Rodez, France
March 2010

The other day I read on Wikipedia that around 10 tourists a year make the mistake of travelling to Rodez when they intend to travel to Rhodes. Whoops! Talk about a disappointment! Then again, you'd have to be pretty silly to make such a mistake, considering Rhodes is in Greece and Rodez is in France!

Anyway, we are intentionally going to Rodez in the Aveyron region of France for a long weekend in early March. I know it's in the middle of nowhere, but it's supposed to be pretty and we're getting a night in a hotel for free thanks to our bank's loyalty scheme (I have a feeling we're paying them too much!).

Our 3-day weekend trip will look something like this:

• Friday
• Leave Toulouse around 9.30am
• Arrive in Saint Cirq Lapopie at around 11am for a visit and a picnic lunch by the river if it's nice, or a meal at one of the village restaurants if not.
• After lunch, drive a further hour and a half to Rodez, our main destination, where we will be staying for two nights.
• Saturday
• Visit Rodez and surrounds
• Sunday
• Leave Rodez bright and early at around 8am and drive for an hour to Millau to see and tour the world's tallest vehicular bridge, which is actually taller than the Eiffel tower!
• After Millau, take a 30-minute drive down to Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, the home of Roquefort cheese! We've done the Papillon tour before, so this time we'll either do a tour of another cheesemaker or it will just be a pit stop to buy cheese and olive oil from Papillon.
• Late lunch and wine tasting in Gaillac followed by a stroll around the town centre.
• And finally a short 50-minute drive home from Gaillac to Toulouse

Roundtrip distance: 490 km

Watch this space for photos and a write up of our trip!