Our joint shopping for Provence at the Sevérac Supermarché didn't take long and we were soon on our way south down the A75. There was patchy cloud and it was misty with a temperature of 8°. We stopped at the rest area and lookout for the Viaduc Millau. It was still cold and there was a strong wind blowing on the zig-zags leading to the top of the lookout hill. At the top it was almost a howling gale - Joan was more than a little stressed, especially after being frog-marched to the top. Despite not being in sunlight, the view of the bridge and the Tarn valley and Millau itself was well worth it. R had explained that the bridge was built to accommodate the flood of French people heading down to the Med in the summer. Back then you had to descend to Millau and then back up again, which led to 30 Km queues of stopped traffic.
As we dropped off the outliers of the Massif Central at Lodeve, the temperature rose by six or seven degrees, but then the wind picked up. We arrived in Montpellier at about 11:30 and headed toward the Avis car park, or where we thought it would be, but we spent an hour driving in circles looking for it, on the wrong side of the tracks, as it turned out. Eventually we had to just park somewhere, in a disabled spot, and walk to the station to be there in time to meet H&B, which we did. While we were waiting we ate our purchased bocadillos standing up.
Much joy at seeing familiar faces after such a long time. J and H went to the Avis office while B and I walked back to the car, intending to use his GPS to navigate back to the Avis depot. The address was duly entered and we were off, only to be stymied by police road blocks which confused Bruce, the GPS' speaking voice. After a while we got out of a recalculation loop and headed off in a different direction. Things were going well, but on arrival at our destination we discovered it was the wrong address, on the outskirts of town! After re-programming for the railway station we arrived at the car park adjacent to Avis. Formalities over (additional driver) we headed for Nimes.
There we visited the Maison Carré, a Roman era columned building (under serious restoration, of course) and the Roman arena. We paid to go in the latter but my feeling was that the best views were from outside, although the walk along the top of the outside wall afforded rewarding views of the city.
The Pont du Gard viaduct was very impressive and it was in sunlight. It had a different style to the one in Spain, with wider arches. The drive along the A9 to Orange was a little marred by the constant buffeting we received from the strong cross winds (the Mistral?). The final part of the drive, after crossing the Rhone, was through vast flat vineyards (Cote du Rhone) with views to interesting mountains behind.
At our gite in St. Romain en Viennois we were met by André, who let us into the restored farm house. It had steep stairs and plenty of rooms - very charming. There were more rooms around every corner of this amazing place.
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