A water transporter and a water source.

Written 6^th May 2012

Today was a fun day. We drove on the Peage over to Pont du guard. I first went there when I was 10 and was really impressed (and enjoyed an ice block with 3 fruit shaped bits on it in strawberry, orange and lemon (or pineapple?)) I went back again with Tim, Chris and Callan, and now I wanted to show Steve cause it is really awesome. It is part of the remains of a roman aqueduct. An aqueduct's job is to transport water from one place to the other. They had to survey the land and figure out the best rout for the aqueduct to take. In some places the made big tunnels and other places it twisted and turned to follow the contour of the land. When the aqueduct came to a valley they built a bride. I think it was 50 kilometers long originally and was built in 50Ad. They think it took about 15 years to build it. I thought that didn't seem like all that long considering the tools they had to build it and the weight of the stone etc. Although I think they must have had a lot of man power going on it. The aqueduct took water to the city called Nimes. There it was distributed to communal fountains though lead pipes where people would come and collect it. If the fountains overflowed the water cleaned the streets. As you probably know the lead pipes were the downfall of the Romans. A pity as they were a rather clever bunch it seems. Later during the middle ages the surrounding towns and villages nicked off with heaps of the stone to build churches and stuff and stole all the cool decorations and stuff to put in them too cause they couldn't be assed to get in the quarry and dig out some more stone. (Although I suppose you could argue they were recycling/reusing.) They dismantled massive parts of the aqueduct including 12 more arches that continues on from the aqueduct that is left. What a shame. Anyhow, we had a nice time admiring the aqueduct and walking around the paths that are near it.

We paddled our feet in the water under it (and watched a cute little naked toddler through river stones at his slightly older naked sister as they had a proper paddle). After that we had a look around the museum and then hit the road again heading for Fontain de Vaulcluse. Fontain de Vaulcluse was a place that Tim, Chis, Callan, and I accidentally stumbled across on our last trip and which we really loved and wanted to stay longer. It has lovely green weeds growing in the waterways which makes the crisp clear water look electric green. The water was really flowing a lot more than last time I came here. Steve and I were going to stay in the same hostel I visited last time but it seemed like it had been shut down. (But no one has bothered to take the signs down that point you in the direction of it so if you didn't know it was supposed to be in that building you would just keep driving along this narrow road going into the middle of no where, wondering when you were going to get to the hostel!)

So we parked the car and went for a stroll and found out there was a camp site just down the road a little more. If was mayhem in town with people everywhere (mostly French - it is a French holiday apparently). We went back to the car and found the campsite – right next to the river, and set up camp.


Then we walked back to the picturesque village (it's not far).

I bought some jewelry from a place that I liked last time I came but never bought any. We walked through the old paper mill which is still making paper using it's water wheel.

Then looked in the nice shops. Next we walked up to the fontain (spring) and it was so full! Last time it was nearly empty, this time it was in full flow. It is very beautiful.

The eroded cliff above it is over 200 metres tall and blocks the end of the norrow geen canon. The spring is the biggest in Europe. It has an average flow of 630 million cubic metres a year. It is one of the biggest springs in the world with respect to the volume of flowing water. We really just wanted to dive in. It is so clear and blue. It is the start of the Sougue river which is apparently a top fishing river because of the clean clear water. Interestingly the water stays at 13 degrees all year long. The hole is 308 metres deep. It was first explored by a diver in 1878 and he got down to 23m. In 1938 a fellow found the first guy's boat (which had obviously sunk) at 30 m and thought that was the bottom. People continued to dive down deeper and deeper until in 1985 they found it was 308m deep! In 2002 they began discovering Roman coins in there and in 2003 they had discovered over 1600 coins and objects ranging in age from 80BC to 450AD. Evidently this has been quite a popular spot for quite a while.
After the fontain we tried a crepe. I had Nutella which seems to be France's favourite flavour. You can get the massivest jars of it here! It was yummy and hot and all the Nutella was meltingly delicious.

Steve had a beer at a restaurant with a view and then we came back to camp and played 500. Now Steve is reading and now I'm going to have a read too! Bon nuit! (Say it like “bon nui”.) Xoxo Amy.