Cevenol Hotel Millau

... view from the drivers side as I was looking right into the gorge (don't worry mum I drove very slowly and was very careful not to drive too close to the edge). Luckily there were many parking areas to stop at so both of us could get out and really appreciate how beautiful it was. On the downside it was still a little wet so hiking was off the cards...next time.<br>

... meaningless and only now, the present, was what mattered. Since I will be away for so long, it seems only natural that this would happen. I have never had such a perspective. I was so used to the idea of having a test in 3 weeks, a paper in 4 days, and your whole world is surrounded by constraints. I think that I will have a hard time readjusting to that aspect of life when I get back.<br><br>This trip has also given ...

... two weeks (I was planning on staying for 12 days). So instead I've mapped myself out a really nice road trip throughout Spain, where I will stop in Valencia, Granada, Malaga, Gibraltar, Sevilla, Cordoba, Madrid, and Pamplona. This should take me about the same time, so I'd have approximatelty 2 1/2 weeks. Hopefully my next post will be from a strange and foreign Spanish city.<br>

... loved me and couldn't wait to see me (I can't blame them). I only have one week until I leave for Portugal, so I really don&#8217;t have time to sit around and feel sorry for myself (Boo Hoo Hoo, I have a whole year of vacation and I am going to Asia, poor me&#8230;right, pffrtt). So that&#8217;s that. As time goes by, I promise that my blog will get more and more interesting.<br><br>

... themselves over time will become extinct. That seemed odd to me but in a country that has such history I suppose you have to decide what era you want to preserve. There is even a problem now with wolves coming in to the park from Italy. They just can't keep intruders out of here! We spent two days exploring the Gorges of Tarn and the highlands. What an amazing area again very different from what we had seen. Windy narrow ...

... have no lighting in them. You have to sound your horn as you enter the tunnel and hope you don't meet a car coming the other way. We did meet a car head on in one of the tunnels, and we had to back out of the tunnel about 250 feet (the other car was further into the tunnel than we were) in order to let them through. Kudos to John for his good backwards driving skills while under pressure!! From here we will head back toward the border of Spain and into the Cathars castle country.

... is definitely one of our favorites because it is immaculate and the setting is amazing. There are a few restaurants, a couple of small inns and shops. The Tarn river has a mix of rapids and pool areas as it winds through this village. It was a bit cool for swimming but we really wanted to go. John waded into the river and it was cold. There are canoe and rafting trips down the river and the hillsides are covered with wild iris, red poppy's, wild ...

We are still staying in Florac tonight, but we took a beautiful drive to this village today. The Cevennes national park countryside is gorgeous with big, green hills and hardly any homes or buildings...just countryside! We went on a 5km hike to the Chateau Roquedhouil, a nice old home built in the 1500's. There was a very tall sequoia tree that was planed in 1887 and was about 25 feet in circumference.

... we reached Spain. But we sort of got sidetracked (AGAIN!) on the way down. We went to see the Geoffre de Paridac - "an enormous circular chasm or pot-hole 99m across &amp; 103m deep, with lifts &amp; staircases that take you down to a remarkable series of underground rivers &amp; lakes". It was actually pretty good (not sure that my photos can do it justice though). Our second sidetrack, was a visit to ...

... where I must stop and ask him to leave my car if I intend to continue to Millau. He is thankful and I ask him how much further he has to travel. He is heading to Le Vigan and I look at the map and it seems only a few squares east of where we are and I imagine it will take me about an hour to drive him there so I say I will take him as far as Alzon because it is now fun having a new person in my car with me, someone I didn't know half an hour before, even ...