Gorges du Tarn
It was more than a few months ago that I went to the Tarn Gorge. It was about 1969 (Yes, I really am that old.) In our trip this year we are going to Millau and I would like to visit the gorge again.
Can anyone please recommend a village that will provide good views of the gorge, preferably with a little restaurant that will provide a decent lunch?
Thank you
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The best views of the gorge looking down on it were from Point Sublime but I can't remember if there was a restaurant there.
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Only ice cream and cold drinks I recall!
Almost as good a view as from Point Sublime is from the campsite at St Rome de Dolan nearby - perched on the rim of the gorge but with easy access by diverting from the A75 at junction 43 - so we had a few days there before going on down into Millau. That campsite has been smartened up in recent years but is still a classic 15 euro municipal site - and a wonderful spot for bird watchers to count the vultures circling overhead as they come up out of the gorge.
But no restaurant there either. Sorry.
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I've been through the gorge a couple of times on a motorcycle and I'm afraid wasn't nearly as impressed as some seem to be - mostly because of the long queues of slow vehicles. Maybe if you're one of the slow vehicles it's not so bad!
I once stopped for a meal in the gorge and it was very disappointing (although of course that may have been an exception). So one of the very few parts of France to which I'm in no hurry to return.
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I would stay in Riviere sur Tarn, in the wider bottom part of the Valley, and take a couple of days to see the Gorge properly (from above and along the Gorge itself). Each day I would take yourselves good picnic. For one drive you could do the whole gorge up to Ste Enemie. On another day you could drive up the Gorge as far as Les Vignes, then cross the river and drive up the D995 to the top where you can stop for your picnic and look down on the Gorge, then cross the 'Causse' and drop down into Meyrueis and have coffee at one of the street restaurants, preferably one near to the Patisserie where you can have the most delicious choice of pastries and quiches. From Meyreuis drive back down the Gorges du Jonte and stop to see the vultures soaring overhead, then back to the campsite in Riviere sur Tarn. Or you could drive up the other side of the gorge to the pont Sublime, or up the road to Le Massegros.
We love that area dn unlike Iansoad have never had wall to wall traffic - but then we go either very early in the year, or towards the end of August/early September. We shall probably be back there some time this year.0 -
We stayed in Le Rozier Peyreleau last September and used http://www.camping-lerozier.com/en/ It was OK (cheap, spacious, pool, decent facilities etc) but was deep in the wooded valley and did get dark by mid afternoon and although it was walkable into the village - bars, restaurants etc we wouldn't use again as it did seem gloomy. Good drives as Valda says up the Tarn and Jonte gorges. There are loads of sites to choose from. Good hunting.
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That's why my recommendation would be to stay in the 'wider part of the valley' - it really does make a difference to the length of time you get in the sunshins. We also love Riviere sur Tarn because it's easier to get into Millau to visit the Viaduct, for a big shop or fuel, the twice weekly market, or the lovely Monday night market - but it's away from the hustle and bustle of the town itself. Excellent bread there, too, one of our favourites.
There are a few lovely sites in that area which accept the ACSI Card and so will cost only 12 euros per night - including one (Camping Le Pont) at La Boyne, just up the road from Riviere and still in a wide part of the valley, and that scores 8.5 out of 10. The ACSI pictures don't do it justice - it has a lovely swimming pool and very good sanitaires.
In Millau itself there is almost a competition amongst sites, with advertising boards outside several sites promoting their 12 euro ACSI Card rate. Other 12 euro sites we love in that area are Camping Saint Lambert along the Dourbie at Millau, and Camping Les Deux Vallees at Nant. Another 'used to be favourite' was Val de Cantobre, but we haven't been back since our friends Clare and Pierre-Francois sold it in 2009 - we felt it was the end of an era after many visits there..
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