Rhondda to Ronda

From the valleys of South Wales to the sheer cliffs of Ronda in Andalusia, this circular route takes you through a swathe of France and Spain with plenty of chances to hop off the train and explore. Two weeks will give you enough time to get a feel for each place and relax into the nomadic lifestyle.

Rhondda - Cardiff - London

Hop on the train at Dinas (Rhondda) and head down to Cardiff where you change trains for London. Details of which trains to catch, ticketing and other practical info is below.

Got to St Pancras early? Great, you can check your bags into a locker and pick one of these things to do around St Pancras.

Paris to Latour-de-Carol by night train

At quarter past nine each evening, an Intercités de Nuit train heads down to the little twin villages of Latour-de-Carol and Enveitg on the Spanish border.

If you catch a morning train from Wales, it'll be late afternoon or early evening when you arrive in Paris. Why not check your bags into a locker at Gare d'Austerlitz and...

Trains from London arrive at Gare du Nord, so to get to Gare d'Austerlitz you'll need to cross Paris. 

Crossing Paris

The Paris Metro is practical and Line 5 runs from Gare du Nord to Gare d'Austerlitz. However, the No. 91 bus pootles between the main stations on its way to Gare Montparnasse, so why not see Paris rather than a tunnel? The bus takes about 40 minutes.

If you are travelling light enough to put your bags on your back, you could take to the pedals and hire a bike. The Mayor of Paris has been keen to get people cycling and bicycle lanes popped up all over Paris during the pandemic. One thing she is not keen on are e-scooters, but for now you can still rent one and let that glide you between the stations. For more details on all the options, see here

Personally, I love crossing Paris (and London) and my favourite way is walking (I know...). 

Paris to Latour-de-Carol by night train

Night trains aren't for everybody. If you are not sure whether Intercités de Nuit night trains are your thing, here's a quick guide. If you decide that you'd rather your bed didn't move while you sleep, you could grab a hotel room and take a morning train to Barcelona (watch out for the lagoon-loving flamingos after Narbonne).

The night train heads up into the Pyrenees following the course of the River Ariège and skirts around Andorra before dipping into Upper Cerdanya - the only part of France on the Iberian Peninsula.

It arrives at around nine o'clock in the morning where it's met by a local Rodiales train that runs to Barcelona.

You may also see the 'Train Jaune' (yellow train) that also runs out of this station, heading eastward along the French side of the Pyrenees, but let's not get distracted by other possibilities...

Latour-de-Carol to Barcelona

It takes around three hours to get to Barcelona so if you'd like to spend some time up in the peaks before descending to Barca, there are several places you could hop off en-route. The first stop is Puigcerdà, which is where Barcelona's better-offs have traditionally come to recuperate from the rigours of city life.

By the way - if, like me, you have an irrational interest in walking across borders, you could follow the 5km smugglers path between the Latour-de-Carol and Puigcerda. Here's a video showing what it's like (going the opposite way) and some of the curious history that led to the quirky border.

Further down the line, the train calls at La Molina and Ribes Enllaç, which are hop offs for skiing in winter and hiking in summer.

It also stops at Ripoll, a spiritual home for many Catalans as it's the final resting place of Wilfred the Hairy. The local museum neatly captures what life was like up here in the past - the ex-voto pictures are my favourite exhibit.

After that, there's Vic, the home of Fuet sausage, which also has a Cathedral covered in Josep Maria Sert's haunting murals.

After Vic, the train enters Barcelona's industrial and commuter belt.

Barcelona

Barcelona, like Paris, is quite understandably on most bucket lists of places to visit. With the sublime works of Gaudi and loads of good grub.

Last time, I just went for a cycle around the city and here's what I found

Barcelona to Córdoba

The journey from Barcelona to Córdoba is a great chance to take in a big slice of Spain, from Catalonia through Aragon, Castile-La Mancha and finally crossing into Andalusia. It takes around five hours on a direct high-speed train (oddly, changing at Madrid can make the journey a bit quicker). You may need to book well in advance to get a good price ticket.

There is an alternative. The slow-travel aficionados at Europe by Rail also recommend the much cheaper zen-like 10 hour trek of the Torre del Oro. Leaving Barcelona at half past eight in the morning, it skirts the East coast before turning inland and passing through the dramatic Despeñaperros National Park, before finally arriving into Cordoba in time for dinner. The danger to this route is you may get sidetracked and find yourself hopping off the train to explore UNESCO-listed Tarragona or Valencia where you could join the Saturday swimmers for a dip - you may never want to leave.

