Wrapping up - Avignon to Bordeaux

Tuesday 16th was the big drive. Avignon to Bordeaux. The motorways in France are really second to none however they don't really go directly to destinations. A lot of the time you find yourself driving the wrong way in terms of distance to where you want to get to. This is particularly true of the motorway between Toulon and Toulouse which goes in a grand loop down south before turning back North. I had noticed two roads that go across the country in pretty much the direction of Bordeaux from Avignon. Worryingly they were called the D999 and D911 though Una told me to stop being superstitious. The first part of the D999 is great, its straight, fast moving and beautiful countryside. Then we took a wrong turn.

We found ourselves acending on an increasingly dishevelled road. After what seemed like an eternity it topped out and thankfully there was no snow. We descended the other side and finally found our way into Le Vigan and back on the D999. Here is the route map again

The road rises out of Le Vigan quite steeply and suddenly there was a little snow around us, just a little, then there came more and then it was thick on each side of the road. The amazing thing was that the road was perfectly clear. At the summit of a mountain we stopped to take a picture. We had taken a gamble to go this way and we were hoping that it wouldn't go bad on us now though we had thought through a few 'escape routes' back to the motorway if things got too hairy!

Thankfully the City councils had done their gritting well and the roads really were perfect to drive on. I think this is a credit to the 'get on with it' attitude towards infrastructure in France.

After another hour or so we made it across the National Park and back onto the motorway just south of the Millau bridge. I preferred it when we went across in blasting sunshine last September..
We didn't stay long on the motorway preferring to take another dive across country which would actually put some miles on the clock towards Bordeaux. At Villefranche-de-Rouergue we came over the crest of a hill and the snow disappeared. It was quite incredible, one minute we were surrounded by a thick white blanket, the next minute we were surrounded by green! I think we were both relieved. The route after that was long but easy miles and finally we crossed the bridge into Bordeaux and went looking for our EcoLodge