Floating through Italy on the Adige!

We were on the train almost to Verona when we crossed over the Adige river and wondered if there were any canoeing opportunities there. As canoeists we are always UP for spending some time on a river.  Upon arrival in Verona in the evening we emailed Adige Rafting and they were so quick with their response that we were ready to paddle in the morning. 


We had never heard of the Adige but we were ready to go.   We took a taxi to their offices, which was hard to find, but it was right on the river outside of town. Once we arrived at the canoe outfitters, we found that their "canoes" were actually canoe-shaped air-filled rafts!  We all pitched in to help get our canoes ready filling them up with air.


The Adige is a swift flowing river that was easy to paddle. It had recently rained so the water was murky from the runoff.  Usually, we were told, the river is quite clear.  The water was cool and refreshing.  We did get splashed a little once when we went through a short rapid.  We were impressed with the cleanliness of the river.  This river ran right through the populous city of Verona and yet there was no trash, not even washed up on the shore.

Wolfgang was our guide as we took the 2 hour run down the river.  Wolfgang, originally from Switzerland, was in a sleek kayak and paddled circles around us.  He was along to interpret some of the buildings and historical bridges we were seeing and setting them in to their historical context.  It was very interesting!


Canoeing under each bridge the guide instructed us to paddle across the eddy created by the bridge column so we could stop in the calm water and talk about the history of the particular bridge.


This is the Ponte (bridge) Scaligero which we stopped to examine.  Notice the historic design built in the 14th century and then rebuilt after being damaged in WWII.  This bridge provided an escape route for the local feudal ruler to leave the Castelvecchio in case of need.  The castle is a must see in Verona.

We passed by another bridge, Ponte Pietra which was built in 100 BC by Romans, destroyed in WWII and then restored in 1959.  We could see the earlier sections built of white stone combined with the newer red brick.  The different sections tying the centuries together.


Going through Verona there was not much wildlife although we did see several ducks which looked like USA mallard ducks.

A van met us at the take-out on the other side of the city, and it was a quick ride to our AirBnB.  We were dropped back in the city in time for lunch.

A canoe trip on the Adige is a great way to get an introduction to the city of Verona. The trip on the river helped us make our itinerary for the afternoon.  As we passed different places we said to ourselves, "Oh, we need to make sure we go there!"

Where are the PUT INS on Rivers in Kentucky? A turn around on the Kentucky River.

Where are the PUT INS on Kentucky Rivers?

A Turn Around on the Kentucky River

Kentucky is crisscrossed with miles and miles of rivers but canoeing on them can sometimes feel like you are solving a puzzle.  Where can you put in?  Where can you take out?  What is the security at each spot like?  Is the access close to the river?  Even after you think you have done enough research to spend some time on the river, even when you think you have identified the take out spot in a book, we find that the available literature and the river reality are quite different things.

Armed with the Kentucky Atlas (Topo maps of the entire state), a booklet called "Kentucky's Boating and Fishing access sites" put out by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, and the book "A Canoeing and Kayaking Guide to Kentucky"  by Bob Sehlinger and Johnny Molloy we thought we had all that we needed to know!

We wanted to canoe in pool 2 from Big Twin Creek bridge on Hwy 355 to General Butler State Park.  It took us a few turn arounds to find the put in on Twin Eagle Creek Bridge on Hwy 355.  It was hidden by overgrown brush and not real near the bridge itself.  Headed north on Hwy 355, it is on the left side of the road after the bridge over the creek.  There is paved put in with a small parking lot.  Parking and river access are good.

We then traveled to General Butler State Park to leave a car at the take out.  The "Canoeing and Kayaking Guide to Kentucky" has only a vague arrow pointing to a takeout place off of Hwy 227.  Kentucky's Boating and Fishing Access Sites listed General Butler State Park take out with directions saying "KY 227 to park".  When we asked several General Butler staff about where the access to the Kentucky River was located in the park, they had NO IDEA.  They had no idea that the park's boundaries even included the Kentucky River.  They could tell us about the Ohio River, but not the Kentucky River!  After searching for 1/2 hour, we decided to forget trying to find a takeout spot. We had small children in our group and it was getting late and so it would be difficult to canoe the 8 miles before dark. This experience doesn't say much for the staff or literature telling us about the natural resources in our own state.

