Wind power blights la belle France

When you think of the care that France lavishes on its landscape, it's surprising that so little has been done to control the proliferation of ugly wind farms. 

Rather belatedly, a small revolt is now brewing against what the opponents see as a state-subsidised racket in the name of sustainable development.

Over the past couple of years there has been a rush to install the great white turbines that go in French by the pretty name of éoliennes -- from the Greek god of wind. Every time I drive south via the plain between Paris and Orleans there seem to be a dozen new windmills at the roadside, some towering over hamlets and others just disrupting the vista. The windmill blight is even more stiking when you fly low over the countryside in a small plane. From above, it looks sometimes as if a rash of white spikes has erupted across the fields and hill-sides of France. When they are near airfields, as they are at Dreux, for example, you have to avoid bumping into them as you circle to land.

With its unwavering devotion to the atomic energy that provides three quarters of its electricity, France came late to wind. It ranks in about 10th place in Europe, far behind the leaders, Germany and Spain. But wind power figures big in President Sarkozy's scheme for greening France.  His government's grand "Grenelle" environment plan, calls for 10 percent of electricity to come from wind by 2020. That means up to 10,000 more turbines, say the experts. 

France's traditional attraction to new technology has blinded people to the drawbacks of les éoliennes. A BVA poll recently found that 79 percent of people favour wind farms in their region and 62 percent say that they would accept a giant turbine in their back yard -- or at least within a radius of a kilometre of their homes.   

The opposition is coming from villages in the northern Picardy region and from the east and the west, where wind farms have been growing fastest. A dozen local mayors led a demonstration of about 800 people in Paris last month. They carried banners with slogans such "Wind farm lobby are murderers" and "No to the swindle of industrial wind farms."

The figurehead of the resistance is Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who was President of France in the 1970s. The aristocratic, 82-year-old "VGE" is hardly a symbol of modernity. But he has roots in the very rural Auvergne and his views are touching a nerve. "France's landscapes have inspired a good number of painters and poets. It's important to protect this heritage," he says in today's Parisien. "These pylons are not only polluting the landscape. They are interfering with bird migration and disturbing the lives of those who live near them." 

Giscard makes the following arguments: As an electricity exporter with plenty of carbon-free nuclear power, France does not need to clutter the landscape with clunky hardware. The green lobby is being fooled by windfarm companies who are pocketing subsidies from the taxpayer. Impoverished villages are being tempted by the leasing income to sign up for wind farms. The machines are inefficient, consume a lot of raw materials and energy to produce and sit idle for 80 percent of the time.   

The anti wind farm case has also just been put by Sylvie Brunel, a geographer, in a book called "Who benefits from sustainable development?"  In the name of the doctrine, some of France's most beautiful landscape "have been transformed into fields of gigantic mechanical monsters," she says.   

In turn, the anti-éolienne people are being pilloried by some of the green movement as reactionary, selfish and stooges of the nuclear power lobby. A militant association called "Sortir du nucléaire" (Get out of nuclear) said opposition to wind power was a fiction invented to help the nuclear industry.

It will take more than a few demonstrations to stem the march of the éoliennes. Like many people, I admired the back-to-the-future look of the first wind farms when I saw them in California in the 1980s. In some places they have a certain charm. They may not look too bad in the semi-urban countryside that prevails in the low countries and other parts of northern Europe. But it's sad to see them becoming a menace to the spacious countryside of France. Lets hope that they can put more off shore or develop other renewable sources such as tide and wave power.

 

Comments

[Old frog]

Charles, who calls France 'la belle France' ?

Where does that expression com from ?
I have lived in France my whole life and I have never heard France referred to as 'la belle France' in the French media.
As far as I can tell only expats living in France use that expression. Where did you hear the French use that expression ?

[Thanks Old Frog, I don't think I said that the French use that expression. I'm writing in English and it's an English expression. Each language has its expressions for the other. CB]

[Romain]

I couldn't agree more with Charles, those windmills deface our countryside, we don't need them, 70% of our electricity comes from nuclear energy. It's a stupid, useless, costly, ugly project. We have the ability to increase our nuclear energy capacities anytime.

[richard.jones]

Not only an eyesore but bloody noisy too! I think there will be a whole series of eco-solutions like this as we move to annul global warming, where the advantages are clear but there are quite a few serious disadvantages. Ethanol fuel is another such case.

[dbx]

Sorry Charles, must disagree here. While they may not be aesthetically pleasing, when driving past some I don't see a "blight" but the elegant beauty of clean energy with no byproduct or risk.

