10:00.

Having had an early night I was up with the larks at 06:15 this morning in order to make the most of the day and the opportunity to explore some of Lille sans suitcase. Some of the architecture in the city centre is stunning. I’ll add pictures later.

I left on the 09:08 to Tournai in Belgium. It’s advertised as an SNCF service but it’s actually worked by a Belgian train and crew. The journey was just over 20 minutes but it was rich in interest due to the countryside and the rail scene. At Tournai I transferred to a loco-hauled double-deck train which will be my home for the next two hours until I change again at Brussels Airport. Whilst this train’s comfortable (and I almost have the top deck of a car to myself) it’s a bit retrograde. Belgian railways gaven’t really got the hang of step-free access. Plus, there’s no power points or Wifi in this coach.

Hopefully, when I transfer to an Intercity service at Brussels I’ll be able to add far more yo thus blog but right now everything’s being done on my smartphone, so I’m busy taking paper notes instead.