We drove back to Big Twin Creek, where the rest of our canoeing group was waiting.  This access requires canoeing several hundred feet on the creek before reaching the Kentucky River. We chose to paddle upstream 2 miles and then float back to the put in.  That was our big turnaround. We were introducing our grandsons to the adventure of canoeing, but also introducing their parents to the realities of getting on a river in Kentucky. 

The Kentucky River in pool 2 is a wide slow river, with wooded banks of sycamore and silver maple, sometimes called water maple.  The banks were muddy and were sloping to steep.  Behind the banks were fields.  Even so, the deer were plentiful.  In that short 2 mile stretch we saw 7 deer, including 3 fawn. 

The water and life within the water was less encouraging.  It was muddy (generally expected since we are in the rainy season), but we couldn’t even begin to deal with the islands of floating trash.  We usually pick up the occasional piece of floating trash to help clean our rivers.  It is a good reminder that anything littered in the Kentucky River Basin will build into mounds of trash as the litter travels along the flowing waters.  Picking up the trash was a good way to introduce our grandsons to why it is important to clean up the river. This river did not give us a pleasant view.  We saw some alligator gar along the way but we saw no turtles and very few birds.  Makes us wonder.  We have been working to canoe as much of the Kentucky River that we can but this trip, compared to our other trips, left a lot to be desired.

Even so, it was good to be on the river and to enjoy the float.

Congaree National Park! A Swamp to Canoe Through.

Congaree National Park!

A Swamp to Canoe Through

South Carolina is not where you might expect to canoe through a Swamp!  Congaree National Park’s forest is one of the few “old growth” floodplain forests left.  Being from Florida we have spent plenty of time in low swampy waterways and we were looking forward to seeing what the Congaree in South Carolina had to offer.   We took the opportunity to go in March during our daughter's spring break even though we would only have a few days at the park and in the swamp.  The canoeing was good for both couples and we were not disappointed!

The Visitor Center opens at 9:00, but we wanted to get an early start on the river – so a great idea was to register for the backcountry permit the day before.  They have maps of the park and behind the counter they have a waterproof map of the “Congaree River Blue Trail”.  Actually these maps did not help us very much!  They did not have enough detail for us to ascertain where we were.  The recognizable landmarks were the bluffs at the Heritage Park, the railroad bridge, and the one large sandbar only a mile from the take out.  

We were surprised when the Park staff told us that there would be up to 10 portages that we would do on the 8 mile portion of Cedar Creek before getting to the Congaree River.  (The creek from Bannister Bridge to Cedar Creek landing was reported to have 30 portages! Glad we hadn't chosen that one!) Why so many portages?  Downed trees that haven’t been cleared away are the biggest obstacles in the creek.  We were glad that some of the “portages” could be passed under or around and we ended up portaging just 4 times.  Not too bad.  Our next challenge was staying within the Creek.  The creek meanders through the swamp often over the banks making it very difficult to be sure of which direction to turn.  There are some small trail markers attached to trees in the creek here and there and when we saw one we were reassured that we were going the right way. But there were a few times when we had to double track a short distance back. Another time we found ourselves canoeing against the flow of the water.  This does cause one to stop and ponder whether you are on the right track or not. We were glad the water level was where it was (about 3.5 feet according to the gauge) as we were sure to have gotten lost if more of the creek was out of its banks. 

How to Go Around, Under, or Over the Downed Trees!

We started on a Friday morning in mid-March with a temperature of 29 degrees.  At the visitor center,  the famous "mosquito meter”  read “mild”.  It had a rating of 2 on a scale of 6.  Weren't we lucky?   The cold air was keeping the mosquitoes at bay.

We loved the vegetation – the Bald Cypress and their knobby knees, Tupelo with their fluted trunk bottoms (as one little girl told us, the trees look like they are wearing skirts), dangling Spanish moss, resurrection fern, dwarf palmetto, American Beech!  

We loved the knobby knees of the Bald Cypress!

Can you feel the cold, quiet morning?

I love the reflection in the dark water.

The dark tannic water of the cypress swamp, we examine close up, as we meander slowly around the creek’s many bends.  The life of the swamp was heard in the call and pecking of the pileated woodpecker, and the consistent hooting of the barred owl.  An otter was also trying to hide from us as it swam smoothly in and around cypress tree and tupelo trunks.  We kept our eyes “out” for any other wildlife we might see, particularly looking for any alligators.  We are told they are here but it was probably still too cold for them to be out.  A couple of times we did see small groups of the feral pigs that have inundated the Park.  They would immediately scurry away when they saw we were nearby.  This probably adds to the difficulty of removing them from the Park.

