Gard

During my short visit, I tried to capture as many images as I could of sights that were unique to rural France. One such image is surely this beautiful example on the approach to Uzes; a straight avenue, lined by Plane trees passing through vineyards under a beating sun. As Andrew says below, most of the big ones standing today probably date from Napoleonic times, but apparently King Henri IV began the planting back in the 16th century to provide both wood and shade for his marching armies. I was shocked to discover that such tree-lined avenues are now very much an endangered species, and more than 90% of such trees have already gone. Sometimes it is the march of progress, such as the removal of 40 kilometres worth of trees near Toulouse to allow Airbus A380 components to be transported by road.
Amazingly others have fallen foul to 'road safety vigilantes', cut down by folk campaigning against the number of people who are killed every year running into roadside trees - trees are fairly unforgiving in that respect, although some would argue it is hardly the tree's fault if a motorist runs into them. It takes a Plane tree 100 years to grow - and about 5 minutes to fell. Here's hoping sense prevails and these tree lined avenues survive, it would be a tragedy if they all vanished. See them while you can.

..and yes - I had second thoughts and went for a closer crop!

The view from the top of the Pont du Gard is well worth paying the extra for, especially when it gives you the chance to catch the distinctive shadow of the aqueduct spreading across the valley. The quarry for the aqueduct is just beyond the building in the centre of this shot - and this means they had to work out a way of floating the enormous stone blocks upstream to the building site. It is just staggering to consider the engineering quality and expertise that went into building this, a very long time before laser measurers and JCBs!