Monday 3rd June 2013, Sunny, 69 miles
BBC Weather told us rain was due towards the end of the week, so with the wind dropping and a fine, sunny period upon us (hurrah!) we decided to make hay and get out and about as much as possible. The next trip on “L’itineraire du chef” (bosses itinerary) was Pont du Gard. This is close to a lovely town called Uzés which we had visited during a previous trip to the region. It was selected as ze lunch stop and I then attempted to programme the Tomtom to go the way we wanted – on the small roads, cross country.
This was a mistake. The only way to make it do this was to add in towns and villages on the way as intermediate stops. This makes Tom want to go into the centre of each one which is not always necessary and over here involves more speed bumps than I have ever seen in my life. Must be a good business installing those over here – and most of them are too large, covered in scrapes as evidence of that. We found that as long as you know what waypoints to head for, the signposting is very good, so we overruled Tom and he spent most of the trip to Uzés trying to turn us round to go back to a village centre we missed!
Uzés is again in the foothills of the Cevennes, but this time to the east of our location, whereas Anduze was north west. Its larger that Anduze and has a lovely old town centre with a large square featuring a fountain and full of Platagnes (Plane trees) surrounded by galleried buildings with shops and of course a large number of restaurants, all with outside seating offered. Perfect.
As we ate I watched a road mender wander across to the fountain with his bucket, put some water in, swill it around whilst heading for a nearby drain into which he deposited the contents before refilling from the fountain and heading back to mix a bit more cement. Typically French and practical. The parking of motorbikes and scooters is the same. You arrive and look around to see which bit of pavement is favoured for this and leave it there with the others. Occasionally there are designated areas, but in general there is a very relaxed attitude to 2-wheeled parking which means we can always go right to the centre of any town and find somewhere to stop. Can you imagine that happening in England? There they just have to find a way to regulate and charge for the parking – just go to West Bay and you will see what I mean.
From Uzés we zipped down the main road to Pont du Gard. Here we did have to pay as parking in the barriered car park was compulsory, though a helpful attendant did tell us bikes were cheaper and to pay in the shop, not at the machine which would not recognise this.
Pont du Gard is, well, amazing. It’s the remains of a bridge/aqueduct built 2000 years ago by the Romans to take water from the source at Uzés to Nimes – a large Roman town some 50km away. Despite the entry fee you don’t get a guide book without paying more, and there are virtually no information placards on the site, just a large overview panel at the visitor entry area. My France guide book tells me its 160ft high and the section still existing was the highest bridge the Romans built where it crosses a major river valley. Apparently it was in use for up to 500 years. Later much of it was destroyed so the stone could be used to build other things. But the part you get to see here is stunning in its scale and condition.
You get to walk across the lower section of arches, looking up at the 2 levels above. Either side you can climb the hills to look down on it. The views are fabulous. A notice at one side advises that there is access to the top, but only for groups by pre-arrangement, so B was denied the spiral staircase this time, but did have me go up a large number of steps on each side to see the high level views!
Ah, yes, now I remember – see some steps and always go up them – mantra from 2012 trip.
Uzes town square, photo taken from the restaurant.
The stunning Pont du Gard
No, its not an ancient tomb, its the top of the Pont du Gard and a very disappointed B – spiral staircase found but not accessible!!