Road-Trip 2008: Day 2

Scott and I had known of the bridge courtesy of Top Gear because of that episode where the lads drove down through France to get to the bridge. It has since become quite a common landmark for road-trippers through Europe, and we wanted to visit it.

Sadly, we were no where near it two years ago, but this road-trip was different.

The bridge only costs a few Euros to cross, and is the only tolled section of the A75 motorway. The bridge itself is 2.5km long, holding the roadway nearly 300m up above the valley, earning itself the title of being the world's tallest road bridge. It's an absolutely amazing accomplishment in engineering and architecture.

The A75 abruptly ends and squeezes down into a painfully slow national road in Pézenas. After driving down a nearly empty motorway, the difference was awful. The congestion and poor signs make this a very painful area to drive through, which might explain why most people were avoiding the A75!

To further avoid tolls, we followed the A9 down until Le Boulou, the last exit in France before entering Spain, where we intended on continuing on national roads.

We stopped for lunch at a quirky place with fairly good food on the intersection of the D900 and Route du Boulou, before heading down through the bizarre Le Perthus and the awful La Jonquera. It was there that we got stuck behind a truck on the N-Ⅱ practically all the way until our destination.

Finally around mid-afternoon we reached Aigua Blava — The center of Cath & Max's wedding events. Considering around 150 of us were descending on this tiny place, hotel places were limited, so we were actually staying in what I can only presume are normally staff quarters above the pizzeria La Miranda.

While the accommodation was simply a room with a bed, and a tiny bathroom, it did come with its own private terrace and some stunning views! This hastily constructed panorama doesn't do it justice.

Cath runs her own events company, Ta Bas Co, and has organised her own wedding. Given the references for her company, the event should be pretty impressive. Indeed, already the location has made a big impression on me!