The Tarn Gorge

[Click all for enlarge]

Actually, we just wanted to the famous autobahn bridge, the Millau Viaduct . It is located in the UNESCO World Heritage Reserve Causses et Cevennes . That is a little over 100 km turn westwards initially on the D999 and at Le Caylar on the (nearly) toll-free A75. It runs almost exactly from north to south, so she probably has the name "La Meridienne". It extends throughout the Massif Central, is one of Europe's highest highways. Three tunnels and eight large bridges the motorway must overcome. And the largest bridge, or the longest and highest cable-stayed bridge in the world is the Millau Viaduct and bypasses the deep valley of the Tarn.

Der Viaduc de Millau

Just before the bridge we see the signs "Péage (Toll)", because the crossing of the bridge is not free, the only toll road section to this highway. So we leave the A75 at the exit La Cavalerie and go deep down to the Information Centre of the viaduct. There is in an interesting exhibition with a video and tables and models about the construction of the giant bridge.
The technical data I will skip. You can read them here . Definitely an impressive building. But it has the disadvantage: you have difficulties to take photos of the whole building. For this purpose, we would have to drive on the autobahn to the (not free) observation platform. But we were too stingy. Since we would have had to pay € 7 toll! Maybe another time.

"Les Causses" and "Les Cevennes" are cultural landscapes on the southern slopes of the Massif Central. While the Cévennes are rich of gorges and wooded karst mountains, the Causses are hilly, mostly barren plateaus. The mountains in the Cevennes reach heights of up to 1700 meters. Two great mountain ranges characterize the Cevennes, the Aigoual in the south and the Lozère - massif in the north The Cevennes were in the history the center of the French Protestants, the Huguenots. Here they were able to hide in the many gorges and caves during the religious wars in the 17th century.

The high levels of Caussses are at an altitude of 900 - 1200 meters. The porous, water-permeable limestone has created a specific, sparse vegetation, which is only suitable for grazing by goats and sheep.

The famous gorge of Tarn, the Gorges du Tarn is not far, because it starts behind Millau. Specifically, it starts in the village of Le-Rozier and ends in Sainte-Enimie. It is 35 km long and in some cases very tight, but not so tight that not a road fit between them.
Even though the road is very narrow through the gorge, there are always lookouts, where you can stop and enjoy the breathtaking scenery. There are few localities in the canyon. The most known ones are La Malène and Sainte Enimie. They live from hiking and canoe tourism. La Malène has just 158 inhabitants, but a beautiful Romanesque church and a castle "Manoir de Montesquiou" now used as hotel. Sainte-Enimie is the main town of the canyon with about 500 residents.

After a short break in Sainte Enimie we left the gorge. We turned and drove on the D986 at first towards Mende. Now it went uphill in some serpentins. A relatively long time we drove directly above the gorge. Eventually, the road number converts to the D998. We have crossed a border of department (Lozère) .The D-road numbers are changed. We passed also relatively barren plateaus, the Causses Sauveterre. There, where the D998 meets the D32, we got lost. Instead of driving toward Le Massegros, we turned right towards Chanac. After 2-3 km we noticed it, and we turned and drove along the right D32. Sparsely populated this area is here. We pass Le Massegros, a very small village and now we are going downhill. From the department's border of Aveyron the D32 bebomes the D9 which in some zigzags winds down. In Le Rozier we went back on the Tarn-road on which we came. Now we are back on familiar territory. In Millau, we even sometimes a beautiful bridge view.