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Published: April 8th 2011
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Bright and early today and off to the view the viaduct, the main reason for coming to this little town, well the National Geographic programme we watched some time ago did not do this massive structure any justice at all. The viaduct is simply stunning and rises from the Tarn river below to soar more then 300 meters high, way taller than the Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building and our own Sky Tower. Pam took some great shots of the Viaduct from so many vantage points that I lost count and then promptly told me that we had to come back at night for some night shots. Ok, so we then headed off to find the stone houses along the Tarn River that Pam had seen, The Gorges Du Tarn seemed like a good starting point and slowly meandering along the river heading roughly due north we found some of the most stunning landscape so far in France, the Tarn River is a beautiful clear, wide and swift flowing river that seems to be home to the largest concentration of camp grounds and free camping spots in all of the countries we have seen so far, including good old NZ. Free
camping in France is a way of life and people seem to take pride in finding new ways and places to camp for free and beat the sometimes excessive charges the campgrounds impose. Many towns put camp service areas where you can clean the van and refill with water just to try and attract tourists, some have places to park and stay some are just a dump station. Anyway along the Tarn River we found some great spots but the little stone houses Pam was looking for were not to be found, we traveled around 40kms along the road and then back only to find that they were probably in the other direction, Que Sera, Sera eh. On the way we did find this cool little settlement where the only access to it was from a wire flying fox across the river operated by an electric motor and remote control, makes it a bit of a mission if you forgot the milk. If you remember a couple of days ago on the way from Beauvoir-en-Royans to Millau we got somewhat lost, well the place we were trying to get to was Le Vigan and that name became synonymous with high
stress and a place we never want to return to, well you wouldn’t believe it but road signs all the way along the Tarn River drive said this was the way to Le Vigan, it became something of a joke in the van every time we saw a sign to Le Vigan a groan went up, “not Le Vigan Please’
Oh by the way I forgot to say that if you feel like a coffee when at the Millau Viaduct lookout on the north side DON’T go to the café there, the worst espresso in the world and about 4 euro to boot. Anyway to cut a long day shorter we returned to our original camp ground purely because it was so pretty and very handy to head off to the viaduct for the night shots. Climbing the steep lookout point for the second time today was just plain hard work but oh so rewarding, the night view of both the Viaduct and the village of Millau was breath taking. It was very cold with a stiff breeze from the north and the sun was slow to set, when it finally did again spectacular is a word that comes
to mind, check out the pic either here or on “bookface” Well its now well after midnight and Pam still has work to catch up on, a slow internet connection has not helped and what should take a couple of hours is taking up to 8 so very hard on Pam. Catch you tomorrow.
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anonymous
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So pleased you did get to stop here and take your photos Pam. Excellent commentaries Mark - you'll have to write the book and Pam take the photos of your trip