Le Train des Pignes, Digne to Nice
The Dignes-les Baines to Nice Railway line run by Les Chemins de Fer de Provence is probably one of the most enjoyable and scenic train routes in Europe. The narrow gauge railway line worms its way round the mountains following the path of the river Var for a considerable part of the journey from Digne-les-Baines up high into the Verdon Valley before dropping down to Annot and Puget-Theniers and then on to Nice along the Var valley.
We joined the route at Thorame-Haute, and the journey to Nice takes two hours from this station and almost immediately you are exposed to some stunning alpine mountain views as the railway winds down the mountain side high above the river Verdon to Annot. It is only on this part of the route that you can appreciate the engineering skill that went into building the Le Train des Pignes railway as on some of the route you are virtually on the edge of a mountain at times and some of the high bridges and viaducts almost beggar belief.
I should at this point clarify a couple of things if you are reading this from the UK. Regional French Trains like the Chemins de Fer are run very differently from the ones we are used to in England. For starters the carriage is more like a bus as the driver’s seat is clearly visible at the front of the train so you can see exactly what he is doing. Secondly at the stations, you will find no bridges for pedestrians, if you want to get to the other side of the platform, you have to walk over the line.
The train we caught was running about 10 minutes late and was a bit rackety, but you can’t hide from the fact that the route is probably one of the most scenic in the world and worth every cent of the 24 euros 60 it cost return Thorame-Haute to Nice.
To sum up, Le Train des Pignes is one of those quirky rail journeys you have to experience whether you are a enthusiast or not.
This entry was posted on Thursday July 17th, 2008 at 7:02 AM and is filed under Places to Visit, Things to do. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.
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