How does Ninette in Reserved for the Cat get from Montmartre, France to Blackpool, UK in less than one night? I looked it up and Blackpool is in the northwest of England. Only now in the 21st century using trains and ferry would it take about six or seven hours for the whole trip but it seems to take about the same amount of time in the book?
- At the start of her journey, after taking the Metro to the train station, she was going from Paris to Calais. Today, driving there would take about three hours, so the train back in the early 1900's should go about as fast. Factoring in the time for the few stops along the way, the train ride would likely be four hours. The ferry ride to Dover was explicitly said in the book to be three hours. Considering that it was around early spring at the time and she left Paris a couple hours or so after dark, her time leaving would likely be around ten at night. She would have arrived in Dover around five, and shortly after that gotten on the train to Blackpool (with a transfer along the way). Sunrise is said to occur before she makes the transfer, and by the time she gets to Blackpool it would be around midmorning. The landlady of the boarding house she stays at mentions that she serves breakfast at six, which Ninette is too late for by the time of her arrival. So actually Ninette's journey actually takes around eleven to twelve hours, not seven.
