Yet another hotel with lousy wifi. There’s no excuse for wifi that’s much slower than the mobile phone network. I’ve taken to mostly using my phone as a hotspot for the ipad and ignoring the hotel wifi.
We had not planned to drive over the Millau Bridge this time, but under it, as the Tour de France did in July, in stage 15. We drove north over the bridge 11 years ago. Today, a navigational error led us to climb out of the valley and intersect the A75 north of the bridge. The best way to get onto the correct road, the D992, was to pay the toll, cross the bridge and drive back down. We pulled off and spent an hour at the visitor centre and bridge viewpoint, as we did in 2007.
Florac, on the N106, the main road across the Parc national des Cevennes, looks to have seen better days, not just last month but long ago. Most of it looked grim and impoverished. The Hotel de Gorges du Tarn was in a side street. It’s part of the Logis group of three star hotels that boast superior restaurants. We didn’t want to spend well over $100 on dinner, so went in search of an alternative. There were several other couples prowling around too; we kept meeting in quiet back streets. In the main square, just a couple of bars with the usual clientele of older local men. There appeared to be only one alternative to returning to the hotel and reluctantly signing on for the evening sitting. But it was very good.
Our room in the hotel was small, 4m x 2.5m with a smallish bed, plus a 4sq m bathroom. The wifi was unusable, no air conditioning. Yet when we returned to the hotel the dining room was very busy. It’s interesting that people who can afford gourmet dining are willing to put up with second rate accommodation.
The general state of Florac reminded me that when we drove across this same area on minor roads in 2007 the villages had the same appearance of poverty. It would be one of the less prosperous areas in France.