Last weekend we took the Tren dels Llacs from Lleida to Pobla de Segur in the Pyranees. It leaves at 10.30 am and so we stayed overnight in Lleida

It is a trip I have wanted to do for years and finally it happened. You can go during the week but it is an ordinary train and there is no time to stop at the other end. On Saturdays they run a tourist train – it’s a beautiful old one with compartments – and you have a few hours to explore Pobla de Segur

It wasn’t expensive, 27 euros return for each person, and they took great care of everyone with free gifts, a couple of funny men who moved through the carriages making people laugh (not me of course – too British!)  and a stop-off on the way home for a glass of wine and a pastry with escalivada.

I took a lot of photos and here are some of them – including the train toilet which was very wonderful compared to the ones we have now. 
Modern trains have tiny toilets
 
electronic locks on the doors giving you no sense of privacy or security
 
you often can’t find how to flush it

and the actual toilet no longer gives you the pleasing feeling of the tracks thundering by straight down the hole

There is a view from the window – which you can open!!!  See above.
Anyway, enough about the toilet, though I did like it – here is the corridor. It is a proper one making you squeeze your tummy in to let anyone past

And you can stand there with the window open and gaze out

When you go between carriages there are those lovely in-between wobbly bits where again you can see the tracks rushing by
 
Right, now we get to the reason for the trains name – The Lakeland Train

We passed through tunnels and crossed bridges and passed numerous lakes

At Pobla de Segur there was a reception committee with a trumpet.
The doors opened inwards which made it feel better when hanging out the window – I love windows that open – who changed them in modern trains?

On the way back we sat in the restaurant car – yes they have that too – and watched it all again but from the other direction

Lovely day, lovely trip and I would highly recommend it. 
If you would like to learn more about the Tren dels Llacs and a lot more about the history of the line then take a look here.  I first heard about the train on the web site Iberian Nature which is also well worth a look.