Some say the solar panels on the lauze roofs in my Savoyarde village are ugly, but to kids growing up today they are as part of the character as anything else.

The current generation of éoliennes may not be perfect on a technical level, but without it we won't have the fifth or sixth generation in a few decades which may finally help free us from the risks our current energy sources pose.

[qwerty]

Yes, the first time I saw them was driving between LA and Palm Springs in the late 90s. Vive l'énergie nucléaire, solaire, géothermique. The eoliennes only until they find sthg else that's less of an eyesore.

[peter kinsley www.peterkinsley.com]

Visitors who have seen the extensive beauty of France in all its regions and seasons, say "La Belle France", and I am surprised that the French themselves do not use it I have heard "Beautiful Northumberland" "The beautiful Lake District" "Bonnie Scotland" etc etc.An Englishman travelled through France by motor cycle with his French girl (they married and have lived in France now for over 30 years) said to me: "What a magnificent country. The countryside in Autumn, the lakes, the rivers.... but don't tell her I said so -- the French are big-headed enough as it is!"
The truth is that the French have it all and haveno need to travel:the mountains, woods, rivers, lakes, beaches, the seaside, mushrooming, hunting and fishing, diving, speleology, skiing, swimming, wonderful food and wine and cheese.
Must stop: I'm hogging the blog again. (CB: Don't tell them I said so.)
P.S. I once asked an aged viticulteur near Montpellier: "We're only an hour to the Spanish frontier. Have you ever been to Spain?"
"Why should I go there?" he replied.

[azloon]

[Like many people, I admired the back-to-the-future look of the first wind farms when I saw them in California in the 1980s. In some places they have a certain charm] CB

you must be talking about the enormous collection of wind turbines in the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs.

i have mostly had the same reaction to them as you apparently did, i.e. sort of cool.

but since i have been driving through them often over the years on my way to LA, i have noticed how often they seem to be inactive and how many are under repair with long ladders propped up against them.

but against the stark desert surroundings, they do have a surreal look.

[Terry]

"The machines are inefficient, consume a lot of raw materials and energy to produce and sit idle for 80 percent of the time."

Ah, but it sounds so nice though. Free energy from renewable sources. Of course, then we find out it's really not so free and not very effecient. You can thank the EcoNuts for the silliness. Let's turn the French landscape into the Netherlands in the 1600s. Last year, it was corn for ethanol driving up the prices for everything. Several years back it was recycling. (Anyone here know if the costs of recycling outweigh the benefits? (Im being rhetorical, btw) The problem is that these stupidities never seem to go away. Don Quixote's tilting at windmills comes to mind.

[H M Keegan]

I have to disagree with almost everyone. I don't find 'les éoliennes' ugly, in fact I think they're rather majestic. Considering their environmental benefits, they should be welcomed.

As for France and the French lack of interest in other places - I agree that France is beautiful; that is why I came to live here, but didn't someone, somewhere say something like - ‘What can they know of England who only England know?’ the same would apply, surely, to France and the French.

[qwerty]

Azloon: surreal is indeed the word.
PK: France is a beautiful country, but they always manage to spoil the countryside with their unspeakable elevated telephone wires, crossing valleys, and supermarket and cheap housing projects in the middle of nowhere (all those villes nouvelles in ile de france in particular). And look at the Côte d'Azur: irretrievably spoiled. no longer the beaches hemingway wrote about so well ("garden of eden").

The municipalities are all corrupt - starting with mine. they've tried to fob all sorts of things on us: a drug rehab place in a manor, mobile phone installations in the tennis club across the street, ugly "logements sociaux" in the middle of the town (this last one came through). Baksheesh...

France is not more beautiful than other countries, it's just that there's a lot concentrated in relatively little space, and going from one area to another close by (eg Paris to Lyon) the architectural, cultural differences are tremendous (likewise people's characters) and so are teh paysages.

But the USA: far more dramatic, the sheer size of the landscapes... though same replicated lifestyle wherever you go, from Sarah Palin's kitchen to Sedona Arizona.

[qwerty]

Oh, and I think I'm referring to the same eoliennes mentioned by Azloon - indeed they're surreal.

[John Gregory Flinn]

Well said Charles!
You are correct in every detail except you missed out what is the biggest 'con' the oxymoronic greens never tell you.
Windfarms need quick-start fossil-fuelled backup for when the wind does'nt blow to avert disrupting the electricity grid, and risking causing brownouts and blackouts due to reduced voltage.
So, their green credentials are, at best false - at worst a trick that cynically exploits the trust the public at large have placed in governments about climate change (which is another argument).

