Millau. A must-see.
We’ve pinned some places on Google Maps, which are absolute must-see places and the first of them was the Millau Bridge. Stretching high up in the air, it is the world’s tallest road bridge.
An amazing construction.
The beautiful bridge looks light as a feather, despite being 2460 meters long and at its highest point it is 246 meters above the ground (the Leaning Tower of Pisa is 56 meter). On the Millau bridge there are 4 highway lanes , although you hardly notice it from the ground, because the construction itself is so light and beautiful.
Sleeping on the road.
As mentioned before, in all French cities (by law) there is at least one place where you can camp for free. But when we reached the Millau free-camp, it was already filled to the breaking point with campers. So we chose to “sleep on the road”. Meaning parked on a street. Not actually sleeping on the road! We could clearly see, that we had moved further south and away from the big cities.
Everything seemed calmer and the crime and suspicious persons we saw earlier, was almost non-existent. We had been a little nervous about some of the other places we had slept on the road and had often chosen a parking space in front of a large supermarket (with lots of light and often video surveillance), rather than a road, like here in Millau. It was actually nice to be a little less alert.
A blessing in disguise.
When we woke up the next morning we set the GPS to lead us over the bridge. Well, we thought we did! But since we had asked Birgitte (It’s the voice of our TomTom) to avoid the toll roads, she led us around the bridge and down through the valley instead. It was a blessing in disguise. Oh my, it was a beautiful trip. One we would have missed if we had driven directly over the bridge.
Beautiful hillside village.
In the valley we encountered a small village, that was carved into the hillside. Along the village ran the river Tarn and a series of train rails. It was easy to imagine, how this had been a thriving community before the bridge was built.
Driving over the bridge.
After enjoying the view for some time (and shooting some great pictures), we programmed Birgitte correctly and drove over the Millau Bridge. Driving on such an amazing piece of architecture is something very special. Even while being on the bridge itself, it seemed feather-light and aesthetically beautiful. The 2.5 km drive ended way too quickly. It would have been great to be able to get out of the camper and enjoy it. Sadly we couldn’t.
It is said that the bridge was completed 3 months ahead of schedule and several million euros cheaper than expected. That’s not something you hear every day.
Going to Marseilles?
We actually had a rendezvous with Malthe’s god-parents around Marseilles, but unfortunately, they had to postpone their holiday. So after seeing the Millau Viaduct, we decided to head southwest instead of southeast. Even though the weather was better than in Denmark, it still wasn’t really hot enough for us yet and our mission is to chase the sun. That’s why we turned our front bumper towards Spain. However, with a small stop in Vias first.
E&M
– Text: Eva. Adding, captures and photo editing: Malthe
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