Paris

London to Paris on EuroStar is so easy even with an early start. Paris mainline stations are large and include the integrated Metro and RER lines; the equivalent of London's tube and overground. The signage is excellent with numbered metro lines and lettered RER lines with colour coding a primary school teacher would die for. From the EuroStar terminal you can wander towards the Paris network and buy your NaviGo card (also called easy passe) loaded with a carnet of 10 tickets from a ticket office being careful to avoid the long queues of the mainline ticket offices.

For me it was a short hop on a double decker RER train to Paris gare de Lyon which again is large almost with an airport feel and different halls for the platforms. Three hours on a TGV (train à grande vitesse) whisks me further south then it's a local train to Le Puy-en-Velay. 

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Day 1 Saint Privat d'Allier

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Day 28 Maslacq

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Day 10 Livinhac-le-haut

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