[Old frog]

[ "logements sociaux" in the middle of the town (this last one came through)."]

Poor people also have the right to leave in your town.
If you want no "mixité sociale", you are free to move back to the US and relocate to one those charming gated communities for rich people. As a bonus, you'll get to enjoy the far more dramatic landscapes of the USA.
Everybody wins.

[JOPO]

"Fetch hither le fromage de la belle France" - John Cleese in the Cheese Shop.

[Jean-Edouard Marre]

[referring to the expression "La Belle France"]

"I'm writing in English and it's an English expression."

Please. Read. That. Back. Slowly.

[NGRZR]

I think turbines look excellent. I have visited windfarms and they are not noisy. They also do generate meaningful quantities of electricity, and certainly are more reliable in the UK than our aging nuclear power stations which have been off more than they have been on this year. I look forward to seeing more windfarms in the UK and in France.

[Craig McGinty]

There is a handy website with details on the location of wind farms, please see:

http://www.espace-eolien.fr/English/Windfarms/WINDFARM.htm

[Monika]

Oh, I think these modern sleek, slightly curved windmills are extraordinarily beautiful and elegant, their majestic wings slicing through the air in slow circles like eagles glide on thermal waves.

[Blendi Progri]

This turbos are ugly indeed.

The expression 'la belle France' isn't just an English one. Many foreigners used it. But it aint exlusiv, is mostly used by people who admire that particular country, i.e. fans.

For Italy we say ' la bella Italia' and so on, for Germany we say...

(Mr. Strohl are you there? what do we say... lol)

[david]

It's probably only you, the English, who reserve such a ridiculously NIMBY attitude to anything, as well as a condescending view of how "quaint" the rest of Europe should be,just so you can convince yourselves that you are being "River Cottage Style" any time you come over and buy a baguette

[azloon]

QWERTY

"Sarah Palin's kitchen" sounds like a program on the Food Channel. i thought from the instant i first saw her that she'd end up with a TV program of some sort.

Sedona, a lovely spot on the planet with more crystals and energy vortices than you can 'shake a stick at.' and more than a few 'charming gated communities for rich people.'

the upcoming depression may slow this distressing homogenization of culture. fewer rich people. awwwwhhh.

[David E]

Priceless - while you rich people blast through the countryside in your SSUVs you complain about the disturbance to the vista?

What a joke

[EllenO]

This windmills are ugly. You want proof. The Kennedy clan, leftists environmentalists all, opposed the setting up of a windmill farm 20 miles out to sea from the famous Kennedy Hyannis Port compound.

It would spoil the view they said.

[John]

I totally agree. Why should any of the burden of energy production fall on the rich or the beautiful? The burden should only fall on the weak and the poor, those best able to experience the environmental costs without complaint.

[Judith]

I feel sorry for the neighbours of the farmers who lease their land for the eolienne. The farmers receive the financial compensation and the neighbours suffer the visual and noise pollution and loss of value to their own land.

It is surprising that the French Government is not limiting the spread of these windmills as it is vigilant in protecting the French countryside and rural life in so many other ways

[qwerty]

Old frog, I' m not contesting the necessity of logements sociaux in all townships, including Neuilly where live mainly a group of hyper-protected old farts. I'm complaining about the exact location and the lack of an architectural project for this particular logement social in my town: in the middle of a commercial zone, and the building is ugly and doesn't seem made to last (déjà des dégradations). Coherent projects are needed, also eco-friendly and sympathiques sur un plan architectural. France is sadly lacking in logements sociaux, there is a huge deficit. The HLMs that dot for example the Val d'Oise and the Yvelines are not only sightsores but also lead to isolation and ghettoisation of the populations that live there.

[Lee]

I have a windmill in my garden here in France, I put it there, it gives me free electricity and its not noisy.

[Charles Turpin]

Charles Bremner is absolutely right. The windfarms make no sense in economic or energy terms, and are a needless blot on the landscape. But it will take time for the stupider sections of the population (well represented in these comments) to see through the greenie scam.

[Daniel Strohl]

"that 79 percent of pepole" (CHARLES)

Charles, "Pepole" - LOL ! - Are you also severely contaminated by "le franglais" ? If yes, you should rather spell "peepole", the way it is pronounced by our "sommités médiatiques et bobolesques" :)

BLENDI,

A few less admirative expressions are for instance "la perfide Albion" (fortunately, it is hardly used any more). Our German friends (mostly the magazine Der Spiegel) call the French "la grande Nation" - may be it is intented as a compliment :). I am not acquainted enough with the subtleties of the German language to be able to give a credible interpretation ...

