The Pont Marengo crosses the Canal du Midi

Canal du Midi

The is a long canal in Southern France . The canal connects the Garonne River to the on the Mediterranean and along with the Canal de Garonne forms the Canal des Deux Mers joining the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. The canal runs from the city of Toulouse down to the Étang de Thau...

 and links Carcassonne

Carcassonne

Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude department, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc.It is divided into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. Carcassone was founded by the Visigoths in the fifth century,...

 to the local railway station.

The lock is very busy and a favourite tourist attraction as the canal boats work their way along the canal. The plaque on the bridge dates the work to 1800 or as it also says year 8, measuring time in the new republic. The bridge is named after the Battle of Marengo at which Napoleon defeated the Austrians in 1800. A little way down from the bridge the railway line crosses the canal and here there is a small plaque and garden commemorating the maquisards

Maquis (World War II)

The Maquis were the predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance. Initially they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription into Vichy France's Service du travail obligatoire to provide forced labour for Germany...

who were executed here by the Nazis.