France is becoming chubbier
- rnv178
- Jun 25, 2022
- 5 min read
So, we have done it. Well, not quite. At least we are back in the French village of Gosnay after a 1000-kilometre mega drive from the Languedoc. Gosnay is near Béthune and was where we stayed a month ago before heading further south through France, Italy, Greece, and back. There is something about the psychology of homeward travel that is different. On the way out we were happy to wander. On the way home we wanted to get back.
The early morning drive through the Haut Languedoc countryside was astonishing. Heading east with a touch of north, and aiming for a French autoroute, the A75, we were driving into the sun. It was cloudy, not raining at the start, and the sunrise was magnificent. An orange glow scattered widely left and right, that eventually gave way to full yellow, directly in our face. It was impossible to do anything without a peaked hat, car visor and sunglasses. Yes, I do mean sunglasses at 0600hrs, an unusual time of day.
As we approached the autoroute, so the feeling changed. The Haut Languedoc is a remarkable place. You can imagine you are alone. It is remote, green, and offers both high and distant views, barely disturbed by anything manmade at all. That is if you discount motor homes, which I am still trying to love, and were positioned in their dozens by the side of Lac du Salagou, as we sped past in the dawn light.
The cloud at the very start of the day should have warned us, as we did not receive our fair allocation of sunshine today because it soon began to rain. I do not mean tiny drops, but a deluge, windscreen wipers thumping from left to right as fast as they could go. It was impossible to see clearly. There was flooding, and plenty of flashing lights as the emergency services hurtled past, headed to the next accident. At times we were forced to a crawl and barely made walking speed.
Our first intention had been to break our journey in Chartres and overnight there. I had wanted to see the cathedral, which by rights should no longer exist. It is one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in Europe and in 1944 was thought to house a German observation post and was therefore to be destroyed. On 16 August 1944, an American colonel, Welborn Barton Griffith Jr (what a wonderful name) went behind enemy lines to establish there was no observation post there at all. The cathedral was spared destruction, but the colonel was sadly killed later that day, a few kilometres north of Chartres, in the town of Lèves. The heavy rain on the A75 motorway, as we drove north, prevented us staying in Chartres. We would have seen nothing, so decided to head onwards and give the cathedral a miss.
South of Chartres, the route north from the Languedoc passes through the Auvergne. This is a region of France about which I remain undecided, despite visiting it several times. I have walked there, stayed there, even skied there, but do not find it exciting. The Auvergne lies near the centre of France, is its most underpopulated region, and its people are older than most. Its name comes from a powerful Gallic tribe, the Averni, who lived there in pre-Christian times. Famously, it is home to a chain of volcanoes, the Chaîne des Puys, whose last known eruption was in 4040BC. The volcanoes started to form 70,000 years ago and left plugs of hardened magma that formed hilltops, now known as puys. We passed through the Auvergne in the rain and did not see much. Once again, it did not excite me. I blinked, it rained, and the Auvergne was soon behind us. We then passed Bourges, the city which denotes the true centre of France, and before long we were on the outskirts of Paris.
France’s capital city was a joke for traffic, which was stationary for much of the time. That was until we arrived at the Duplex tunnel, the longest four-lane tunnel in Europe. This is an innovative double-deck tunnel for light vehicles, is 10 kilometres long, and forms part of the A86 motorway. Driving the Duplex takes adjustment, as it feels to be very low. Indeed it is, with a height of only 2.00 metres. Our car is roughly 1.70 metres high, which did not give much clearance. We spent the entire transition through the tunnel worrying that we might not get through. There is a shorter, single-decker tunnel, too, for heavier vehicles. That tunnel has plenty of vertical clearance. The Duplex does not.
We reached our hotel in Gosnay at roughly 1800hrs, and after an impromptu powernap at a service station shortly after mid-day. The journey? It took me eight coffees, more food than is healthy, the powernap, multiple pees, singing to myself and each other, podcasts on maximum volume, windows open and windows closed, indeed anything to keep me awake at the wheel. It bucketed with rain constantly and was certainly chucking it down when we reached the hotel, Gosnay’s La Chartreuse du Val Saint Esprit, part of La Domaine de la Chartreuse.
Despite the rain it was possible to charge the car, as its hybrid battery was struggling. The hotel only permits this in exchange for depositing some form of identity, as it has had plenty of chancers who have run off with the magnetic pass that allows the car charger to fire up and start. I offered my UK driving licence as a deposit, once again handing across a valuable document to a stranger. I appear to have done a lot of that during this journey and am astonished I have not yet lost anything important. But the charger was good, the process of achieving a full battery taking barely three hours. It was still raining when I disconnected the thing and reclaimed my driving licence.
What was not good was the French physique. Ten years ago only 8% of the country’s population was overweight, now it is 14%. This may be half the level of obesity seen in the USA, and less than the UK, but in 2001 France had the lowest level of obesity in the world. It now sits at position 122, so the problem is rising. Obesity is a clear health issue and has now been politicised. Even the French hate being chubby. McDonald’s, that home of the Big Mac and plenty more besides, is more profitable in France than anywhere else in Europe. Two percent of the French population eat there daily. However, from a point when France was once seen as the nutritional role model of Europe, their position has transformed. There are evident problems ahead.
***
Stayed at:
Le Domaine de la Chartreuse
1 rue de Fouquières
62199 GOSNAY
Tel: +33(0)321628000
Email: www.ledomainedelachartreuse.com
Web: www.levalsaintesprit@lachartreuse.com
Dinner at:
Restaurant Brasserie Le Vasco
1 rue de Fouquières, 62199 GOSNAY
Tel: +33(0)321628000
Email: www.ledomainedelachartreuse.com
Web: www.levalsaintesprit@lachartreuse.com
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