Pont-du-Gard
Wednesday 13th September
I have waited 40 years to see Pont-du-Gard and it certainly did not disappoint. When Geoff and I were backpacking through Europe in 1983-84 we visited Avignon but missed out on coming to Pont-du-Gard. It’s a 15 minute bus ride from Uzes and wow, what a sight.
The aqueduct is 50kms in length from Nimes to Uzes with 17 overhead constructions of which Pont-du-Gard is by far the largest. There are also 3 tunnels. The general variation in levels does not exceed 12.3 metres with the average slope being 25cm/km.
Pont-du-Gard was built in the 1st century. It’s the tallest of all Roman aqueduct bridges with the upper tier being 275 metres long, 6.4 metres wide and 50 metres high. On the upper tier there remain 35 spans, the mid level has 11 and the lowest tier has 6. It functioned as an aqueduct until the 6th century.
Interestingly the Gardon River looks very similar to the Burdekin River at Macrossan.