QWERTY,

"cheap housing projects in the middle of nowhere (all those villes nouvelles in ile de france in particular)".

I agree. It is first a shame, and second an economic nonsense. There are plenty of small towns and villages half empty all over France which could be rehabilited for a fraction of the cost, even if one would add the cost of installing high speed Internet everywhere, needed for the modern jobs (mostly paper work and brain work). Whereas with the "villes nouvelles", much valuable agrar land is destroyed, which will be no more available in 20 or 30 years, when it will be badly needed. Crazy !

[christopher muir]

Monika -
As you say, the windmills slice through the air. Unfortunately they slice through birds too, although I think that locations are now chosen only if they are more or less bird-free.
--------
Anyway, these times would have presented Don Quixote with a very confusing landscape. Charles' story reminded me (annoyingly) of an old pop song about windmills. Not remembering the lyrics properly, I looked them up:

Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes on its face
And the world is like an apple
Whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind etc.

[textibule]

Form follows function, as we used to say in the 70's. If eoliennes do something wonderful, they are beautiful!

If I am wrong about this and they are indeed ugly, I feel really sorry for ugly ugly Spain and ugly ugly Germany, who have so many more of these ugly ugly, non-polluting, zero CO2 devices.

[Windmills may generate without polluting, but it takes a great deal of CO2 and raw materials to manufacture and transport them to their site. And then there will be the matter of disposing of tens of thousands of tonnes of rusting steel strewn across the European landscape. CB]

[Gerald Lee]

Wind Turbines beautiful and elegant what rubbish, without subsidies they would'nt exist, as for saving the planet no way, the cost to produce and maintain far outstrips the savings produced,the big loser has been the wildlife with thousands of bats killed,the sooner these turbines are dismantled the better far all concerned,France is a beautiful country, try to keep it that way.

[richard.jones]

We have about 90 self-installed windmills on the Greek island (900 people) my wife's family originates from. The average 'wingspan' is about 10 meters and we average Beaufort 4 annually and have only 1 month (September) which is calm Beaufort 1 or 2, we can get Beaufort 8 thru 10 in February. Originally we installed them such that we could sell 'excess electrictiy' to the Greek national grid, but we have stopped that because they don't pay us (it is a far from rich island) unless we can guarantee continuous annual supply and the cost of 'fallback' systems for the odd day and one summer month in terms of both purchase price, maintenance cost and eco-detriment is now such that we don't supply the grid anymore. We are looking at trying to setup an island circuit within the grid so that however many mills are running the excess can be used elsewhere on the island.
Some carping remarks were made about the rich and NIMBY thinking in regard of these massive spinners. Well, go to West Wales, an area of hill farms that don't have 2 TV's and ask them what the 'bladefarms' do to the animals on their farms in terms of noise.
'Bladefarms' are just another eco-solution that has not quite been thought through. This is to be expected, we have no time to waste and small eco-advantages may well count, OTOH we should have enough sense to recognise the metric between advantage and disadvantage and look elsewhere for other solutions.

[Al]

In our small village a farmer was granted planning permission for 3 giant wind turbines which would have been situated less than 500 metres from dwellings.

In support of the people situated closest, a public enquiry was requested and given, with the maire and the majority of residents lodging their opposition.

To everyone's amazement the permission was once again approved by the prefecture.

With the idea of the maire having power locally, the village took the matter further to the local court, without success, and then on to the regional court where the planning permission was rejected and cancelled. Power in small voices.

[dot king]

Eoliennes are, IMO, the ugly disused châteaux d'eau of the future, except there will be more of them.
This said, there are some exceptions, though most châteaux d'eau are ugly, neglected, concrete things, one tall and quite graceful chateau d'eau near here has been painted sky blue - very surprising when you see it for the first time, but after, it's a peasure to behold.
Eoliennes painted sky blue? No, there will be too many of them and they will rust through neglect just as the château d'eau are left with greying mossy cement render, serving mostly to give a roostng point to the sirens that call the pompiers into action in an emergency.

