We packed up quietly then had a chat with Claire before we left at 10am.The cat had bought her a mouse as a present and she wad happy for John to remove it. The cat didn't reappear for a photo so was probably sulking. I thought we had a 3-4 hour journey but the trip programme had not been altered to allow for Millau so it was a longer drive.

We set off for the town of Millau so we could see the bridge from below as well as drive over it . It was a nice cool drive in the morning and we didn’t even need the air con on for a while. We drove through another place advertising tour de France here – on July 17 this time. We moved to a second level road through rolling countryside.

We stopped at an information centre in St Sernin sur Rance, the start of sheep country, mainly to use the toilets. The young woman there was very helpful. She gave us a map of the district and also told us about the statue in the centre. It is a replica of one of the statues that are found it in the wider area – the original is in a museum. Traces of human occupation go back 4000 years in the area and the original of the statue dated to 800BC. A number of similar statues have been found in the area – again the time scale is staggering for a NZer.

The driive here reminded us a bit of NZ except the fields were browner. The traffic was also very light. We stopped to buy fruit at a wayside stall and got some lovely nectarines and apricots . We did try for one cache, at a bigger town called St Affrique that had a lovely old bridge, but had no luck. The sides of the roads were getting more cliff like and the wire netting to hold back rock reappeared. We saw the turn off for Roquefort – the roundabout had metal sheep in the middle – but did not have time to go there. The 'table mountains’ were now all around.

We were heading for Millau, not on toll roads, in order to get down to see the viaduct from below. It was an amazing sight. We first saw the bridge almost floating in the air then from below we could see the massive pillars holding it up. We then made our way up the side of the basin to the top to get onto the motorway. One moment we were on the top of ‘table mountain’ and then onto the bridge. There was a turnoff at a viewing area but we missed the sign, but we had seen it from below. Then we paid the 7.90 euro toll which was a pleasant surprise as I had thought it was 20 euro.

However it was a strain for John who entered the credit card lane only to get his card rejected . So he had to back out and find a lane with people who also couldn’t get the card to work so we paid cash. It was weird as the card worked fine at the next toll booth. This was not for ages as the main motorway north from here was toll free. It was also one of the most interesting main roads as the altitude changed continually. There were also other big viaducts but just one biggish tunnel.

The area has big blocks of mountain with flat tops (The Massif Central). The road went as low as 600m but was mainly about 1000m and even rose to 1123m. There were a number of 6% slope stretches – going up and going down. It was also a stretch where we saw 2 accidents - a truck was overturned on the other side near Millau and there was also a new BMW with it’s front caved in from (we assume) following too closely. One lane was blocked, which slowed us down considerably, but it looked as though no-one was injured.

There were a lot of nice looking towns at the side but it seemed an isolated area for such big communities . There were wind socks on the motorway and we did also see some wind turbines for the first time in a while. There were not many trucks on this motorway either so we did wonder how strong the wind gets. The side of the road had lot of broom then sunflowers as we started to drop. We stopped once at the very popular viewpoint for a big train viaduct that a train was going over very slowly.

Our last bit of road was very quiet as we made our way into the French countryside. We really did have to look out for tractors and haycarts. We were staying in Paul Lunberg’s sister’s house. She and her husband (Pen and Eric) are one of three couples who jointly own the house. Paul had put us on to them and they kindly offered us the use of the house. We had a photo as well as written instructions because the ‘village’ is a group of about 6 houses all but one in stone and not numbered. We found the neighbour with the key, unpacked the car and settled in. All was fine except there was no hot water and we were not sure how to turn it on .

The house was clearly very old, with thick stone walls, so lovely and cool. There were about 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and 2 lounge areas, one with a log fire which must be very welcoming in winter. The facilities inside are excellent. The owners had clearly done a lot of work to make it very comfortable without losing the charm of ages. It reminded us once again of how appropriate for the conditions ‘houses’ are but that hotels seem to need to override the conditions with air con.

We went to a local restaurant for tea only to find it was run by a British couple. They had a set menu - help yourself salad and meats as a starter, steak or mussels and chips for a main, then 3 cheeses. John had the mussels which were much smaller than in NZ although a very generous serving. I thought that was it but then we were offered raspberry sundae, chocolate mousse or gateaux for dessert. The food was basic but tasty and we certainly left very full.

It looked very overcast as we returned and soon there was lightening although we didn’t hear thunder so it must have been some distance away. Then Eric rang and told us which switch to flick for water heating. John had a long chat with him and we hope to see them in the UK. We completed the blogs and sorted photos for the previous days, then bed!!