点评:This just an excuse for adult men to play at being train drivers. It’s not a proper steam train, just a mid 20th century engine & 3 carriages.
Don’t bother getting tickets in advance from the Tourist Office, their system doesn’t work & you need a seat & carriage allocation. Then on the day, the Fat Controller on the gate tried to charge me twice. I got allocated a seat - right at the back , no window, next to 3 hyperactive screaming children. You sit on the same side of the train both ways.
It may be called the Train Touristique, but all the announcements are in French and muffled by dodgy speakers - tough if you struggle with the language. There is no written guide in other languages.
The countryside ( or le Bocage if you want to be fancy) is pretty but ordinary, and mostly obscure by the rail side vegetation. The train doesn’t go above 20 mph, but it is a short distance, only takes 30 mins.
When you get to Port Bail, there’s not a lot to see or do, especially on a Sunday. A couple of churches, a couple of shops, a Town square with a war memorial where apparently there is a market, (just not when the train visits) and a silted up harbour without any boats. You then realise why the line fell victim to the French equivalent of the Beeching cuts. There was an open Carrefour express & an ice cream shop in Port Bail, so the trip was not entirely wasted, and it wasn’t that costly at €12.
Frankly, I wouldn’t bother!
翻译:这不过是成年男人们扮作火车司机的借口罢了。那根本不是真正的蒸汽火车,只是20世纪中期的一款机车加上三节车厢而已。
别费心去旅游局提前买票了,他们的系统根本用不了,而且必须事先分配好座位和车厢。到了当天,门口的负责人试图向我收取双倍费用。我被分配到的座位在最尾部,没有窗户,旁边还坐着三个精力过剩、尖叫个不停的小孩。往返行程中你都得坐在火车的同一侧。虽然这列火车被称作“旅游列车”,但所有的广播都是法语,而且通过音质糟糕的扬声器播放出来——对于不擅长法语的游客来说实在是个挑战。车上也没有其他语言的书面指南。
沿途的乡村风光(非要文雅点说就是“布卡日景观”)虽算漂亮但也很普通,而且大多被铁路旁的植被遮挡住了。火车时速不会超过20英里/小时,不过路程很短,仅需30分钟而已。
抵达波特贝伊后,没什么可看可做的,尤其是在周日。几座教堂、几家商店,一个设有战争纪念碑的城镇广场——据说那里会举办集市(只是火车经过的时候不办)。还有一个淤塞严重、连一艘船都没有的港口。这时你才会明白为什么这条铁路线成了法国版“比钦削减计划”的牺牲品。在波尔特贝勒倒是有一家开着的家乐福便利店和一家冰淇淋店,所以这次旅行也算没完全白费,而且票价才12欧元而已。
说实话,我不建议去!