QWERTY - your social housing projects - I quite agree, knew what it was you were saying.
In this village a new social housing estate won an architectural prize of some sort, at regional level. 2 or 3-bedroomed, single or two-storey houses, each with a garden, garage and covered terrace and arranged so that everyone has the maximum outdoor privacy. and of course energy-saving entered into the equation for the award.
An older estate, dating (by the looks of it - little boxes) from the 60's) is about to be given a general overhaul and facelift, but each has a garden, a garage and a small terrace.
The converted social housing within the central village has all been done with respect for the surroundings - apart from the Maison de Retraite which has an unfortunate amount of the 1970's most unfortunate features added to a C13 base.

So the commune here is doing its bit.
HOWEVER, you might be interested to read the text the note I've just put into one of our new "Boîte à Idées":

"Jeudi, 13 novembre 2008

Bonjour,

Voici une idée:

Faites en sorte que les gens qui ont eu l'affreuse idée de poser UN LAMBRIS EN PLASTIQUE BLANC sur la partie publique et visible sous les arcades du 13/14ème siècle, le démontent dans les meilleurs délais.

Quelle faute de goût d'abord, quel manque de respect pour la place qui vient de coûter si cher pour sa restauration.

S'il y a quelqu'un qui a donné l'autorité de faire une telle horreur (c'est à dire si une demande a été nécessaire) que cette personne soit déchue de ses fonctions, illico.

Posez-vous la question suivante - « Et si tout les gens faisaient restaurer les dessous des arcades de la manière qui leur convenait à eux, et non pas à la place principale et son aspect esthétique et historique, qu'est-ce que cela ferait comme impression BORDELIQUE et RINGARD? »

Pas la peine de dépenser les fonds de la municipalité pour améliorer notre image, attirer les touristes, et ainsi de suite, si on laisse faire tout ce qu'on veut au coeur même du village.

Il faut obliger les gens de la place principale à respecter une harmonie architecturale AU MOINS. Il fallait y penser avant.

En vous remerciant d'avoir pris le temps de me lire, maintenant, s'il vous plaît, agissez avant qu'il ne soit trop tard."

Naturally, I've signed my suggestion with address and tel number (in case Daniel's reading:)).

[Lee]

Moulin Rouge (French for Red Windmill) is a cabaret in Paris. Close to Montmartre in the Paris red-light district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, it is marked by the facsimile of a red windmill on its roof.

Windmills have been present in France for many years, and have been the symbol of rural areas throughout this part of Europe.

Grow up. The windmills are an evolution of existing technology, not a new thing intruding on the landscape. If an old windmill is cute and can be seens as an attractio, why not the modern windmills, which are certainly a lot cleaner and not as noisy.

[Comparing old windmills to the new turbines is like comparing thatched cottages to sky-scrapers. I wonder what "growing up" has got to do with the matter. CB]

[dot king]

DANIEL, one problem with repopulating half-deserted villages is the dearth of services such as railway lines, public transport, fast roads.
To live in a rural village, a car is essential, two if more than one member of a family works, thus higher immediate CO2 pollution levels.
As social housing is intended for those on modest incomes, although I like your idea, I don't think it's altogether as easily practicable - there are more things to budget for than the reasonable rent.
OTOH it's a great idea to keep other local services alive - the schools, Post Offices, artisans and commerçants, restos etc.
But for young, working people, country living needs at least one car per household - and not every job is all internet/paperwork - thank goodness! :)
But it's an idea that deserves more consideration all the same.

[Mike]

With enough wind turbines you can power the whole nation, except when there's no wind ... so you need enough conventional power stations to power the whole nation.

Whereas ... tidal power is there 24/7, and the UK is surrounded by it. Enormous power, generated by the moon and gravitational forces. Lets crack on with the research and testing!

[Paul Harper]

"La Belle France" as an English expression? Kind of sets the tone for the accuracy of the whole article...

Idiots who complain about the sight of Windfarms will be the first to complain when areas "of natural beauty" (which are usually nothing of the sort) like low-laying marshland get inundated by rising sea levels. "Why wasn't anything done" will be their pointless mantra then.

Windfarms are, in my view, quite beautiful to look at - man-made objects working in harmony with nature rather than fighting against it. Feel free to put one up in my back garden.

[Tammy]

It's only the tourists who notice them and view them as 'ugly'. The French or inhabitants of France don't even see them and most would choose windfarms over a nuclear power plant.

[Joan Arles]

to Paul Harper

You're perhaps new to this blog. Calling CB an idiot because you disagree with his opinion does nothing for your case. You voice only opinion and fail to substantiate your accusation of inaccuracy.

