Day 1,545

A very big bridge

After a night in a very nice hotel, unfortunately with a closed restaurant, we headed back on the road. We stopped to chat to another tourer who recommended a mountain to climb, but we had other plans, yet another gorgeous gorge, this was is extra special, its an UNESCO World Heritage Site! First though we had something very large to see.

Tom had a poster on a wall in his office and I'd seen a documentary years back about it. Our destination? The Millau Viaduct. Completed in 2004, it is a multi-span cable-stayed bridge. It's 8,070 feet long, but more importantly at its highest point it's 1,125 feet. A snip at €394 million. It was built to ease congestion along the stunning Tarn Valley for locals and to create a quicker route from Paris to Spain. As of October 2023 it was the tallest bridge in the world, others have a higher deck height, but from the valley floor to the top of the central support this is the record breaker. We seemed to ride forever along the Tarn Valley, we spotted a sign for a viewing point but no bridge. On we went, for what seemed like hours, surely we couldn't have missed it? I mean it's BIG! Finally Tom and I shouted out in unison, ‘There it is!’. What a fantastic construction, dominating but not destroying the landscape, the opposite in fact. We rode towards it, down to its base, under it, then slowly, reluctantly we pedalled onward. Was it worth it? Did it live up to the hype? Oh yes, and more! 

The Millau Viaduct - massive and, we think, quite attractive

But we had more awesome places to see, this time yet another gorge, the Gorges de la Jonte. Set in the southern part of the Massif Central region, carved from the limestone cliffs over the centuries by the Jonte river.

The historic village of Peyreleau at the start of the gorges.

We cycled along a pretty decent road clinging to one side of the deep gorge. Time and again we stopped to gaze in awe at the depth of the canyon and the height of the cliffs looming above us. The highlight though were the vultures who make their home in the top most layer of the cliff face. In the 1970s the Griffon vulture was reintroduced and there are now approximately 140 breeding pairs. This was followed up by the reintroduction of the largest tree-dwelling bird in Europe, the Black vulture, of which there are now 20 breeding pairs. Not wanting to miss out, the Egyptian vulture has now returned. We're pretty certain we spotted all three, another trip highlight. 

After leaving the gorge, cycling up and down a col or two we joined the Stevenson Trail for a section. It runs for 140 miles, roughly following and named in his honour, a route taken by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1878. He wrote about his journey in his book, ‘Travels with a Donkey in Cevennes’. If we'd wanted we could have purchased lots of Steveson and his donkey memorabilia from the bar at the campsite we stayed at. We opted for a glass or two of wine instead.

Though we hadn't planned to spend as long as this in France we are both loving the experience of cycling here. Our route took us down the Col de Perjuret. We paused at a memorial to the French cyclist, Roger Riviére. He was an all round talent, but also a fantastic time trialist, holding The Hour record twice. During the 1960 Tour de France he was riding superbly and in with a chance of winning. Sadly, at the point where we stood, looking at his memorial, he crashed. In those days the surface was gravel, he was chasing the Yellow Jersey, Italian Gastone Nencini, one of the best descenders in the world at that time. Riviera lost control of his bike and crashed into a low wall and was flung over, rolling down the steep embankment. Though he survived the crash, he broke his back and was tragically left paralysed, never to race again. The reason for his loss of ability to brake is not fully understood, but suffice to say cycle racing is one of the toughest, most brutal sports in the world.

Our next destination is Mont Ventoux, the legendary Tour de France climb. It has witnessed so many of the Tour's great moments, but is probably still most famous for the tragic death of the British rider, Tommy Simpson in 1967. We aim to ride up it in the tyre tracks of cycling's best, maybe my Tom will be one of the few, maybe the first, to ride up on a heavily laden touring bike! Wish us Bon Courage!

The iconic Mont Ventoux getting closer!