For our last group game it was another tricky one.

Plan: take a 9:30am train to Lyon to where we put our bags into out hotel and head to St Etienne for our last group game against Slovakia. Similar scenario to our game in Lens against Wales.

So we got to the station via the tram service, had a Le Mixte each (cheese and ham baguettes) then headed off for our two hour journey to Lyon. In that time the others can sleep and I can ponder why I cannot sleep on trains.

So we arrive just before midday and took a walk to our hotel, which was about 50 minutes away on foot. One problem…

IT WAS ON TOP OF A MASSIVE HILL!!!

So with everyone who had one bag, I foolishly took two a holder and a rucksack. So it took me a good time longer than everyone else and by the time we got up the 947 flights of stairs to the top, I was shattered.

We put our bags down but wasn’t allowed our rooms till 3pm so got some lunch at a nearby burger restaurant and I drank a well earned beer. The burger was delicious, bacon and cheese. I even made the waitress laugh when I requested no salad or Mayo.

I believe she said “well you won’t grow up big and strong” as a 25 year old I found that amusing.

FYI this was mine and Coatesy’s room for the night. Sometimes on this trip we had to double up on beds, but this was too romantic for my liking…

Once we checking in our lovely hotel, we headed in direction of the station. We did stop off for a beer beforehand and we noticed there a special edition glass for the football. And we were excited to see who got it… This competition was win by yours truly…

The train to St Etienne was less chaotic than the trip to Lens. Less people taking the train, and less time to get onto the train. Perfect. The journey took just under an hour.

Upon arrival we sensed St Etienne was very much like Dijon. Not much in the town but at least here there was a few bars to get beer. We found a takeaway that was service beer which wasn’t too busy and it was five euros a beer (doesn’t sound great but in most places this was a bargain).

England fans were kicking a football around and we heard the broke a window, they did have a whip round to replace it however. We ain’t all bad I guess.

The game itself was again a bit of a bore. I called it “uninspiring”! I think I had a point. Roy Hodgson made six changes, which I kinda understood given the fact we were practically through anyway but even with all those changes, we should destroyed them, or at least tried to.

I don’t need to tell you, you all saw it. In my next post I’ll explain how coming second in the group made our plans to the last 16 game very problematic.

So after the game we headed back to the train station, it was carnage. We fiddled about (which probably didn’t help us), debating whether to get an Uber cab, or wait for the train. It was too expensive and unlikely to obtain an Uber so we braved the queue for the train. It was lucky we got there where we did, there was thousands of people behind us who likely were going to wait ages for a train.

We got a train comfortably all in all, but it was somewhat shambolic organising to have games in small cities where the majority of fans couldn’t get hotel rooms and therefore had to travel from other cities located an hour away on the day of the game. And us England fans got two of them. Ridiculous. Also the lack of extra trains made everybody’s lives, including the French police very difficult.

We eventually got to out hotel around 2am, knowing we have to get up and out by 7am for a train from Lyon to Paris at 8am. We got a taxi to the station without Nick who planned a later train and who also wasn’t coming to the last 16 game in Nice as he was going to Glastonbury.

Our two and an half hour train to Paris went smoothly and like a few days before had to make a switch in the capital before heading on the Eurostar to Kings Cross/St Pancreas.

I love the Eurostar, it’s so much better than flying. The weird thing about it is that it took only 150 minutes from Paris to London. I mean that’s nothing!!!

One thing Trigg says that sticks out to me is that it’s amazing how big France is where it takes 90 minutes from Paris to Callais but it only takes 45 mins from Dover to London. Or more to the point how small England and the rest of Britain is.

So, phase one complete we’re home! After 11 days on the road up and down France we have the chance for a few days rest before returning for the last sixteen.

May the adventure continue…