Our daughter enjoying Cedar Creek

As we paddled closer to the Congaree River, plastic bottles were everywhere!  It was just too numerous.  It was hard for us to think that those who enjoy being outside would throw their trash into the river.  We came across one dead, cormorant skeleton  hanging in a tree wings spread – having been caught by a  hook left on a line to catch fish without the person present.

Any experienced canoer would cringe to think that they would only canoe 8 miles in 6 hours!  With the backtracking, portages, and slow life of the swamp – that is exactly how long it took us.  We were told that we would reach Congaree River using Mazyck’s Cut, but nothing is marked, so worries start clouding your mind and you think you are on the unmaintained part of the creek beyond Mazyck’s Cut.  If we were we would not be able to know.  But we finally did reach the wide Congaree River.  Yeah!  This part of the Congaree River is part of the community’s Blue Trail.  The river was actually flowing at a good clip and we were ready to find a good sand bar (of which we were told there were many) to camp.  After canoeing for over an hour, we realized that we were not going to find a sandbar – they were all mud.  So we found some higher ground and camped near a field of butterweed on the National Park side of the river.  Open fires are not allowed in the park.   Since the temperature had risen, the mosquitoes did find us that evening as the sun set.  We also woke to find that the river had risen a foot and there was water in a gut very near the tent.  We think that engineers are constantly managing the water level on the Congaree River.

Our campsite among the Butterweed.

We packed up our supplies, took photos of the butterweed, and recommenced our trip down the Congaree River.  With the quick flow of the river we estimated that we did over 3 miles an hour.  The temperature rose to a glorious 70 sunny degrees in March.  We saw evidence of corrals and corn feeders, which we figured were used to cull the feral hogs that have overrun South Carolina and specifically the National Park. We took a picnic where Bate’s Ferry Trail reaches the Congaree.  Next to it is a small creek spanned by a dismantled wooden bridge.  There was an open spaced grassy area that we used for our picnic. Unfortunately people have used the nearby area too often for their toilet, littering it with toilet paper.  As we picnicked there, we saw the only sandbar just across the river, occupied by 3 different families.  We were only a mile from the take out. The take out spot has 2 ramps, a dock, and was a busy place on a Saturday morning.  The last day we did 9 miles of the Congaree River in 2 ½ hours.  

Early Spring proved to be the perfect time of year to spend some time paddling in Congaree National Park.  We had some good wildlife viewing, had minimal mosquitoes, were challenged by some good paddling punctuated with portages around downed trees, and enjoyed our time going through the SWAMP!  You ready for an adventure?

Paddling the Palisades of the Kentucky River

Paddling the Palisades of the Kentucky River

Early Morning Wisps of Fog 

Imagine being in a canoe, paddling this river.  It is early morning on a cool autumn day and the fog is dense, limiting the ability to see the bends in the river.  As the wisps of fog lift, the 220 foot magnificent rock cliffs loom in front of us.  THIS is why we are on this stretch of river.  THIS is why we challenged ourselves to paddle 18 miles in one day. 

To be able to paddle the 18 miles in one day we had to get an early start, so we organized to shuttle our car to the take out the day before and to stay at the Inn the Country Bed & Breakfast nearby (located right across from Camp Nelson Cemetery) hosted by Marceline who is listed on Airbnb.  This is a great place to start your trip because it is just a few miles from the put in on Hwy 27.  Marceline is friendly, accommodating and has plenty of room and many beds if people are willing to share rooms.  (Ask her about possibilities of a shuttle.)

This section of the Kentucky River is remote and the next access point from Camp Nelson is 18 miles down the river at High Bridge. That being said, we figured that to do 18 miles in one day we needed to be sure to do at least 3 miles an hour.   The almost still river was not going to give us much of a push so making a 3 mile an hour speed was going to be mostly on us.

We were excited to begin early and get on the river.  We loved the feeling of being surrounded by the looming cliffs and the blanketing fog.  As you paddle past the limestone cliffs, you see the weathering of the rocks from the passage of the river over the eons of time.  The river has shaped these cliffs into columns which have acquired names that are listed on the map. The area near Hwy 27 is part of the Tom Dorman State Nature Preserve on both sides of the river. It preserves the natural beauty of the cliffs, which are some of the oldest exposed rock in the state along with the rare plants found in this area.  Some of these cliffs are homes to vultures and birds of prey.  But other than a few turtles out on a cold day, wood ducks, and kingfishers, the only other animals were the cattle roaming around at the base of the cliffs at Polly’s Bend (from mile marker 131-129)

As we paddled along we kept our eye out to find a place to stop and have lunch.  Both sides of the river had steep sides, one with the rock cliffs going up almost from the water’s edge and the other side had steep muddy banks that were several feet high making it difficult to even get out of the canoe.  We did find a rock shelf at the bottom of a steep cliff that would be a waterfall on a rainy day. Today, with having no recent rains, the shelf was dry enough for us to pull up and take on some nourishment.  It was on the left side of the river before the Boat Hollow Creek enters the river about 10 ½ miles from where we put in.

The day was long.  After 5 hours of almost constant paddling our arms and backs were telling us that we needed to stop.  We had Kentucky River Authority Navigation Charts (found online as a PDF file) along and watched to see, by the map, how much of the river that we had left to go – it was probably two more hours. 

Late afternoon, we realized we were getting close to High Bridge when houses started appearing on the right side of the river.  We also started seeing our first sign of other boaters. Many boaters put in at High Bridge and kayak/canoe up stream to the Dix River which they said has a few small ripples that make it fun.  As we approached High Bridge, a train was going over.  We thought it was a pretty cool bridge to canoe under and to think of the past.

Before getting to the take out on the right 1/3 mile past the High Bridge, Shaker’s Landing is on the left.  Parked at Shaker’s Landing is the excursion boat, the Dixie Belle.  The road from the Landing leads to Shaker Village.  There are so many historic possibilities in the area to explore once getting off the river or even on the river. The take out is within view of Lock 7.  Jessamine County has produced the Kentucky River Guide, which includes historic activities that occurred on the river, along with their GPS.  Jessamine County has also been instrumental in establishing a Kentucky River Task Force which includes working with other organizations to create a Kentucky River Water Trail and to be responsible stewards of the River’s watershed and its resources.

This is a beautiful river encompassing lots of history that keeps calling you back to experience yet another day of joy, paddling your canoe.

The Kentucky River Teasing Us

The Kentucky River Teasing Us

            Labor Day was upon us, and we were anxious to be out on a river.  In the fall in Kentucky rivers can often not be runnable due to low water levels.  “A Canoeing and Kayaking Guide to Kentucky” gives a start to determine where there are some canoe places but it really doesn’t have the all the details necessary to plan a well thought out trip and also it can quickly become out of date. The Kentucky River is usually easy and runnable year round. We thought we’d try a short stretch because we didn’t have much time.  We put in at Lock 8 and canoed 5 miles to the take out at Camp Nelson RV park at Hwy 27.  It was a beautiful fast flowing river  because of a full day of rain three days earlier.  The most difficult part of the whole trip was scouting out the put in spot and finding the place to shuttle our car for the take out at the RV park.  

            A brief word about the shuttle.  To get to the put-in at Lock 8, we turned onto Sugar Creek Rd. (county road 1268) and traveled on that until we got to Lock 8 Rd.  As one looks at the lock, go down the gravel road to the right of the lock – downstream of the lock – down a deeply graveled road.  It was graveled almost to the water’s edge – except for the piles of deadfall that we had to carry our canoes over to be able to get to the water.  Actually, the huge log jam was steadier than I imagined.  Yeah, we had found the put in.  Now the cars had to shuttle to the take out, and leave a car there.  The map seems to suggest that the take out is right there where the bridge crosses the Kentucky River on US 27. And yes it is!  But there’s a big BUT:  one must drive at least a full ½ mile past the river and make a left at the sign that says “Camp Nelson RV Park”.  There is a Shell station there.  Then you travel on that side road 2 miles as it winds around back to the river – with the take out just past the bridge.  So the short 5 miles on the river is a 12 mile shuttle one way.  There is a box to deposit a boat ramp fee.  All the shuttling finished – let’s get on the river.

Lock 8 behind us.

            At the start of our trip, we enjoyed listening to the rush of a wall of water flowing over Lock 8.  The lock and the storm from three days earlier created a fast current for putting in.  The 5 miles were on a wide flowing river with banks and banks of forests.  Great Blue Herons graced our views while the kingfishers darted in and out. We were hungry from the moment we put in, but the banks are steep and there are not many places to bank the canoe and make a leisurely picnic site.  There was one place on the left side of the river about 2 ½ miles down river, where we hoped to park our canoes on a small island for lunch.  But it seemed to have combatting eddies swirling around it, making it difficult to manage the boat or even paddle forward.  I’m not sure we’ve ever encountered those type of eddies in a river before that were not part of rapids.

            We finally found a place to park the canoes for lunch only a mile from the bridge – on the right side of the river, - a road comes down to the edge of the river (you could put in here – if you can find it on a map) – and we walked up the path a ways to lay out our tablecloth in the shade.  Nice picnic spot.

            We were surprised to take out only 20 minutes after a late lunch.  The take out is on the left side of the river right after the HWY 27 bridge.  After the bridge, there is a railroad bridge that people seemed to be walking as on a walking trail.

Hwy 27 Bridge at Camp Nelson

            As we were nearing the take out, we looked in front of us and the limestone cliffs loomed large….teasing us to want to come back and do the next stretch – Pool 7 -which is a 20 mile trip that must be done in one day – because there are no other access points and no place to camp along the way.

            Taking out at Camp Nelson, we took time to visit Camp Nelson Historical Park and Camp Nelson Cemetery, within 3 miles of the bridge over the Kentucky River on US Hwy 27, and is worth a visit.  It was a Union recruitment center and training ground for African-American soldiers and “refugee” camp for their families, who were also freed.  The grounds are enormous.  But it is not really accessible by canoe.  The maps seem to suggest that you can get out of your canoe and be at Camp Nelson.  We did not find that to be true.  But canoeing on the Kentucky River, allows one to explore the interesting historical points in the area.  Find your stretch of the Kentucky, and make a day of it!

The Green River, Our Kentucky Stand By!

The Green River, Our Kentucky Stand By!

We have canoed the Green River for over 15 years and it is our “go to” river for taking beginners and for having a good time. There are not many rivers in Kentucky that you can canoe year round.   Over the years we find more and more people have discovered it as well.  We went the first weekend of November this year, which ended up being an incredibly warm weekend with the autumn colors still present.  Most of the rock bluffs are usually hidden by the vegetation.  At this time, with most of the leaves on the ground and the cliffs visible, the views were more multidimensional.

From Dennison Ferry (just past mile marker 205) to Houchin Ferry (just before mile marker 186), a distance of 19 miles, the Green River flows through Mammoth Cave National Park.  Canoeing is entirely within the National Park boundaries.  Before starting the trip we picked up a Back Country Use Permit and map at the Mammoth Cave Visitor Center.   The permit allows us to camp wherever we want along the river.  The map is more helpful than a few other maps that we downloaded.

Putting in at Dennison Ferry is steep but they have placed a couple of canoe ramps to help lower the canoe down to the river.  Once by the river the concrete pad gives easy entry into the canoe.  We didn’t put in until 12:00 because of the long shuttle to Houchins Ferry.  The river in this section is slow with just a few ripples to let us know that “Yes, it actually is moving.”  Even though the water levels were low at this time of the year, we didn’t scrape bottom very often and were impressed that the river was very clean and we could see down to the pebbly bottom.  We were in Mammoth Cave National Park, so as expected, we floated past several caves.

 We took a break at Green River Ferry boat ramp, and visited the port-o-potties, took a short hike to Echo Spring and watched the ferry handling a constant traffic of cars.  It could only manage 3 cars at once.

Once we left the Green River Ferry boat ramp (a little before the 197 mile marker), we felt a bit rushed to make it to a good campsite.  The banks are generally steep so the best camping is usually found on islands and sand bars.  Once leaving the ferry, we were on a constant vigilance to find a camping spot. For three miles, there was really nothing possible for camping.  We took the first possible campsite we found on Sand Cave Island, 1/3 mile past Mile Marker 194.  At the point of the island there is an enormous log jam that is bigger than a house reaching high into the sky.  We pitched our tents and even finished eating before nightfall.

The next morning we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast that included sightings of a Bald Eagle with two immatures near a nesting area.  Starting the day with the fog clinging low to the river, we followed the Bald Eagles down the river.  We need to say that along the river there is plenty of wildlife.  Two 8 point bucks on different sides of the river just lazily looked at us, while the does were moving through the bush to stay hidden.  One doe we saw was crossing the river in front of us, swimming with her two ears visible sticking up looking like ducks swimming.  Turkey made their presence known, as well as pileated woodpeckers and kingfishers.  It was difficult to get close to the wood ducks, but we kept scaring them up.  We forgot to mention the many mussel shells we saw on the islands and at the bottom of the river.  The Green River is home to more species of freshwater mussels than any other river in North America.  The live mussels and their shells are protected!  Collecting is strictly prohibited.

