If you’ve been following the grand saga of the Beck Trek, then you’ll remember our last rail transfer, from the local subway in the Paris Gare du Nord to the regional railway, where Team Beck made it by the skin of our teeth onto the train two minutes before departure.

Well, this time, we weren’t having any of that fol-de-rol. We had plenty of time to get from Hardelot to Lille, with no stress at the train station in Lille. Our plan was to leave Hardelot around 8:00 and drive the scenic back roads to Eurostar Lille, guided as always by our faithful friend Madame Google. Our light tapas supper at the hotel bar the previous evening had refuelled us enough, but not too much, so that at least two thirds of Team Beck had managed to pack that night. The third team member, not uncoincidentally the least experienced traveller of the trio, had selected the “sleep now, pack in the morning and slide into breakfast as late as possible” option, having perhaps had a more strenuous week than the other two.

So no, we were going to have a leisurely drive through the country, enjoying the back roads instead of the rush of the highway, and we might even get a chance to relax at the train station. No panic, no stress, no repeat of the horrors of the Gare du Nord (which was really only horrific for @kiligirl, since you’ll probably recall she was the only one who realised we had been in serious danger of missing our train to Boulogne).

This would be a sleek, slick, chilled undertaking.

Image source

Itinerary

Our trip from Hardelot to Lille would take us about two and a half hours, mostly along the D341, a single lane rural thoroughfare.

Once in the Eurogare Lille, we would drop off the rental car at an outlet at the station, then find our platform and car on the train scheduled to depart at 11:59, which would take us to Amsterdam's Central Station. Easy peasy.

The drive part

Perhaps an 8:00 departure time was a bit ambitious. We left the hotel parking lot by 8:30, which changed our projected arrival time to 11:00. No stress. No panic. All good.

Here's our route.

Such a recommended drive!

The D341, a single lane rural road with, you guessed it, lots of roundabouts, was a treat. This part of our day was splendid, as we passed rolling field after rolling field, dense woods, lazily turning wind turbines and little towns with pretty churches. I would love to spend more time there.

Mademoiselle from Armentières

Eventually, as we neared Lille, we had to get on the highway. As we saw signs we were approaching Armentières, @tim-beck burst into song. His rendition was surprisingly good, and no, he never did share the NSFW version.

Arrival in Lille

We got to Lille around 11:00. Fantastic. Madame Google was busy telling us how to get to the rental car dropoff point in the Eurogare Lille, when @tim-beck had a brilliant idea. Since we have a bit of time, let’s go and see one of the strangest cathedrals in the world, he said.

But not at the train station

NOOOOOOOOOOO! shrieked @kiligirl’s inner voice, but she had learned by now that sometimes it’s unkind to quash another’s travel dreams. With deep misgiving, she said nothing, and smiled.

Madame Google took us straight to this cathedral, which is indeed strange (you can read more about it here), and we admired it for a few seconds before looking at our watches and thinking that 11:15 was a good time to head for the station.

Madame Google dutifully obliged by directing us towards the address given by the rental company. We followed her instructions to the letter, and...

...landed straight into a traffic jam.

Which was okay, because as you know, we still had time, at least in Team Beck’s world, which has minutes rather like Saturn minutes than, say, Mercury minutes. Or Earth minutes for that matter.

But we finally got there - or did we?

Madame Google announced that we had reached our destination and it was on our left. But all we could see was an entrance to a parking lot! How was this a car rental agency?

We drove slowly past, and just after the point where we could have turned left, we saw a miniscule sign hidden up the access ramp for our car rental company. Ah, so Madame Google had been right! Our faith in her was secure, although our serenity levels were starting to take on water, given it was now past 11:30. No problem – we would just go around the block.

Dear passengers, feel free to panic now

Getting around the block took another ten minutes. Serenity was a state of the past. We were now in an underground parking maze, with signage designed for people who knew exactly where they were going.

With all three of us looking for some clue where to drop off the car (how silly of us, looking for large signs with arrows and the name of the agency, saying “go that way”), we eventually spotted a likely area with some small signs barely larger than postage stamps over the individual parking spaces. This must be it, we said to each other, mostly because it was now 11:45 and the adrenalin was truly rising and we were ready to leave the car anywhere. No agents! Nobody to check the car! Nobody to give the keys to! What the…?