Córdoba

Whichever way you choose, arriving into Córdoba from Barcelona and walking to the Mezquita through Victoria Gardens, suffused with the smell of orange blossom, brings home how dramatically diverse Spain is - and always has been. You might want to spend a day or two here before getting back on the tracks.

Final stop...Ronda

There's a distinct pleasure in wandering back and forth across the Puente Nuevo and Puente Viejo bridges which span the chasm that runs through Ronda, dividing the old and new towns, as well as visiting sites like the Arabic baths that remind us of Ronda's varied past.

It's a pleasure long enjoyed by the British stationed in Gibraltar, who used to come up here to escape the mid-summer heat. Orson Welles and Hemingway were also regular visitors, drawn by bullfighting.

Some of the best views of the town and Puente Nuevo are from the valley below, which you can get to from a path through the Puerta Del Viento.

However, if there was ever a time to break your flight-free pledge, in a limited and specific way, perhaps it should be here. Hot air balloon rides are popular with tourists wanting the full spectacle including the Sierra de las Nieves Natural Park (I haven't done this, but tell me what it's like).

Go back the same way?

If the places you passed through on the way down just felt like a sneaky preview, you can go back the same way and give yourself a second chance to explore them. But if you want to see pastures new, how about catching the direct train to Madrid where some of Spain's finest art galleries and food await.

Zaragoza

Just an hour and 20 minutes from Madrid is Aragon's capital, Zaragoza. As well as being home to one Moorish palace, two cathedrals and a Third Millennium bridge, it's also the place to see some of the biggest and smallest of Goya's masterpieces.

One of the cathedrals, El Pilar, is home to Goya's frescos and is quite simply massive. Meanwhile, the Goya Museum contains some of his finest etchings. Maybe this is also the place to get a souvenir - if not a Goya masterpiece, why not pick up a t-shirt from Dacapo, a local enterprise working on issues of social justice (and practical help).

Zaragoza to San Sebastian

The train to San Sebastian initially follows the course of Spain's longest river, the Ebro and passes through temptingly hop-offable places like veg-loving Tudela, fairytale Olite or Hemingway's old haunt Pamplona before ending up in the classy resort of San Sebastian (Donostia in Basque). If you get a seat on the right-hand-side of the train, you'll get to see Bardenas Reales, the dessert that was Terry Gilliam's undoing when attempting to film Don Quixote. You'll also get to see plenty of modern-day windmills - wind turbines which provide around a quarter of Spain's renewable energy.

When you get to San Sebastian, why not go for a gentile swim with the sophisticated-set at La Concha beach or head over the river to the wilder waters of Zurriola for a surf lesson. Either way, replace any lost calories with plenty of pintxos - you can download an app to find the best bars here. You could also meet a greeter - they're not professional guides but locals who will share their city with you.

San Sebastian to Paris

From San Sebastian it's just a short hop on the Euskotren to Hendaye where you can get a 4-hour TGV back to Paris, or slow down and stop off for an hour or two at Saint Jean de Luz, Bayonne or Bordeaux. Alternatively, if you've developed a liking for night trains, you can take one from Hendaye to Paris in the summer months.

Paris to Rhondda - seeing the UK in a new light?

After seeing the finest of France and Spain, maybe it's time to head home, but if you are not in a hurry and have a couple of hours to spare you could try practicing your new found hop-off skills this side of the Channel. Why not visit Bath or Bristol and see Blighty in a new way...

Practical info

Trains

My go-to place for well researched information on train travel is Seat 61, a great place for up-to-date details of routes and how best to buy tickets.

If you just want to use one app or website to look for trains and buy tickets then the best bet is probably RailEurope (You won't be able to buy a ticket from Latour-de-Carol to Barcelona, but you can get one on the train).

However, Eurostar, SNCF and Renfe all provide apps which I tend to use. Renfe is the least user friendly, but it's still functional.

London CIV ticket

If you struggle to find a good fare between Cardiff and London, or want to be sure that if your train to London is late you'll be able to get a later Eurostar train, then you could buy a London CIV ticket from most UK stations. For more details see https://www.seat61.com/european-travel-from-uk-regions.htm#buy-a-ticket-to-london-international-civ.

Travel companies

If you would rather leave the booking train tickets and hotels to someone else, you could use a specialist rail-based travel company

Accommodation

Spain is not short of places to stay. If you want accommodation that supports environmentally sustainable practices, here are some ideas: