made a two-day pause in London to catch up with friends, so the first leg of my holiday was simple: a single night train to London. Some might liken my first night-train experience to a baptism of fire thanks to five hours of uninterrupted tantruming from a toddler three rows away, but not even that put a damper on my excitement to finally be taking the famous Caledonian Sleeper.

Even though I'd picked a seat to keep the cost down, it was surprisingly comfortable, with cosy padding and a proper head rest, so it was not too bad for sleeping, and I had also booked a seat in the single aisle, which meant I didn't have to worry about falling asleep on someone's shoulder. I managed to get several hours of sleep, although it was far from my best. This is all because of a fatal flaw I made – I’d neglected to bring a neck pillow or anything pillowy for that matter, despite every resource advising me otherwise. 

I woke up sleepy-eyed but bushy-tailed nonetheless, and was ready to spend the day exploring London. I must say, waking up in a new city with the day laid out ahead of you is an incredibly satisfying experience – so much so that it might cement night trains as my favourite method of travel (crying toddler or not).

After a long weekend in London it was time to start nine hours of train travel down to Nîmes. I rocked up at St Pancras at 6:15am for the 7:04 departure. My holiday to France was truly beginning.

I glided through the Eurostar customs and baggage scanners in 7 minutes flat and managed to wangle a chair in the packed waiting area – off to a strong start. Once on the train I practically melted into the seat because it was so comfy. As a 6’5" person, the times I have flown have never been enjoyable because the seats are always incredibly uncomfortable for me and my long limbs. But (spoiler alert) every seat I sat in on this journey was 10x more comfortable than on a plane, with notably more leg room and generally more padded seating. 

With a two-hour layover in Lille, I found a coffee shop and opened up my laptop to start on some work for the day. As I work remotely, I’d decided to change WFH to WFT(rains) – and it ran rather smoothly (though I do recommend getting EU roaming data like I did because the train wifi can be insufferably slow). 

Next up was my TGV Ouigo journey of 4.5 hours to Avignon. This might have been my favourite home office view ever, and yes, that’s because the views were ever-changing. Each time I looked up from my screen I’d notice the changes in the landscape, from the verdant green fields in the north, to the ever more orange and yellow-coloured hillsides and fields as you go south. Wooden windmills and modern ones alike scattered across the landscapes. Then soon enough it was vineyards a-plenty and lavender fields too. I had made it to the south of France.

There were just two trains remaining: a short 5-minute connection from Avignon TGV to Avignon Centre, then a further 30 minutes into Nîmes train station, where I was to meet my sister. The only hiccup of the entire trip was a 10 minute delay on my final train, but at that point I couldn’t care less – to all intents and purposes I had made it!

The next six days were pure bliss (and a whole lot of vitamin D). We spent the first two and a half days in Nîmes – a breathtaking city packed with Roman architecture. Our step counts went through the roof, exploring the monuments, popping in and out of boutiques and street markets, and strolling through the luscious Jardin de la Fontaine. On the afternoon of day three we took a 30 minute train to Montpellier, and after dropping our bags at our accommodation we hopped straight on public transport to the beach.

Montpellier has a fantastic, wide-reaching tram system, costing us only 12 euros for a 4-day ticket. The Mediterranean was so inviting (and far warmer than the North Sea) and the beaches weren’t overcrowded either. Montpellier was such a friendly city, with more stunning architecture, great spots for eating out, and of course, a great base of operations if you fancy a wine tour. 

On our final day we did just that, and booked in for a wine tour to two different wineries. The tour was run by a local winemaker who was incredibly bubbly and knowledgeable, but it wasn’t long until the topic of climate change came up. He mentioned how the temperatures year round are now so hot that vines don’t last 60 years like they used to, and instead need to be pulled out and replanted every 20-25 years (because they don’t go dormant over winter time in the same way). The flamingos no longer migrate to North Africa in the winter because it is warm enough to stay in France. They are having to change the varietals of grapes that they plant to be ones that are suitable for the changing climate, but soon might have to farm entirely different crops due to it being too hot for any kind of grape. This conversation really drove home how glad I was to have come to this destination by train. 

The next morning I started my 26 hour journey back home to the Scottish Highlands. Yep, 26 whole hours of train travel. It sounds daunting but it was actually the perfect way to round off the trip.

The slow journey back gave me time to reflect on the holiday, sift through the photos we’d taken and say "goodbye" to the trip. I WFT(rained) again until another layover in Lille where I tucked myself into an air conditioned library for the last few hours of the working day before boarding the Eurostar back to London. 

Then it was an easy interchange onto the Caledonian Sleeper once more, and without a screaming child on board I managed to get a notably better night’s sleep.

Waking up to views of the dramatic munros and valleys surrounding the train brought happy tears to my eyes. It really felt like Scotland was welcoming me back home.

Fort William to Montpellier and back

• Fort William to London (Caledonian Sleeper)
• London to Lille (Eurostar)
• Lille to Avignon (TGV)
• Avignon to Nîmes
• Nîmes to Montpellier
• Montpellier to Lille
• Lille to London (Eurostar)
• London to Fort William (Caledonian Sleeper)

Cost:

• Caledonian Sleeper return: £91.85 (seated coach)
• Eurostar return: £88 (using low-fare finder and travelling at the cheapest times)
• Lille - Nîmes return: £126.18 (booked through SNCF to find the best price, rather than Trainline/Rail Europe which often only give the fastest and most costly trains)