Liverpool to Assisi

The Laudato Sí Movement is a global Catholic organisation that promotes the idea of caring for God’s creation by reducing our climate change emissions.

As a member I do as much as I can, which includes avoiding flights where possible. So when a retreat/pilgrimage was planned in Assisi, I wanted to try and get there by train.

The planning was a challenge, as was travelling alone, so here are some tips based on my experience:

Use Man in Seat 61 to help plan the journey

My sources of information were my brother, who enjoys travelling by train and the wonderful website The Man in Seat 61. I bought my seats and checked timetables on Rail Europe

Use Interrail to keep the cost down and buy in the sale if possible

I purchased a rail pass while there was a spring offer and this reduced the cost from £220 to £182 for a 4-day senior pass, which was enough to get there and back. I was advised that train travel in Italy is cheap, so I could buy a ticket on the day to get from Assisi to Rome rather than pay for an extra day on my pass.

It pays to plan carefully before you attempt to purchase the necessary seat reservations. I bought my seats through Rail Europe, but even after you have added the journeys and seats into a cart, some can expire before you’ve completed all your transactions, then you start again and the price may have changed! I printed the seat reservations off and generally this was all I needed to show to get through the train barriers. 

The pass includes the travel from your home (as long as you arrive on the continent on Day 1), but I couldn’t see a way of reserving my seats for the train from Liverpool to London, so I went to the ticket office at Liverpool Lime Street and they issued them at no cost.

Find out how to cross London and Paris in advance if you haven’t done it before

My train from Liverpool arrived into Euston at 8.56, which left plenty of time for the walk to St Pancras. I used the Wellbeing route to avoid the pollution on Euston Road, which brings you to the side entrance at St Pancras between the Crick Institute and the British Library – much easier than trying to navigate your way through Kings Cross station to Eurostar.

Once I’d arrived at Gare du Nord I followed the directions from a very handy video explaining exactly how to get to the RER station and even how to purchase the ticket on an app. However, I couldn’t see the ticket and asked for help. The assistant explained that the ticket was on my phone but didn’t use a QR code and I just showed my phone at the barrier. Two stops later I was at Gare du Lyon and found my way up to the platform for the long trip to Turin. It was 5 hours and 40minutes but the views of the Alps were worth it. 

Ask for help if you need it

My accommodation in Turin was about 20-minute walk from Porta Susa station which was welcome after sitting for so long. However, it was raining and dark and following Google maps left me going round in circles near my destination. I managed to find the location but then struggled to find the numbers, so I asked in a shop and they directed me. The next challenge was getting through two sets of doors, finding the code for the entrance and my room. What a relief when I opened and closed the door! It had been about 15 hours travelling door to door.

The next day I took a fast train to Florence, then changed for the local stopping train. The staff at the station were helpful as I needed to know the final destination to look for on the departure board. In Assisi I waited with other tourists and locals for the bus up to the city, then I tried to get a second bus but the driver told me that I was near enough to walk – but my destination was unknown to Google! After asking a few times, a local pointed me in the right direction. I arrived at last.

Double-check your tickets – but don’t panic if things go wrong

The journey back was different due to my errors. I checked my seat reservation for the trip from Rome to Turin and was surprised to see the time as 16.10, because I’d thought it was 17.10. Nevertheless, I boarded the 16.10 and settled my bags. The last call to leave the train was made and a lady near me checked my ticket and saw I was on the wrong train! I gathered everything in a rush but the door was already locked and the train was non-stop to Milan! I couldn’t do anything but wait in trepidation for the ticket collector. 

When she arrived, I explained I was on the wrong train. She was so nice. She looked up a connection for me in Milan and used her discretion not to charge me. On the second train, the ticket collector also didn’t charge me. It turns out I had booked a seat reservation on a different train to the one on my pass ticket.

In Turin I stayed in the same accommodation I’d used on the way out, which made things easier. The remainder of the journey was uneventful, and I arrived home safely at 11pm. 

Enjoy the journey!

On all the journeys, the lack of language was overcome by peoples’ willingness and ability to help and to speak English. It was tiring but rewarding appreciating the expanse of France and Italy, the varied landscapes and town and city architecture. Watching the countryside unfold was great, I didn’t expect to see rice fields! I loved seeing the Alps particularly.

The pilgrimage in Assisi was worth all the effort in several ways. Meeting fellow animators from USA, Canada, Australia, Africa, Honduras, Argentina and various European countries was enriching.

All our journeys were varied. Many had arrived earlier in Italy or were staying on to volunteer or visit other sites. Their activism at all different levels was also enriching. We were overrepresented as pilgrims from the Global north as many African participants had been refused visas.

Learning about St Francis, hearing the challenges he faced and the similarities with our society today and his radical solutions was empowering. Assisi is a very special place and now has a special place in my heart.

Interrail savings and total cost

I estimate the cost without the interrail pass for the return journey to be £650. With the pass it cost me about half of this: £330.

Emissions calculation:

(using Our World in Data 2022: https://ourworldindata.org/travel-carbon-footprint)

• National rail carbon cost is 35g/km
• Short haul flight is 151g/km
• Land distance from Liverpool to Assisi = 2000km
• Air distance from Liverpool to Assisi = 1700km
• Rail = 70kg CO2 total
• Air = 257kg CO2 total

BUT international rail (electric, nuclear) is much lower than national rail (diesel/electric mix).

International rail carbon cost is 4g/km, which makes 2000km x 4g = 8g

Likely realistic emissions for rail travel is somewhere in the middle, e.g. 30kg

Air emissions will also be different, as there are no direct flights from Liverpool to Perugia. Most likely scenario will be a train to Stansted airport (350km = 12.25kg CO2) and flight to Perugia (1342km = 203kg CO2) = 215kg CO2 in total.