Between Angers and Paris as the TGV runs lies Le Mans, the home of the 24Hueres du Mans and a place I had long wanted to see for myself, race or no race. As it was, this year’s edition of the classic race had been held only a few weeks before, on the weekend of 15/16th June, at the Circuit de la Sarthe, the correct name for the circuit.

As I was to dicover, you can catch a tram to the circuit – almost – there is a walk of about a kilometre to the entry, but the Museum is right at the entry and that is the first place to see. There were motorbikes practicing at the circuit and I took a walk under the track and around to the pits area. As a permanent circuit, lots of the track infrastructure is idle between events, but as many gates were open it lends itself to exploration.

The museum itself is a collection of automobilia, not all directly linked to the circuit, but all well displayed and with informative placards, many with English translations. A ‘walk’ of famous drivers and personalities included film actor and producer Steve McQueen, the circuit management is well aware of the publicity value of that famous film ‘Le Mans’, for which the circuit was closed for six months while the film was made.

Time to leave and I made my way to the railway station with time to spare. The trams here are new and very nice to travel in, they even have names, of districts, the race and strangely, one called ‘Fay’.

At the station the 0929 Montparnasse TER was leaving platform 6 as the Strasbourg bound TGV slid smoothly into platform 3.
Meanwhile on four we were waiting for the 0933 Montparnasse bound TGV, due in several minutes … an hour to change trains (and stations) in Paris, then on to Avignon by TGV.
Gotta love railways, especially in Europe.

Apart from the scramble to board, one door, two levels and lots of, dare I say it, women with overly large suitcases. Japanese ‘pushers’ would be useful sometimes !

Oh, did I mention e-tickets? Wonderful, everything in my SNCF app.