Viaduc de Millau - What a Bridge!

February 8^th-10^th, 2026

I think I saw a news story on TV about this massive bridge, called the Viaduc de Millau, opening in France back in 2004.  It looked massive.  In fact, until last year, it was the tallest bridge in the world, superseded by the Changtai Yangtze River Bridge.  I studied mechanical engineering in university and even though I almost immediately switched to IT, I still have appreciation for the applied sciences...so I had to go check it out since it was only a 3-hour drive away!

On my drive to the bridge, I saw the slowest turning wind turbines I've ever seen (apart from them not moving at all)!

Unfortunately, as I was driving to Millau, a new noise started while I was in 5th gear.  I pulled over, stopped Octi as I needed a nature call anyways, but hoped that the noise would disappear once I got back on the road...well it didn’t.  Damn.  Could this be a transmission issue? (or “gearbox” for some of you)  I planned to call some garages in Millau in the morning.

There it is!

My first view of the Viaduct.

Driving into the information centre which doubles as a rest stop.

Looking back at the info centre area while walking up to the viewpoint.

The bridge from the viewpoint.

A nice couple from Montpellier were visiting with a female exchange student from Boston and the guy snapped the pic for me.

The small city of Millau, the bridge's namesake.

The following morning, I called a few garages in Millau.  I’m glad I can “get by” in French as it wasn’t easy understanding some of the mechanics I spoke to.  However, they all had the same message, “We’re too busy to help”.  I started calling places in the nearby city of Montpellier and was losing hope but then on my eleventh phone call, I found a friendly sounding mechanic named Benjamin who said he could look at the van tomorrow at 2 pm, after the standard 2-hour lunch break in France.  Sweet.

Before leaving, I strolled into the visitor's centre which was right beside my parking spot.  There was an interesting video on the construction, and the model you see below, but not a whole lot more.

Driving across.

What a lovely valley that it crosses.

A viewpoint where you can see all of the bridge at once...but it's pretty far away.

There were a few paragliding launches nearby...too bad there was no one flying...it would have been a long walk back up by myself, plus I didn't know where the landing zones were.

I like bridges...especially big ones.

A slightly zoomed in view.

Sorry, I just can't get over how impressive it is!

Driving down into the valley.  A cargo truck just arrived at the top before I started down.  I'm glad I didn't meet him part way as it was narrow and there were a couple of hairpin turns that I had to back Octi up to make it around them. 

Driving to the base of the bridge to see how close I can get to one of the pillars.

Are you sick of pictures of the bridge yet?  I'm not!

That's a frickin' highway all the way up there!

This pillar is taller than the Eiffel Tower.  I comment that it would be good bungy jump or base jumping platform...usually the French are a bit crazy!

Wowsers!

Okay, last one...I promise.

After my intense scrutiny of the bridge, I drove about 45 minutes to a tiny hamlet called Sainte-Eulalie-de-Cernon with only 200-300 inhabitants.  At the heart of the historic settlement was a medieval hospital established by the Order of the Knights Templar which was closed after the Order was disbanded in 1308.  I picked this tiny place because it looked like it had a nice campervan spot.

Starting into the valley where the village is situated.

The Order of the Knights Templar were distinguishable by their red cross as they were a military order of Catholic faith.

Walking to the fortification.

The main entrance.

Some of the homes inside the castle walls.

The main bell tower.

Must be a lovely spot for lunch on a sunny summer day.

The morning of the 10^th, I drove to Lavérune, a town outside of Montpellier, where the mechanic I spoke to yesterday was located.  The industrial area where the garage was located was jam packed with cars and I did three loops around the block until I finally just parked right in front of the garage, blocking any access out of it, but that turned out to not be a problem. 

 

Benjamin was a super friendly guy.  We went for a test drive in Octi and he confirmed that the fifth gear was an issue and I either needed the transmission rebuilt, or the more likely solution was to replace it.  Oh dear…  He made a phone call and his parts supplier stated it would be a few weeks before they could provide a reconditioned gearbox.  That’s not going to work, I must catch a ferry back to England next week.  

Benjamin reassured me that as long as I didn’t use 5^th gear, I’d be fine to make it back to England and even complete the road trip with Naomi to Scotland.  Great…apart from the fact that Octi is turning into the new Betty, Betty 3.0.  Betty was a Ford Transit van that I bought in England in 2010 to drive around Europe for the summer and it turned into a total lemon.  Just check out Betty’s Operation from this previous blogpost.  Betty 2.0 was a van I bought in New Zealand and its only problem was trying to sell it.  As for Octi, I’ve already replaced the wheel bearings and the steering column boot…now a transmission needs to be done…I just can’t seem to win with campervans!

I rejigged my travel plans for the next week, not that I had really made any solid ones, but I was thinking about driving to Monaco which for some reason, I thought would be cool to check out.  I decided that it would be prudent to start heading north and not throw on too many excessive kilometres on the van, but I did want to swing by Annecy to visit one of my paragliding suppliers.  So, I head northeast for a few hours and ended up near a small town called Saint-Julien-de-Peyrolas for the night.

Saint-Julien-de-Peyrolas, I never did go into the town...

...as I rolled into this quiet camping area just before sunset.

Tomorrow I'll head off to Annecy...and try and remember not to use 5th gear!