Mountain Drive

Today we took a little drive into the mountains! It was a *hot* day (36°C / 97°F), and we took full advantage of the car's air conditioner 😎...

This was definitely a seat-of-the-pants day - at 11 something, we decided that we were going, so we took off. My only real goal was to get to the panoramic view point of Fontfroide - everything else was up for grabs. I looked up just as we passed this bridge at Lamalou-Les Bains, and immediately pulled off for a photo or two

We went on to another town, and tried to park - first to one side of the main road, then the other - we ate our picnic lunch in the shade, but didn't really see anything too inspiring - then we had a rather round about drive to get back to the main road. But, we're exploring, so...

On to Olargues! I followed the centre-ville sign instead of looping around the town - it's designated as a "Plus Beau Village" (Most Beautiful Village), and has a Devil's Bridge!

The town

Devil's Bridge (from the 12th century) 

View from the bridge 

I had parked the car at the Town Hall (shady, free, short walk to anywhere), so returned and then went on.

To the Panoramic! Wow, that road was winding! But worth it!

Heather, I think 

See all those mountains? And that road?

On our way back down the mountain, we stopped for another view...

Look at that isolated town!

Mountains!

Here's another view of the winding road...

We came back home along a slightly different route - all along our drive, no matter the route, we passed a *ton* of vineyards and tasting rooms! We did not stop, but it's filed away for later 😁