We canoed down the river only a mile and “discovered” Sand Cave on the left.  It is right after Turnhole Spring.  I don’t think we could have canoed further the previous day to reach Sand Cave, but this is really THE ideal place for camping.  Deep sand, smothered in leaves, under a large overhang of a cave.  A spring sits in a crevice under the overhang.  We are already making plans to take our grandkids back to camp here.  Canoeing this part of the river feels like there is no current at all.  It is easy to canoe upstream.  We passed Boardcut Island which would also make a good camping spot.

Lunch was at Crump Island and we noted its possibilities for camping.  By early afternoon we had reached Houchin Ferry.  It was an easy 4 hour float.  There is a campground there with port-a-potties, picnic tables and fire rings.

The Green River is peaceful and navigable throughout the year for all levels of paddling expertise.  It offers an easy get-away providing beautiful scenery, frequent wildlife sightings, caves to explore and an all-around positive opportunity for getting your ‘nature’ fix.  Come canoe the Green!

Two Thousand Years Later: Floating Under the Pont du Gard

Two Thousand Years Later: Canoeing Under the Pont du Gard

Can you imagine canoeing under an over 2000 year old Roman aquaduct?  We couldn't either, but a chance to add another river to our "rivers paddled" list, especially since it is in France, was a must do and the fact that the Roman aquaduct, the Pont du Gard, a World Heritage site, was part of the experience made the whole thing that much more exciting!

We made reservations online before we left the United States.  There are 3 canoeing companies in Collias,  which is found in Languedoc, southern France. We used Le Tourbillion Canoeing.  Le Tourbillion made it so easy:  Just pull up, park, sign up and pay, walk a few hundred feet to the water, be assigned a plastic canoe which is pushed down the hill to the water.  This canoeing company adds the additions which we would usually have to pay for in the states.  Each canoe was provided with a "bidon"  to secure your items from getting wet and personal flotation devices.  We were asked if we wanted double paddles or single paddles.  We chose our usual single paddle whereas everyone else on the water used the "double paddles".

During the summer, the water levels are so low on the Gardon River, that there are only these 8 km that are floatable.  If you canoe in early spring, you can canoe a longer stretch of river from Pont Nicholas, which is also a really cool medieval bridge, and then through the Gorges du Gardon; just amazing scenery. We started at Collias and paddled approximately 2 kms past the Pont du Gard.  Canoeing was on very clear water with a shallow pebbly bottom.  Every so often there were pockets of deep water where  people were seen jumping from the cliffs.

Usually, we navigate the canoe through deadfalls but with this river we navigated through waders, including a kid who called Doug "Pere Noel".   The Gardon River was "plein" of people sunbathing, listening to music, walking and wading in the water besides the canoers. It seems like everyone in Provence comes to the banks of the Gardon to relax and enjoy the cool river.  We felt like we were paddling on a public beach.  Several times we were cut off by other canoes or accidently rammed. Yet the river was moving nicely and if you can look past the people, the scenery is beautiful interspersed with limestone cliffs.  We even enjoyed going over a 1 foot cascade.

At the approach of the Pont du Gard, we chose a picnic site far from other bathers.  Our picnic site was complete with a view of this world heritage site late in the afternoon with the sun shining on it, making for good photography and allowing us to take in its beauty.  We couldn't imagine canoeing under this magnificent enormous edifice, yet for most bathers it is just part of the environment of a clear cool bathing spot..  There were even young men doing flips off the underside of the Pont du Gard into the deep water.  I guess modern times call for new uses of this historical structure of over 2,000 years ago, built during the Roman empire.

The Pont du Gard, seen from the river.  The best way to see this World Heritage Site. 

We took out 2 km past the Pont du Gard, which became a bit boring because we were just paddling to finish.  We were given 2 hours to canoe and could have used 3 to allow more time to enjoy swimming in the clear water or sitting in a canoe drawing the scenery.  Pick up times at the end are every hour and a "luxury" bus takes you back to Collias.  We didn't see any Romans around the Pont du Gard but here, over 2000 years later, their work still stands and is an amazing tribute to their engineering skill.  This will always be one of the most memorable paddle trips we will have done!