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It was our intention to make an early start this morning as we had a long drive to do and wanted to spend some time at the Viaduct Millau. As it worked out, neither of us woke before 8am so it was nearly 9am before we managed to hit the road. We are now the proud owners of an electric kettle so we are able to have cups of tea (with English tea bags) whenever we stop off for the night and can make a flask of tea to take with us on our travels. A nice cup of tea is definitely what you need before a trip like this.
Neal started off this morning driving down the motorway to Brive and then we started on the smaller D roads that would take us across the countryside to Millau. We pulled into Figeac, a small picturesque place on the banks of the Lot river, around 1030 and stopped to do some shopping and take a few photos. It was a pleasant place but we were fascinated by a strange contraption hooked up to a moped driving down the pavement that we could see from the bakery where we had coffee
and cakes. Once the driver approached, we realised he was scooping up dog poo with a hoover. What a great job!
Bob then took over to drive an almost deserted D road at great speed except the apprentice kept shouting “Slow!!!”, “Bend!!!!” But it did put the Porsche through its paces and showed what a wonderful handling car it is on a twisty exciting road. With oodles of power for getting past more pedestrian drivers, it definitely puts a smile on your face (or an expression of pure fright if you are the passenger).
Eventually the D road finished and Neal took over to blast us down the last bit of motorway to the viewpoint looking over the Millau Viaduct. Our photography skills are not up to capturing the grandeur and elegance of the viaduct but it is truly stunning and even when you are there, it is difficult to comprehend the scale of it. To give you an idea, you could fit the Eiffel Tower underneath it at the tallest point and the pinnacles have aircraft warning lights to keep light aircraft pilots out of trouble in low cloud.
We watched while a helicopter toured around
the base of the main columns and then passed underneath almost as if they were inspecting the structure. It must have been a spectacular helicopter ride.
Whilst at the viewpoint we went into the visitor centre and watched a very interesting film about the construction of the bridge. We then headed back out onto the viaduct itself and marvelled again at the sheer size of the structure. We had decided to take a little detour at this point to get underneath the viaduct so we descended a steep road into the valley, spotting various birds of prey hunting along the side of the road, including some enormous vultures. There were too fast to capture on camera as we were moving but they were amazing to watch.
We stopped underneath the viaduct and took some more pictures before heading back up to the A75 through Millau town centre. It wasn’t much to look at but the climb out of the town gave Neal a chance to give the car a blast uphill this time. We weren’t going particularly fast but the engine sounded great.
Back on the motorway, we then had a couple of hours driving through some
spectacular countryside with vistas across snowcapped peaks and volcanoes. We spent most of the time spotting radar speed controls at the side of the road but Bob had the brainstorm of following local drivers (spotted by the giveaway French registration plates) because they seemed to know where to slow down. Not that we would dream of going over the prescribed speed limit for a road in France.
We have just gotten back from having a meal in a Campanile restaurant which was a bit classier than last night’s truck stop but not half as much fun. Now for the job of sorting out some of the photos we took at Millau and then a rest before what looks like a rainy day tomorrow for the drive to Troyes.
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Dinah
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Wow
I am so envious ,the viaduct is truly amazing!! So glad the weather was a bit better for you today. I had a very smooth trip over to Brussels. Look forward to seeing you perhaps by Friday Love Mum