South west france recommendations sought

Northbound - the A63 through the Landes forests has little appeal so choose an inland route. Make for Le Temple sur Lot which is about 40 miles south of Bergerac and visit the Latour Marliac gardens. They supplied Claude Monet with all the water lilies he painted so obsessively in his own garden at Giverny. You may not want to buy any but it’s a lovely garden to stroll around and they do elegant lunches.

Southbound. Use the Somport tunnel if you wish but you may not enjoy the number of HGVs which crawl up the twisting winding slope on the French side. As you are driving solo you can take the road a little way to the west and over the Col de La Pierre St Martin .It starts from the village of Arrette on the French side and is numbered D132 there. It is far more scenic and is a good road as it was widened when the Tour de France went that way and dozens of television and camera crews used it. There are You tube videos on line of the drive if you have doubts.

Thank you eurotraveller. Re the HGV jam up to somport tunnel/pass - we are making the journey south into Spain on the second Sunday in May. Does the french Sunday HGV ban still exist ? We are heading for Jaca in Spain hence initially thinking about the Somport route although the St Martin pass sounds promising.

Yes, HGVs are still restricted, though the views of mountain scenery through an 8.5 km tunnel are not great. You could try the original road over the Somport Pass