You must understand – this was a choice.

Mick loves trains, and this opportunity to spend a night on a train, travelling from Perpignan in the south of France to Paris was one that made his eyes light up. While it was not cheap, at €258, that included one night’s accommodation. That was Mick’s argument anyway. And I was sold. I’m always up for a bargain.

We actually paid an extra €50 to have the 4-berth (couchettes) cabin to ourselves. We were not sure if this train was very popular. It was not until we turned up to board the train for our departure, that we found out that there were quite a lot of people boarding the train, but the majority were travelling in the seated sections and not the cabin sections.

However, we did not want to risk sharing our space, with possibly two strangers. We’d done that before when we caught a K Class train in China.

This photo is from that very interesting trip in March 2015.

It was indeed a cultural experience for both me and Mick. And our two companions found us most amusing, and not because I was wearing a mask. (The majority of people wear these in China and I think they are a very good idea.) No, they thought we looked very odd. Me with my white hair, and Mick with his commentary on everything he was observing from and on the train.

Now, back to the French overnight train.

It almost did not happen. The week before we were to catch the train we were told by our French language tutor, Monsieur R, that the trains to Paris were not running and they would not be operable until at least 4 November. This was due to the flooding rain the southwest of France had experienced a few days earlier. A whole section (400m) of railway track had been washed away, which meant that the section from Perpignan to Montpellier was cut. But weirdly, the night train we were booked on was not affected because it did not go through Montpellier. Phew.

The train arrived on time, and at 8pm it was dark. Mick and I boarded Carriage 9, found our cabin and quickly settled in.

We wondered how we would have managed if there were two other strangers in with us. Just juggling our luggage between the two of us in the confined space was initially a challenge. But we soon found loads of room under our couchettes.

The couchettes were simple padded bunks, covered in quite luxurious velvet-like material. Each was supplied with a clean pillow (wrapped in plastic for protection until we were ready to use it) – and our extra €50 meant we had two each. Each bunk had a lightweight sleeping bag (and I made use of two of them).

Mick was happy with one!

We also had individual reading lights although we did not use them. We preferred to watch the lights whizzing by as we passed through the different towns and cities.

The carriage was very warm but we soon worked out we could turn the heat down, which we did.

As First Class passengers we received a little bag with a bottle of water, earplugs (which we didn’t need to use) and tissues.

We brought along a few extra supplies to help us with the 11 hour journey.

By the time the train stopped in Toulouse at 10.30pm, Mick and I were ready for bed. We had come out ‘even’ in the games of poker we played, and the last of Mick’s favourite red wine was gone (but you’ll be pleased to read that not the other bottles – still loads left in them for another trip).

Luckily I’d set my alarm for 6.15am, we were both still sound asleep at that time and had only 35 minutes before we arrived in Paris Austerlitz Gare. That gave us plenty of time to freshen up and ready ourselves for our walk to Paris Gare de Lyon.

At 7am, there were very few people on the streets as the sun had not yet risen.

We have done this trip several times before this year; getting ourselves from Austerlitz Gare to Saint Lazare Gare via Gare de Lyon; only a ten minute walk and then a Metro 14.

Mick decided to stop and take a final look at the River Seine as we crossed the bridge to the Gare de Lyon. This is our final stop in Paris on this year-long adventure.

Our next destination – Rouen in Normandie.