The French Hikers’ Guide to Hiking in France ™

Part Two

An impressive span

Why the Pont du Gard and not L’Aqueduct du Gard? Technically, it is both; for the aqueduct sits on top of a double bridge of exceptional height and arch-span by Roman standards. Of its 50 kms in length from Uzes to Nimes, 90 per cent of it was laid underground in order to avoid costly works of art like Le Pont. It was in perfect working order for around 140 years from its construction, around the second half of the first century AD. With the destruction of the Roman Empire, it fell into disrepair. Its first twelve arches of the third level were destroyed in the middle ages, and used to build the stone churches in Vers-Pont-du-Gard and Castillon-du-Gard, as well as some farmsteads that adorn the hinterland. By the fourteenth century, it had been transformed into a road bridge on the growing highway that linked Uzes to Beaucaire, a function that served as the saviour of Le Pont, which was finally restored in the late seventeenth century. Subsequent widening of the first level took place in the eighteenth century and further restorative work was carried out a century later. It was listed in France’s first list of major monuments in 1840.

Stones hewn from nearby garrigue quarries

The mill on the Gardon’s left bank, near The Pont, was built in 1858 and the first tourists would have arrived around 1860 by rail, probably from Lyon. A rail station was opened in the vicinity as well as a staging post for horse-drawn carriages. A trolleybus line finally opened in 1927. During WWII some uninvited guests, in the shape of La Wehrmacht, turned the vicinity of Le Pont into a veritable militarised zone. Miraculously, their plan to blow up the whole area was saved by a break in the electric power cable installed to set off the explosion. It took the Americans two years to clear up post-war. Le Pont became a UNESCO world heritage site in 1985 In 2002, and the last of the ‘gardonnades,’ (the exceptional flooding that follows intense rains in The Cevennes) saw the Gardon’s waters almost reaching the top of the first arch. When the waters subsided the tourists returned and Le Pont is now the second most visited site in France.

It's all yours out of season

Most visitors do little more than buy an ice-cream and walk across the first level. More committed tourists will scramble up one side and photograph loved-ones beneath the arches. Unfortunately the top level of the structure, the aqueduct itself, was closed to the public in 1989 as a result of too many dramatic suicides. The best chance you have of walking across it now is to join one of the many school groups that qualify for guided walks.

But do not fret. You, the inveterate hiker, whose energy knows no bounds, have earned the right to see Le Pont from various vantage points as few others do. And the view from the western side of the structure, looking downstream, is far superior to the one that first hits you.

Tracing the remains of the viaduct

You then have the choice of continuing your hike onwards through he garrigue to ‘Vers,’ with the chance to walk alongside some of the remains of the aqueduct; or, alternatively, simply complete your loop via the tunnel hewn out of the limestone ridge above Le Pont in 1863. The walk back to your starting point takes you along a fine stony trail, typical of garrigue territory, and gives you plenty of time to ponder over and replay the images of that marvel of the Roman Empire that progress and serendipity conjoined to save for posterity.

Whether you opt for the 8-kilometre ‘boucle’ or the 16-kilometre figure-of-eight, your return to Uzes, and the source of the water that fed Nimes two millennia ago, is perfect closure to a memorable cultural hike.

Closing the enchanting circle

Those wishing to walk this tour can do so as part of our Walking Tour Provence or our Hiking Provence-Gard programmes.