Day 1 - Dover to Nimes (via Millau)
Trip Start
Sep 04, 2008
1
2
8
Trip End
Sep 14, 2008
Nîmes,
Languedoc-Roussillon,
France
Friday, September 5, 2008
3:30am (French Time) - Disembark the Ferry
We then had about 3 hours of night driving on the deserted motorways of northern France - fast but DULL. The only enjoyment to be had was the synchronised high-speed overtaking of lorries.
6:30am Paris - Thank goodness we more or less missed the Paris rush-hour, it was still hectic beyond belief but at least it was quite fast flowing! One or two slight technical hitches re the convoy - Pat was somewhat left behind and suddenly rejoined the group, only for Andrew to suddenly peel off onto a local Paris slip-road closely followed by me (I didn't know who was right so I just followed the yellow car) for a brief tour of some delightful Paris residential alleyways. Satnav to the rescue and we were soon back on the main road. Unbeknownst to us the rest of the group had suffered indecision shortly after our departure and scattered in all directions.
7:30am Shell Services south of Paris Distance traveled: 176 miles from Dunkirk - Somehow everyone arrived at the services at more or less the same time and a brief rest and breakfast stop ensued. Why can't the French embrace the fry-up?
9:30am The miles of BORING french motorways claimed their first victim as we lost Pat to fatigue - pulled into services for a kip. An hour or so later and the rest of the group were feeling the same.
10am another services - It was decided that we should take 45 minutes or so to try and rest as we were all strung out and suffering.
11am - Set off with renewed vigour to reach Millau by early afternoon.
About midday a wonderful thing happened - we left the dull, lifeless plains of northern France and entered the Massif Central and the motorways changed from long straight grey soul-sappers to twisty marvels of engineering, snaking their way between valleys and rolling hills at first, and then later peaks and huge gorges traversed by sweeping, vertigo-inducing viaducts (I briefly glanced sideways in the middle of one and thought for an instant I was flying - it was probably a hallucination brought on by sleep-deprivation and caffeine enhanced lucozade but still). At least falling asleep wasn't an issue anymore. Keeping the car between the little white lines became more so.
On reaching the Millau bridge at about 2pm we stopped off at the viewing area to hike up a hill and take some photos (to follow), it's very impressive but smaller than I thought. And then driving over the bridge we headed for Nimes and the Hotel. At this point the roads became even more amazing, seeming to drop thousands of feet in no time, diving into tunnels and heading back down to sea-level as quickly as possible. Then we reached Montpelier and the afternoon rush-hour. So we survived all that, found Nimes, managed to get off the toll road, take a wrong turn and get back on the toll road, then get off again without paying (the woman in the booth just tutted and wrote something in a binder "Another stupid english") and by more luck than judgement made it to the hotel.
So it's Friday night, I haven't slept since Wednesday, and tomorrow is a 7 o'clock start. Tomorrow - Mt Ventoux, Verdon Gorge and Cannes.
Comments
First Day
Well done, you deserve a good nights sleep! No ginger moggy to disturb you.
who and how many
hello - sounds like you afe having a great time. how many in the group and who are they?