SuperKiligirl to the rescue again

In desperation, SuperKiligirl, who really hadn't thought she'd be needed again on this trip after saving her best friend in the world from wedding disaster, donned her cape and asked a lone passerby, who advised all we had to do was follow the painted path (painted, yes, but not with the words “take your keys this way”) 200m around the corner “to the station”.

What he didn’t say is that at the end of the painted path, our next steps were to go through an unmarked door, up an unmarked lift, around many corners to a hole in a wall office (with the most unobtrusive branding) in front of the platform. Well, at least it was in front of the platform.

Not over yet

11:50 now. Things were getting really tight. Like in those movies where the bomb countdown is in the single digits....

We asked the lone agent, who agreed genially the whole process was difficult for everyone who did it the first time (customer focus much?), where we needed to go to catch our train. We could see we were at the platform, but where was the train? He smiled more broadly and said cryptically that we needed to go to the other station across the street.

Other station across the street?!?

By this time we were in full aerobic mode, although poor Emma was struggling with her bag as she had chosen flip-flops for car and train comfort, while @tim-beck and I were in full battle gear with state-of-the-art spring-loaded footgear.

We came as close to running as humans can while dragging wheeled suitcases and exited the train station in order to see this other mythical station with our own eyes. It was glassy, architecturally impressive and FAR AWAY. Shades of our Gare du Nord experience again: not a sign in sight telling us where to go.

Everyone else travelling through these stations obviously knew exactly where to go, and we were the only clueless ones in the entire complex. But brave Team Beck did not yield to panic, and instead dug deep to find the steely determination which had so far stood us in good stead in the face of adversity on this trip. We would triumph! Up the escalators into the station where we desperately hoped they had a traditional system which would tell us which platform our train was on.

11:55

SuperKiligirl ran up to a guard and asked if this was where train number 9993 was boarding. He looked at us knowingly and insisted we run all our luggage through the x-ray machine. We then agonised as we descended the escalators (ever tried to run down an escalator with luggage?), asked the first official looking person where our car was – mercifully, just two cars down – and boarded.

At 11:57. Two minutes to spare before departure. Groundhog Day, anyone?

Image credit

The train journey

…was simply wonderful. Here's the route:

The meal was an unexpected treat.

SuperKiligirl had finally shed her cape, and Team Beck could relax and watch the scenery roll by.

Air conditioning, plug points for our chargers, a first class meal (yes, with beer and wine), the Belgian then Dutch countryside and cities rolling by – aaaah, Team Beck had won the day, with a little help from SuperKiligirl and far more than its fair share of luck this time.

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Images by @kiligirl, @tim-beck and Emma Beck except where otherwise credited.

Other posts to date on our trip:
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-9-team-beck-in-bruges-and-dunkirk-so-not-a-movie
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-8-team-beck-does-a-bit-of-rest-and-restoration-in-le-touquet-and-hardelot
https://steemit.com/family/@kiligirl/day-7-team-beck-attends-the-wedding-of-the-century
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-6-part-3-of-the-beck-trek-to-france-bruges-and-amsterdam-superkiligirl-saves-the-mother-of-the-bride
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-6-part-2-team-beck-takes-a-reflective-turn-in-delville-wood-somme-region-of-france
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-6-the-beck-trek-hits-the-north-of-france-amiens
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-5-team-beck-moves-from-paris-to-pas-de-calais-in-the-north-of-france-and-nobody-dies
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-4-in-paris-for-team-beck-notre-dame-the-musee-d-orsay-and-le-marais
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-3-in-paris-for-team-beck-hop-on-hop-off-bus-tour
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-2-in-paris-for-team-beck-boat-cruise-down-the-seine
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/day-2-in-paris-for-team-beck-a-visit-to-the-louvre
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/two-weeks-ago-yesterday-we-were-wandering-around-the-centre-pompidou-in-paris
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/paris-day-1-part-2-of-several-posts-on-our-trip-to-paris-pas-de-calais-bruges-and-amsterdam
https://steemit.com/travel/@kiligirl/whirlwind-tour-of-paris-pas-de-calais-bruges-and-amsterdam

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