#59 / Ancien Pont de
Mallemort
The bridge which takes us
over the Durance to Mallemort runs alongside this older one which is now closed
for safety reasons - the planks of wood which form the road are twisted and
cracked, so there is are three metre tall concrete walls blocking the way at
either side of the river.
When I showed this painting
in our village a few years ago, the Mayor kindly visited and told me the story
of how he and his friends (in younger years) used to walk along the beams which
ran along under the length of the bridge as a dare… reminds me of that scene in
Saturday Night Fever…
There
is a sign which for years confused me slightly. It reads Interdit de Fumer I always thought it meant that you weren’t
allowed to smoke on the bridge which seemed rather unfair and a little over the
top. That was until my better half pointed out that Fumer not only means ‘to smoke’, it also means ‘to manure’ (that’s
obviously for the horses) so that gives you an idea of the age of the bridge.
