We woke up to thick fog this morning. Not good.
We were planning to visit the Millau Viaduct, the magnificent road bridge spanning the Tarn Valley just up the road, but we couldn’t even see across the aire!
Luckily it dispersed while we were having breakfast, though it was still damp and overcast. We jumped onto the A75 dual carriageway and within 10 kilometres, the bridge began to hove into view. And what stunning bridge it was with the most amazing views up and down the valley as you crossed it. We pulled into the adjacent visitor centre and parked up – the whole place was deserted, but the centre was open. We watched a couple of films describing how it was constructed (what a feat of engineering that was) before heading outside and up to the viewing platform. The sun was breaking out from behind the heavy clouds, lighting up the valley – it was just perfect timing, making the bridge glow. It was a bit of a pull up the tarmac path and we were both out of breath, but it was well worth the haul up – it was a fabulous spot to view the bridge and surrounding valleys and hills. There was also a lower path, so we went to investigate, hoping to drop down below the bridge, but halfway down there was a locked gate so we could go no further. We had another wander around and having exhausted the Millau Viaduct and the visitor centre, we headed back to the Van, deciding to drive up the Gorges du Tarn, just across the valley beyond Millau.
https://www.tourisme-aveyron.com/en/millau-viaduct/discover-millau-viaduct
After paying a toll for the bridge, we skimmed past the town of Millau sitting in a deep convergence of valleys and followed the valley of the River Tarn passing through pretty villages, the gorge getting deeper and more dramatic. The village of Les Vignes was particularly pretty as we headed towards La Malene – the valley runs for about 43 kilometres through the most spectacular scenery – deep wooded valleys with cliffs and crags, it was spectacular and got better at every turn. Deep into autumn, we had the whole road to ourselves, which was lovely – we could go at our own pace as we stared in wonder -but could imagine how busy it could be in the summer. The valley got deeper, the sides got taller so we had to peer up through the windscreen or through the skylight to see tops – it was really breath-taking and magnificent.
https://www.visit-occitanie.com/en/discovering/major-sites/gorges-du-tarn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorges_du_Tarn
We stopped at La Malene hoping for a coffee, but nothing was open. We were saddened to see that people thought it was okay to daub graffiti in a couple of places along the gorge – is nothing sacred? Caffeine depleted, we slowly climbed out of the wooded valley just as it started to spit with rain. We certainly had got the best part of the day weatherwise as the dark clouds were closing in. It was very pretty here – it was definitely autumn with vast swathes of woodland in autumnal colours. We dropped down and clipped the town of Chanac surrounded by mountains – little roadside signs told us that we were still 800 metres or so above sea level, as high as a Scottish Munro, but it didn’t feel like it. We driving across the roof of the Massif Central.
It was miserable now , the clouds low making the landscape darken prematurely. The scenery was still gorgeous and occasionally you would get a brief long distance view, but the haze of the rain blotted out most of it – you could just make out the outline of nearby mountains. We started going through some quite big towns after many miles of not seeing anything – our road kept sidling up to the A75 and running alongside it, before diving back into the trees. We were in the middle of the Massif Central, but that didn’t stop pockets of low industry being built – grey warehousing stretching along the road, but with the A75 dual carriageway passing by, it made perfect sense, but it was still a jolt to the senses.
We dropped down into the little village of Garabit and came across the Garabit Viaduct, a railway bridge over the River Truyere which was constructed by Gustave Eiffel – there was a resemblance of the Eiffel Tower in its design. It was a lovely surprise to stumble upon.
https://bridgeinfo.net/bridge/index.php?ID=8
The rain kept easing off and then pouring down again. We stopped in a layby for a cuppa and a bit of lunch to keep us going, huddled inside as the rain bounced off the roof. Further up the road, it started to get foggy or maybe it was cloud base but we lost all the views – a little further on as we passed Vieillepesse, it started to brighten again, with the sun weakly shining through gaps in the cloud – but slithers of mist hung in valleys or draped around nearby hills, it was very atmospheric and beautiful.
We finally came up to Massiac, our home for the night – we had booked into another campervan aire and this one was by a sports field, sitting under trees by the river. There were four other campervans set up, so we parked close by and set the Van up. Here, the cloud drifted through the valleys surrounding Massiac – it was very autumnal here and quite cool. Being so high up, the temperature had only got to 8 degrees all day – it was warmer back home. The Pup and I had a good walk around the site and the sports field to stretch our legs before the light disappeared and then retreated indoors to make some tea and relax for the evening – we had done a lot of driving today. Then it started raining heavily again……
