Day 8
A little back up history of Simone's trip prior to boarding the boat for the canal du midi. The pictures of the Viaduct de Millau (Mee-yo) was part of that trip.
It is a breathtaking masterpiece, setting world records for height with masts reaching 340 meters, 2460 meters long, it is multi-span, cable-stayed and provides 2w driving lanes in each direction, skipping over the Tarn Valley touching down only at 9 points. It has a streamlined steel bridge-deck supported by cable-stays and resting upon 7 very slim piers constructed with high-grade concrete. It climbs a gentle slope of 3% from north to south and has a slight curve on-plan. It is a magnificent sight as you drive up to it. The next morning as we drove out of the area, we could see the clouds hanging below the bridge.
Unforgetable.
Your reporter, Trudi, is back again
We docked at Columbiens last night and dined out at a little bisto which served paella. Great! On our way to Capistang. But let us back up a bit. Yesterday we went through the seven locks - like climbing Niagara Falls by boat!
There are tiered water chambers over a length of 300 meters, raising us 21.5 meters. Roaring waters fill each basin as you await the lock master to proceed forward. As if that wasn't enough of a thrill, we then had a water overpass over the Orb River!
Apparently this area used to flood at times and boats would flounder on the Midii Canal as they tried to transverse across the Orb so the French engineers looked after that problem! Today we climbed a mountain (ON FOOT) to view a circle of farmland that used to be a lake. The plots of land come out from the center like sections of an orange.
There are three drainage canals to take care of the water that collects in the area and an underground watering system for the farmland that remains. Three tunnels emerge from this area - one for the train, another for the water and the other for the Canal. Remarkable engineering skills built between 13th and 17th century. To the social part of the blog now -
Simone continues to provide us with meals even the French would appreciate! The sign of a grocery store makes her eyes light up and there is an ongoing list for future food. Life's good and we are happy and healthy.
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