October 11, 2022
The Pont du Gard
Best ride since the Loire Valley
We’re excited about getting in a good ride today to the Pont du Gard, a massive 2,000-year-old Roman aqueduct. Our first idea was to see both the Pont du Gard and the city of Nimes where the water flowed from the aqueduct. After our big day in Arles, the extra stop feels like piling on so we scratch Nimes from the plan.
We could do a 70k ride round trip from Arles but want to have plenty of time to hike around the Pont and see the museum, so we’ll catch a short train north to Tarascon and keep the ride under 50k today.
Boarding the train in Arles is easy, detraining in Tarascon not so much. Getting from the platform to the street requires carrying the bikes up two flights of stairs and bumping them down two more. I tend to bruise and nick my shins on these awkward bike portages and come away from this trip with a greasy chain ring gouge. You’d think I would be better at this by now.
Riding out from Tarascon we have to navigate some busy workaday traffic to the bridge over the Rhone that isn't much fun but soon we’re on a quiet road in Beaucaire by the river. Much better. Another 3k or so takes us to the Voie Verte, a greenway near the Gardon which is a tributary of the Rhone.
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Part packed gravel, part paved, the Voie Verte is a beautiful trail running past horse farms and flower gardens that scent the air. Its a sunny day in the 70s, and the pedaling is low stress. After our short city rides the last few days it feels good to get out in the country and hammer a bit.
We have some company on the path - some guys out on a club ride, moms pushing double and quadruple strollers and a bike tour group. It’s nice seeing other people out enjoying the day.
After about an hour and a half, the Pont du Gard comes into view, an awesome sight. It's the tallest Roman aqueduct in the world, almost 50 meters high. Built in the first century, it could carry 40,000 cubic meters of water a day over the third tier to fill the baths and fountains of Nimes. It’s mind-boggling to think about what it took to cut and haul these huge stones to create this beautiful structure in just five years.
The bike path has taken us to the Rive Droite, the right bank. We lock up the bikes and take a stroll over the newer bridge that adjoins the ancient first tier to get to the Rive Gauche - the left bank.
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There’s a museum on the Rive Gauche that sounds interesting. Just as we walk up to it an alarm goes off for some unknown emergency. No problem, there’s a little walking trail we can take around the grounds while we wait for the museum to reopen. The path goes through a Mediterranean landscape of vines, grain fields, olive trees, mulberry and fruit-bearing trees. Structures here and there show how humans shaped the landscape before the 19th century. It's a lovely walk and we take plenty of time to wander.
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Circling back to the visitor center, it's lunchtime. I get a good salad at the bistro and Barry finds a weird looking extra long hot dog encased in a baguette with ketchup inside. All good washed down with a local beer of the Camargue region.
The museum has a great 15 minute film about how the Pont was constructed with beautiful aerial photography and a craftsman demonstrating how they cut the stones. The laborious process took days to cut each one. We learn that the aqueducts the Romans built on their conquered territories were like "stone flags, linking territorial development with high-level technological performance.” These mighty works were part of a strategy to impress the locals and get them in line as citizens of the Empire. Evidently the strategy worked. Water from the aqueduct filled at least 6 public baths in Nimes where the Roman practice of taking a daily hot bath became part of their social life.
We take our time strolling back over the bridge in the warm afternoon sun before unhitching the bikes. The return ride to Tarascon is just as pleasant as this morning. I suppose we could continue the ride all the way back to Arles, but haven't scoped out a route and don't want to pollute today's zen experience with anything stressful. We haven't spent much time just hanging out on this trip and there's a sidewalk cafe by the train station that's calling my name.
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Dinner at Le Criquet in Arles is elegant. My soup de poisson isn't the bouillabaise I hoped for. It's more of a thick broth, no hunks of fish but it comes with a spread of bread, aioli and cheese, very tasty. The servers are attentive and enthusiastic. Lovely place to cap off a great day on the bikes.
Today's ride: 46 km (29 miles)
Total: 523 km (325 miles)
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