Day 3 - Le Puy en Velay to Avignon

I got going fairly early this morning from Le Puy en Velay. I grabbed a quick Croissant and a Pain au Chocolat from this lovely old dear in a Boulangerie in the main square and then got going on the road to Mende. The N88 road is a very nice one to drive on and it was more or less deserted. I was treated to some fantastic scenery including some of the biggest volcanoes in the region shrouded in the early morning mist.

Plus I had to take one of the old girl........

Anyway, I arrived in the very pleasant town of Mende about an hour later via a lake that wasn't cracked up to be. I put another half tank of petrol and then drove off to the Gorges du Tarn. The road went into a series of hairpin bends and I was loving it until some local knobend in a Subaru Impreza parked himself a metre or two behind me. He then overtook me on a blind corner. Ah well sunshine, whatever floats your boat. One day you'll end up in the bottom of a ravine. Then the road levelled out at 800 metres and ploughed its way through this massive plain. I have to admit that it felt a bit like Gran Turismo. In particular there was this sweeping 6 corner left, right and up and down series that left me grinning like an idiot after I took it on Nigel Mansell style. I will have to go back with a more powerful car one day! Something Japanese with 4wd and a decent rally pedigree.

Then after the high plains drifting the mighty Gorges stood majestically in front of me.

For the next hour or so I just looked around in complete awe. It's a truly awesome place. Although the pictures look great they don't really describe how incredible the place is. Even the engineers who built the road many years ago couldn't have thought that it would open this place up to the world in such an accessible way. You weave in and out of tunnels bored into the rock and there's an urge to stop every 5 minutes and take another picture. I'll post a few more now....

You get the idea I hope. Here's another I took whilst driving. Naughty I know but necessary.

I could publish another 10 photos I took of Les Gorges but I'll run out of space.After the Gorges I drove down towards the town of Millau and its stunning bridge. When you approach Millau you get a few glimpses of it but its actually reasonably well hidden unless you drive though the interesting little town of Millau and out of town. I have to say that Norman Foster has created something truly extraordinary. The French may have built it, but we designed it! Its an incredibly sleek design and to be honest like Concorde it looks almost fragile and flimsy and hardly up to the job. Its made a huge difference to the A75 motorway though. Before the bridge, all the motorway traffic went though Millau itself. This has to be the most elaborate bypass ever designed but as yet it hasn't turned Millau into a ghost town.

Here's one underneath the bridge

Then one from the same level

And this is on the approach to the bridge. Also signposted is where I stopped for my lunch.

I continued on down towards Montpellier. About 30 km after Millau it levels off at 800 metres or so but then soon after you plunge into a big tunnel and emerge from the other side at 400 metres above sea level. The intention was to visit Montpellier but I got a bit lost and Tom Tom took me down some dodgy looking streets last seen in French Connection 2 and I lost my nerve. So I got out of there quick smart and headed towards Aigues Mortes which its a nice little place surrounded by very old ramparts. 30 minutes was sufficient to see everything. I then drove through the Camargue national park under increasingly grey skies and ended up at Arles. I had another 30 minutes in Arles before it monsooned it down and turned Arles and its environs into the Ganges delta.

I continued onto to Avignon where I checked into the hotel and then dined out in style on a Tagine Pruneaux which consisted of Lamb, prunes, raisins and almonds with a bowl of couscous to add balance and ballast. Very tasty and as yet (8am) no adverse reactions to a potentially tricky dish to digest.

Anyway. Today is all Rousillon, Aix en Provence, Mont St Victoire, Marseilles, Les Gorges du Verdon and Grasse.