Under African Skies

I'd opted for the Premier Classe from Cape Town to Johannesburg, which combined my love of trains with a constant supply of food. I took a cab to the disappointingly concrete Cape Town station where we had tea and croissants in the lounge whilst our luggage was taken on board.

As we departed, snacks and champagne were served in the dining car (yes, I was a good 20 years younger than the rest of the passengers) and once we were out of the industrial fringes of Cape Town, the scenery quickly got interesting. The train passed through wine country before entering valleys with cloud-topped hills.

A three course lunch came next (vegetable terrine, orange chicken with rice and vegetables, strawberry cheesecake) after which I did some more staring out the window.

After afternoon tea and carrot cake I watched the sun go down somewhere in the Karoo semi-desert before heading for dinner. Five courses this time and yes I'm going to list them all- vegetable soup, fried fish, leg of lamb with potatoes, butternut, cauliflower and broccoli cheese, the traditional South African sponge malva pudding, biscuits and cheese. I rolled back to my compartment and slept as soundly as I always do on a moving train.

I woke to early sun over the flat expanse of the Transvaal, with corn and just-finished sunflower fields rolling by as I ate a huge cooked breakfast. The scenery became increasingly populated as we reached the outskirts of Johannesburg, arriving at Park Station over two hours late, but given my only purpose was the journey itself, that was nothing to complain about.