Across Spain by Train

Last weekend I travelled to Bilbao with three other people. We drove to León and then caught a train to Bilbao. Hours of moving through the countryside of Spain. Mainly by train. Though not only on the plain.

Villablino and the surrounding mountains had received a fresh coat of snow last week, and this was my first experience of travelling through snow-laden scenery. I have never understood before just how white snow-covered mountains are. The road wound through them, and often a stream or small river ran alongside or at least in view. Knowing how cold the water in the taps has been, I shudder to think how cold that water would be!

Even though the sky was mostly overcast, the snow reflected what light there was, and the glare was just enough to become uncomfortable before too long.

There were very few cars on the road, few people out and about in the little towns we drove through or past, and few animals in the fields. The scenery was beautiful, but seemed a bit forbidding, cold and somehow removed from the world I am used to. I was surprised at the difference the small or brief splashes of colour in the little towns made. The tendency for coloured buildings in Spain makes sense in a new way after seeing some scenery bereft of colour. The warmth and feeling of welcome and friendliness of some of the colours, especially the odd yellow, relieved some of the feeling of being enclosed in an open, empty space.

Then we went through a forest and beyond it there seemed to be an absence of snow. The green grass seemed a bright, deep colour – fresh and vibrant. We moved through a valley, or an open space between arms of the mountain range. I found myself turning around to glimpse the height and shape of the snow-clad mountains. And then we entered more built-up areas, finally reaching León and the train station.

I’ve never travelled far by train before, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had some vision in the back of my mind of the kinds of trains I’ve read about, in the Narnia Chronicles or Agatha Christie’s Orient Express and the Harry Potter series. Our carriage had sections at either end where (large?) luggage could be stowed. At one end there were two toilets, labelled ‘WC’ (which felt very English!). From the front to the middle the seats faced backwards, and from the middle to the back the seats faced forwards. In the middle, where seats faced each other, were two tables (one on each side of the aisle) which could be expanded to quite a good size, or folded back onto themselves to allow more lap space.  We made use of one of these tables to have our ‘lunch’ (the meal in the middle of the day is the main meal here), relaxed and chatted for a while before returning to our designated seats.

At first we passed through some farm land, with beautiful greens and ploughed browns – good, healthy, rich, fertile colours for agriculture. We passed through some steep hills and past more mountains. Every now and then the scenery reminded me of some of the magnificent scenery of New Zealand which forms the backdrop for the Lord of the Rings movies. (Note: the following photos were taken from a moving train - apologies for the quality!)

Wide spaces

Snow on distant mountains

Stunning cliffs

Brilliant colours - how green are those fields?!

For a long time we didn’t have roads near the train line, although we passed a few little towns. They were mostly antique-looking, stone buildings, until we reached a large town which may actually be more a city, Miranda de Ebro.

Soon after we reached Miranda de Ebro, the sun set and night fell, and all I could see were glimpses of lights when we passed settlements. We went through a few tunnels, which were a noisier, blacker darkness.

And then we reached Bilbao train station, and were again surrounded by light and noise and colour and movement.

But I’ll leave the rest for another post!