Fast food, slow day

As a general rule, I don't go to McDonalds. I'm not a snob about it... oh, ok, I am a snob about it. I think there food is awful and I hate the places with their sugary fries and sticky tables.

So, we had breakfast in McDonalds today. (And yesterday truth be told.) It was ok. We had pancakes with nutella. The one yesterday was quite trendy with purple lights and a fancy coffee bar.

After that, it was off for some serious wine buying in Tain L'Hermitage. Wine before 11am is not something I'm very experienced with and it was decidedly odd to be tasting it that early. With the selected wines safely stashed in the boot, it was off to find somewhere for lunch. So back to McDonalds....

After our very quick, bloatey and ultimately unsatisfying lunch, we hit the road south, deciding on a quick detour to explore some nice countryside on the way including a mountain, the Gorges du Tarn and the viaduct at Millau. Well, it looked like a quick detour on our map anyway, but then with a map that covers the whole of Europe I don't think the scale was quite what we needed for making decisions on a trip like that.

Several hours and an overheated car later, we finally arrived at the top of the mountain (Aigoual). Beautiful views: apparently on a clear day you can see a third of France from up here. (Today, maybe a tenth!) By now it was 6pm. So, quick tour through the Gorges du Tarn - but only time for one quick stop for a paddle. No stopping for photos - so I have lots of side window shots, mostly with the wing mirror and/or blurry trees in front. I may put some on flickr to give you a laugh.

Finally, at sunset, we arrived in Millau. Perfect (I hear you cry) - just the right time of day for shots of a dramatic bridge. But no: it turns out that sunset at one of the wonders of the modern world is the perfect time for..... a trip to McDonalds.

We finally (grumpily on my part) got to the viaduct after all the good light had disappeared. So here's a panorama of it anyway.

Made it home, finally, at about 1am.