Well here we are in the walled township of Villefranche-de-Conflent, nestled in the foothills of the Pyrenees, about 50k from the Mediterranean coast at Perpignan.
We’re here because we have been up and down to La-Tour-de-Carol using the SNCF Ligne de Cerdagne, usually referred to as Le Petit Train Jaune, a wonderful 100cms-gauge railway some 62k long winding its way through some spectacular scenery.
The weather was good enough to allow us to travel both ways in open carriages, a totally new experience for me as we relished, according to the Times one of the 25 Great European Railway trips.
But more, Latour-de-Carol, its terminus, is the only railway station in the world with some three different gauges – the width of track. French (Stephenson, same as ours at 4 ft 8 1⁄2 inches), Spanish ((5 ft 5 21⁄32 inches) and Ligne de Cerdagne (3 ft 33⁄8 inches, the same as the Paris metro).
Which means if you are travelling from France to Spain, you have to change trains – which we did in May, 1963. That's my photo which I took with my Brownie 44A.
And I have always wanted to return to this lovely village, a village with its own international railway station. Amazingly – and this will excite you - this is the setting for the longest covered platform in France.
So I just had to return, to revisit my childhood dream. Sadly, like most returns to a childhood location, La-Tour-de-Carol is no longer the station it was, mainly due to the Schengen Agreement.
Now this will have to be a very quick blog because we are travelling home today and to miss one train (followed by another two) would mean missing our flight home from Carcassonne.
So this blog is about to depart very soon, to be sent in Central European time!
I guess we all have childhood memories of places which for one reason or another we would like to revisit, not least if we didn’t fully appreciate at the time their significance. This is especially so for the house we may have grown up in, even where we were born – which may be on the other side of the world.
In fact, some years ago Jacqui and I along with her brother Bill visited her 1950’s childhood home in Seminole Avenue, Detroit. The house was very much the same – as was the neighbourhood. The big difference was its economic decline through “white flight” which took place after they moved to the UK. Now a very different place.
But apparently this need to return to our childhood locations is very common, especially once you reach a certain age, according to psychologist Jerry Burger.
Essentially we each have a need to reconnect with our childhood. Sadly many things from our past we have simply forgotten and we hope to recapture certain memories. Or we may have simply taken them for granted.
Moreover, this need to reflect on our past allows us to re-evaluate how we developed our values and what led us to make the decisions we made. There may even be a need to find some closure.
There again, we may just be simply interested to see the old place and - like me at LaTour - to appreciate what at the time we simply took for granted. Yes, it was a long-covered platform but as a 14-year-old I simply missed the significance of it being the longest in France. Sadly I only have two photos of that visit 60 years ago.
But going back can be a powerful stimulus for spiritual growth.
Notice how the risen Jesus in Matthew’s gospel gives the startled women a message “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” (Matthew 28:10). Why the 70 mile trip?
I wonder what those disciples thought as they journeyed north. A sense of guilt, obviously: they had failed Jesus in his hour of need, Simon Peter especially.
Then we read in John’s Gospel how “Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee.” (John 21:1). There he encounters some seven of the disciples as they were fishing. You will know how Jesus recommissions Peter to care for his church.
It’s very much a re-run of their first call – fishing, a full net at Jesus’ word, Lake Galilee. It’s Jesus’ way of allowing the disciples to start again from the very place it all started.
But that is how God works and because we are human beings living in real space and time, geography is important. Location can be everything. Sometimes, for a whole variety of reasons, there may be a need to return. Only last week, as it happened, I took a detour to se the church where I was baptised, around the same time - as it happens - when I passed through La-Tour-de-Carol.
And often there may be a profound sense of gratitude as we stand there, especially if we recall how we felt at the time being there, facing an uncertain future or confronted with profound problems. Thank you, Lord, for your great faithfulness.
Whatever, life is transient – places change, even disappear. But our security is in Christ, wherever we may find ourselves.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
(Psalm 139:7-10)