Here we all are on the ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre. Watch out France, the motley bunch from Bristol are about to be unleashed on your country!! From left to right... Ian (see also the Cyprus section), Pete, Shane (both also in Disneyland Paris section) and me of course. Ian and myself got quite plastered due to large amounts of alcohol! The ferry was called "The Pride of Le Havre".

This is a pic of Pete, Ian and myself at the bastille in Grenoble. It is reached by cable-car and gives amazing views over Grenoble and surrounding areas. On a clear day Mont Blanc can also be seen in the far distance. Shane is taking the picture.

Still at the bastille in Grenoble. A different camera angle here showing the town below. As you can tell it was a beautifully warm and sunny day. Ian is taking the picture this time.

This is a photo of one of the modern trains (Mont Blanc Express - called Z800) that travel between Chamonix-Mont-Blanc and the Swiss border at Le Chatelard. As I have already mentioned, they don't have the character like the older trains on this line (called Z600 - see the photo number 21 in this section) - the noises they make as they rattle along the line are good.
I have to mention here that part of this railway line is mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records 1998.....

STEEPEST GRADIENT.
The steepest gradient worked by adhesion rather than being hauled by winding , is 1 in 11 between Chedde and Servoz on the metre-guage SNCF Chamonix line, France.

Any steeper and the train could start slipping on the tracks! It makes me wonder how the trains cope with snow and ice in the winter.

I have found a photo of one of the old Z600 trains that run in the Chamonix area. You have seen the photo of the more modern Z800 above. When I say that the new trains lack the character of the old, you can see why. Ironically, even though the Z600s have been replaced by Z800s they have not scrapped all the old trains! The reason is that with all the modern electronics in the Z800s, they don't like the cold weather in winter too much. The mechanical Z600s don't have that problem so are still used frequently in winter. They are also run during the summer, alternating journeys with the Z800s.

Here is one of France's TGV's. These trains are capable of speeds reaching 186mph, with speeds of 198mph planned. A modified TGV also created a world speed record of 320.3 mph!!! You can find a link to a TGV website back on the main Chamonix page. There are even double decker TGV's in operation - we were lucky enough to travel in one of these on our 1999 holiday.