A Bridge Too Far

We hire a Renault hatchback in Arles and head towards Millau (pronounced meeowww) and the Millau Viaduct. Designed by the renowned engineer Michel Virlogeux, it is the highest viaduct in the world. The architect Sir Norman Foster gets all the credit, but this really was Virlogeux’s baby, both aesthetically and functionally. It is breathtakingly beautiful to see ‘in the flesh’, particularly when driving across it. The speed limit has been lowered from 130km/h to 110 because of gawking tourists like us gazing up at the seven cable stayed piers, and down at the valley far below as we cross.

A map of France looks like a crumpled piece of paper, with roads (major, and very minor) going everywhere. Unfortunately, we don’t have a map. We have the Garmin in-car GPS supplied with the rental car. It appears to have navigation software designed on the Sinclair ZX81. Unbeknownst to us, it was set to ‘shortest route mode’. Our journey from Arles to Millau starts off on a picturesque winding two lane road. At each turn the road gets imperceptibly narrower and narrower as it climbs up over a mountain range.

A hand written note attached to a detour sign guides us on to a still narrower side road , until it eventually becomes a single lane farm tracks. The bushes scrape down the side of the rental car (with an 800 euro excess) and at one point Shirls has to get out to clear a rock slide of small boulders from the path. Thick leaves cover the track in places, indicating that it has been a long time since anyone passed this way.

Unbelievably, the GPS is still saying everything is ok. We pass curious villagers, who are still marvelling at the discovery of the wheel, get lost countless times and eventually pop out the other side. Tomorrow we are buying a map. I don’t care how Old School it is.