Thursday, May 9
43 km
(Get the full effect: click on the pictures!)
Today was a single-destination ride, out to the Pont du Gard and back, 20 pleasant km each way. And hardly any climbing.
The Pont du Gard is like other huge monuments, impossible to conceive without being there. The pictures can’t convey its magnitude and its magnificence.
This aquaduct is part of a 50-km system built in the first century to bring water from a natural spring at Uzès to the burgeoning settlement of Nemausos, now known as Nîmes. It carried 40,000 cubic meters of water every day, over a drop of a mere 17 metres. I could give you a bunch more factoids, but for us, now, the significance lies in its beauty, the precision of the engineering that made it, and the fact that it is so well preserved. A part of the reason for its preservation is that the lower level was doubled in the 18th Century to make a footbridge. One cannot risk ancient limestone blocks falling on one’s head when crossing a river, therefore, the aquaduct was maintained. That’s how I understand it, so that’s my story.
We were able to spend more than two hours at the Pont, picnicking by the river, walking the bridge and the paths through the surrounding brush, and climbing the steps to the aquaduct itself. At this time of year, the top level is not open to visitors. I think they take groups across in the summer by pre-arrangement. I’m not sure I would have the courage to go, it’s that high above the river bed.
We rode back to the barge, winding as always on back roads and bike trails, through farmlands and villages.
43 km
(Get the full effect: click on the pictures!)
Today was a single-destination ride, out to the Pont du Gard and back, 20 pleasant km each way. And hardly any climbing.
The Pont du Gard is like other huge monuments, impossible to conceive without being there. The pictures can’t convey its magnitude and its magnificence.
This aquaduct is part of a 50-km system built in the first century to bring water from a natural spring at Uzès to the burgeoning settlement of Nemausos, now known as Nîmes. It carried 40,000 cubic meters of water every day, over a drop of a mere 17 metres. I could give you a bunch more factoids, but for us, now, the significance lies in its beauty, the precision of the engineering that made it, and the fact that it is so well preserved. A part of the reason for its preservation is that the lower level was doubled in the 18th Century to make a footbridge. One cannot risk ancient limestone blocks falling on one’s head when crossing a river, therefore, the aquaduct was maintained. That’s how I understand it, so that’s my story.
We were able to spend more than two hours at the Pont, picnicking by the river, walking the bridge and the paths through the surrounding brush, and climbing the steps to the aquaduct itself. At this time of year, the top level is not open to visitors. I think they take groups across in the summer by pre-arrangement. I’m not sure I would have the courage to go, it’s that high above the river bed.
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| We picnicked by the river |
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| and posed for strangers. |
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| The added-on bridge beside the original aquaduct |
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| The water channel at the top |
We rode back to the barge, winding as always on back roads and bike trails, through farmlands and villages.
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| More Camargue white horses, happy for the greener grass. Photo by Carlos Seguel. |
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| Poppy field |
1 comment:
That is one incredible structure!
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