Scale the heights

From the world’s tallest viaduct to a medieval marvel standing just 11 metres high, Joanna Leggett scours the country for highly sought-after homes close to France’s most spectacular bridges

- Joanna Leggett

I think everyone knows the words to the popular children’s song ‘Sur le Pont d’Avignon’ – though why anyone would want to dance on a bridge which only crosses half a river beats me. Leaving that particular example aside, France has the most beautiful bridges. With their Gallic charm, they somehow seem more romantic. From the earliest arch and beam bridges to newest suspension and truss bridges, any pontist (lover of bridges) will find something that fascinates, amazes and charms.

Two millennia ago, the Romans built many bridges and aqueducts in France which are still used today, the most famous being the Pont du Gard. Constructed in the 1st century AD to carry water from Uzès down to the Roman colony of Nemausu (today’s Nîmes), its three tiers of arches still straddle the River Gardon in this most impressive and graceful of structures.

One of my favourite bridges has to be the contemporary and elegant Pont de Normandie – the last bridge to cross the Seine before it empties out into the Channel. When it was completed 21 years ago, it was the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge at over 2km long. It makes a real impression after you leave the busy port of Le Havre to segue into Normandy ready to be seduced by the charms of Honfleur.

The Seine, of course, is famed for many outstanding bridges. Monet painted the pont at Argenteuil no less than seven times – once a rural escape for Parisians, these days it is an outer suburb of the city. Other Impressionists from Renoir to Sisley also captured its beauty on canvas, as well as the Realist painter Caillebotte.