Walking the Pont du Gard and the Gardon Gorge
Part One
Arrival at The Gorge
I am thrilled to have the opportunity to join my compatriots in talking about hiking in France. I like to hike regularly and do a couple of ‘boulces’ (circular trails) each week. I live in a village called Générac, just south of Nimes, and want to share with you one of my favourite walks in Provence (or ‘randonnées’ as we call them), around the Gardon Gorge and across the Pont du Gard.
As is the case with all my hikes, I choose the time of the year carefully to avoid the crowds that naturally flock to one of France’s great Roman monuments. That might sound a bit ‘snobbish’ or arrogant but, to use a Frenchman’s favourite example, given the choice to eat in your favourite restaurant, when would you go – the peaceful midweek or the chaotic weekend? I rest my case! So if you want to avoid meeting people like me at Le Pont, go at lunchtime; and if you want to miss those irritating school groups that tend to litter the lower causeway in the name of education, get there early morning or late afternoon.
Wash-rooms at St Bonnet
As for the time of year, my favourite is autumn, when both I and my object of reverence, can bask in the special sunlight that one finds at the end of the autumnal Provençal day. And we are walking Provence after all, that’s the reality on the ground, however much the central authorities might like to tell you that you are in the administrative region of Languedoc-Roussillon.
So let’s get stuck into the walk itself, shall we? Have a good breakfast (favour bread or toast rather than the croissants or pain chocolate) and natural honey will give you all the energy you need for the day’s hike. Save the cotton for your ‘après rando’ activities and don your micro-fibre shirts and synthetic shorts to ensure maximum ventilation and drying.
Late afternoon above St Bonnet
I have planned or recommended a number of walks in Provence for Walking in Languedoc. Ideally, I try to get the ‘challenging’ bit out of the way in the morning, give you a nice spot for lunch, and build in generally more relaxed walking in the afternoon. And for me personally, if there is something noteworthy en route, you have to earn the right to see it. In the context of walking the Gardon Gorge and its jewel in the crown, that means avoiding arriving directly at the new monster-of-a-visitor-centre-cum-car-park on the Rive Gauche. It’s ‘tacky’ or ‘dring dring,’ a phrase much in use under the Sarkozy regime, and represents everything wrong with state-led ‘tourisme’ in France.
The back-door route via the tourist causeway
I prefer to commence my Pont du Gard walking tour from a little village called St Bonnet, although there are alternative options. The village itself is naturally quaint and un-commercial; and for the few who take the trouble to climb to its fortified church, the views on offer are superb. Its ‘lavoirs,’ or open-air wash rooms, are also something ‘hors du normal.’
The hike commences on a small tarmac road, but you soon get onto a rather steep and stony limestone path. This takes you to the first pass from where you descend into the undergrowth along a trail heavily denuded by the seasonal rains. On a hot day you will be thankful for the over-head cover and you get to see some remains of the aqueduct high up on either side of the trail before you arrive at the Gardon gorge itself.
View along the gorge towards Castillon
Ignore the car park and the conference centre (not built by Emperor Augustus), leave the causeway and walk along the right bank of the Gardon towards Le Pont. It appears almost from nowhere, through the meridional sunlight. And your first glimpse of the enormity of this majestic structure, straddling the gorge, is one of those breath-taking moments that few other lowland hikes can boast. The enormity of Rome’s achievement is startling, and the aura that surrounds the grandiose edifice, chastening.
Part Two of this hiking post can be read here.
For a drive-hike tour that includes walking Le Pont, see Hiking Provence-Gard
For an inn-to-inn walking tour that takes you right along the Gardon Valley, see Walking tour Provence
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