Return to L'Escala: 20th June to 6th July 2025

The start of the long journey home

We were up and out of the house by 8am this morning, and Sophie bore the brunt of the packing and carrying the bags up the steps to the car. Even though she started at 6.30am, she was still very hot!

I did one last sweep of the house, and we set off, managing to fill the tank with petrol at the station we used the other day. It only took 20 euros, but it was worth it to get the much cheaper rate. We were soon on the motorway and heading for the French border, at the top of a mountain pass. The first aire we came to was the Catalan village stop, where we always enjoy a coffee and something to eat. Sophie had made us ham sandwiches, which were lovely. 

Once past the turn-off for Béziers, we joined the A75, a stunning motorway that passes through the Massif Centrale region. I knew that we'd be travelling over the Millau Viaduct, the highest bridge in the world. Part of me was excited, but the other part was terrified! Back in 1980, I travelled this route with my parents, but the viaduct hadn't been built then, so we had to drive through the town of Millau, which used to get badly congested by holiday traffic heading down to the south of France or Spain from Paris. The viaduct was built in 2004 to ease this congestion and towers over the Tarn Valley.

As we neared it, our elevation went up and up, so we didn't really get the feeling of how high it is - about 1125 feet. I have to admit to feeling a bit deflated as I was expecting to really get the wobbles! It was a bit like driving over the Dartford Bridge!

Once past, we pulled into the dedicated aire and had a proper look.

It's certainly a thing of beauty, and our own Norman Foster was one of the architects involved.

Millau viaduct – touristic guide | Aveyron tourism

We had a walk around, looked to see if we could get something to eat - nothing suitable - and re-joined the motorway again. We continued to climb, at one point reaching 3700 feet, higher than Snowdon!

Who's Barry?

It was lunchtime now, so we pulled off to a village étape. These are small towns or villages where you can get something to eat or drink, or fill your car with petrol, and are probably the places which lined the old Route Nationale 9, before the A75 motorway was built in 2010. There seemed to be very few aires selling food on this motorway, as is usual.

Unfortunately, we were hot and tired, and we found it difficult to find somewhere suitable, which resulted in a small bicker-fest. I approached one Logis but Sophie and Keith weren't keen, so I flounced off in a huff and said we would stop somewhere on the motorway.

The next étape we came to was in the small town of Aumont Aubrac, somewhere I had stopped with my parents back in 1980! We pulled off and found the Resto-Grill du Barry, which adjoined Le Ferme du Barry, a small hotel. Who was Barry? We never did find out!

We parked close by and were given a table outside. The waitress was lovely and friendly and took our orders for drinks while we had a quick look at the menu. We all chose the croque monsieur with some French fries and salad. Cold beers revived us!

We kept noticing people turning up as if they had been walking a long way, and when I did some research, I found this area is part of the Le Puy Camino, similar to the Camino de Santiago walk in Spain. They all looked tired and thirsty!

We had thoroughly enjoyed our lunch and paid the bill before re-joining the motorway. The scenery was still stunning, and the height didn't go below 2000 feet.

Around Issoire and Clermont-Ferrand, it became busier, and we saw the first heavy cloud since the Sunday we drove to Rocamadour (which seems an age ago!). Once past Clermont-Ferrand, we turned off the autoroute and onto small country roads. It began to pour with rain!

It didn't take long for Jeeves to get us to the small village of Gimeaux, where we found the house on a quiet residential street. Our host, Anna, had left the door open for us, but came along just after we arrived and brought us cakes and fruit juice for breakfast tomorrow.

The entrance to the house was up a flight of steps (as always seems to be the case), and the three bedrooms were on the floor above. There was a large open-plan living/dining room and kitchen. We could park the car inside the gates, which was a bonus as the street outside was narrow.

We brought everything we needed in and noticed how hot the house was... There was no air-conditioning, but we had fans in two of the bedrooms.

I loved the classic French rural house and liked the airy feel. We threw open the windows to get some cooler air in and tried to get onto the wifi, which proved to be a big difficulty. We had success with our phones as we were able to take a pic of the QR code, but I couldn't get the password right for my laptop. The password was easily the longest I have ever seen! In the end, as I was stubborn, I managed to use my phone as a hotspot, but it was very slow, so I gave up!

 

One of the first things we did was wash the towels we'd bought in La Chapelle D'Angillon, as we needed them for our next stop in Chablis. We also washed two of the beach towels and managed to get them all dry. We have a bulging bag of dirty laundry, which I will tackle when we get home!

We played cards, had a drink and watched some French television, but tonight we were all a bit subdued. I think we've had enough of the heat now, and we're looking forward very much to getting home on Sunday!