Wheelchair Worries *Puissalicon Edition - Another seven hours in the car

 

photo courtesy of
Brit Hotel privilège

After one of the most comfortable night's sleep I've had - the beds are extremely comfortable. And a pleasant breakfast, it was time to get back on the road again. It was just after 09:00am, we knew it was going to be a long drive, but we were un-aware at this point just how long it would take. Although it wasn't lost on me that the DS could just stop working at any moment, it has form for that.

Pretty soon we reached the first péage (pronounced pay-arge). Certain motorways in France are toll roads. Thinking about it this is probably why the roads are so empty, not because "France is big" as I idiotically said in a previous post.

The first thing I noticed was how big France was. I know that's quite an obvious comment. And how could I notice that just staring out of the window of a car? Well, it was 15:30 and the motorway was fairly empty. As the journey went on there were times when we couldn't see another car

Source: https://www.wheelchairworries.com/2024/10/wheelchair-worries-puissalicon-edition_20.html

The ticket machine was on the driver's side, but as we were in a British right hand drive car, it was up to me to reach out and grab the ticket. Something that we would get quite used to whilst driving to and from the villa. As this was the first occasion Dad lined up the car so that he was closer to the machine, which meant I was further away. And as weren't in a left hand drive car, it was upto the passenger - me. I took my seatbelt off, Dad pushed me towards the window and - fully expecting my dodgy grip to drop the ticket - I did it!

First stop, the toilets. I already knew there wasn't going to be a toilet seat in this tatty looking public bathroom - which I was quite glad about - providing there was a grab rail.

There was a disabled signpost pointing at the loos, so I was hopeful. Success! I got in and there was indeed a grab rail by the toilet. The room was quite large and in the far corner stood a solitary toilet. The room was in fairly good order. I still wouldn't like to touch anything, but I wouldn't have to rush to a Hospital to get a tetanus shot if I did. Maybe they've got a point with this no toilet seat idea...The grab rail was on the right side. My tremors are far worse on the right side and if I hold anything in my right hand I probably will shake. I gripped the grab rail very tight and my hand was trying desperately to waggle itself free. I wouldn't let go so my arm and my body started to shake. I looked across to the empty wall on the opposite side. There was a five metre space between the opposite wall and the front of this toilet bowl. Couldn't another toilet be put here? The grab rail would be on the left then, so somebody with issues on one side could use the other toilet?

I got back in the car, introduced Dad to the world of podcasting by putting on the The Rest Is Entertainment podcast and settled in for a long journey. Did you know that France has the tallest bridge in the world? Me neither! We didn't seem to be too high up, so I've double checked on Wikipedia.

As of October 2023, it is the tallest bridge in the world, having a structural height of 343 metres

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millau_Viaduct

I glimpsed in the wing mirror to the pair of hangers on who'd latched onto us at Le Shuttle and I saw just a pair of feet on the dashboard. French drivers might have been alarmed to see the feet of the driver...

As we got over the bridge the view changed immediately. We seemed to have been transported into a western. The world was suddenly brownish, orange mountains. I was expecting to see bandits in between the rocks pointing rifles at us with questionable moustaches.

Along with the change of scenery, we now had the sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. The journey stayed like this for the remainder of the journey, gone were the motorways. It was single carriage roads all the way, but barely another car shared the roads with us. We got a phone call from the hangers on in the car behind.
"Are your ears popping?"
"I think so", I replied "I keep going deaf, and then I swallow and I can hear again".

Dad checked our elevation on a handy little app on the DS dashboard - this is probably the only time we'll need it, but DS have clearly got their priorities right. The car doesn't always start! But it gets the important things right. We were 3000km high, and it would continue rising to 3400km. It dropped quite significantly after that. After about another hour and a half we arrived.