In general, I agree there are far too many windfarms. They can be pretty, but they are now sprawling all over the French countryside. No doubt some people thought high-tension power lines were a beautiful symbol of modernity when they first appeared.

[Danny]

How many people 'fly low over the countryside in a small plane?' Maybe wind turbines are not perfect but they are doing something to help the environment unlike Charles here, who is obviously quite happy to see the world belching fumes for evermore.

[Thanks Danny. I was surprised that it took nearly 24 hours for someone to rise to my bait on the plane. On the whole I don't pollute too much. I take public transport to work and ride a bike around town. My point was that wind turbines do not much help the environment. CB]

[Spinoneone]

Please remember that Greens, by in large, are anti-progress, anti-economic progress, and just generally anti. The clowns in California are now objecting to solar power plants in the Mohave Desert because it will, "disrupt the beauty of the dunes and harm insect and plant life." Yeah, right. Read: We don't give a damn what you want to do, we are anti-energy development, period, end of story. No oil, no solar, no wind, no coal, no nuclear, no nothing. We want to go back to the ... oh, we have to think about that. Of course, these useful idiots do not remember or have not read of the tons of horse manure left on the streets of London, New York, Paris, etc, nor of the deep and constant coal smoke fogs of London and Berlin in the 1880s. Ah, yes, those were the good times.

[richard.jones]

@Paul,

You could put one up yourself, although it won't be free.
There are all kinds of places that can help you!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4374748.stm
And take it from there, let us know when you've done it and how you feel about it!

[peter kinsley www.peterkinsley.com]

Paul - yes windfarms are quite a sight, especially in the Aude where they keep on turning, turning, turning,as the French say: "Live in the Aude - if you own a laundry!"
Mike: wave power -- Yes! My old sailing mate Tristan Jones promulgated wave power to the American astronauts in the Waldorf AStoria, when he spoke of "The Incedible Voyage" (Lake Titticaca down the amazon to where the Graf Spee lies) having had to drag "Sea Dart" through the kitchens and, aided by the dinner-jacketed explorers and the moonwalk boys, back onto the pavement after midnight.
He had to sleep in Sea Dart, and was awakened at 4 a.m. by a young American with his girl calling: "Geesus Kerrist - now I've seen everythihg ...A ferkin YACHT in NEW YORK!"

[dot king]

Have just googled "la Belle France" and come up with several sites - in French, intended for the French, and inviting anyone to discover La Belle France.

The French DO (quite rightly) call their country "La Belle France" - the British had to get the expression from somewhere - it's adopted, not invented.

http://www.notrebellefrance.com/

[dot king]

"No doubt some people thought high-tension power lines were a beautiful symbol of modernity when they first appeared."

Joan Arles

You have a very good point - the number of farmers who took the trouble, when electricity became available to them, to have the poteau planted slap in the middle of the main, often very beautiful, façade of their farmhouse, is astounding. When I asked why this was so, the answer I got (from a French person) was that those who had electricity wanted to see and to show it.
But I expect there was also the consideration of the distance for cabling and the extra costs involved in getting the poteau round the back, through the barn or whatever. And the supply would be for other modern appliances, not just the house - milking machines for eg.
A question of the shortest distance between two points in the end.

[Mike]

Peter Kinsley! You actually sailed with the old fibberbobber Tristan?
Ha, I believe I caught him on starboard one foul night off the Casquets ...

There's the foul de-commissioning of nuclear power too, and the terrorist threat. Not much harm can be done to a turbine by sabotage.
For anyone with an hour or two free, visit the Camber Sands new windfarm, with Dungeness nuclear powerstation only 15 miles away in
the distance ... and The Channel to the south, with it's billions of joules of tidal power ...

[Old frog]

[he French DO (quite rightly) call their country "La Belle France" - the British had to get the expression from somewhere - it's adopted, not invented.

http://www.notrebellefrance.com/]

sorry but that's not the same thing.
Of course the word "belle" and "France' will be associated somehow, you'll always find some examples. It's the French language.

But the expression "la belle France" as a common way to describe France is simply not used by French people.

"The French DO (quite rightly) call their country "La Belle France""

sorry they DON'T (rightly or not)

[peter kinsley www.peterkinsley.com]

Yes, Mike, Spain and Jugoslavia, and there's a piece on him in my website, where I try to explain him. He had sailed over the "Papillon" ground and from the currents, knew it was faked: but he needed dough to finance Titticaca,*** so he faked "Ice". Strange: Steve McQueen wanted to do "The Incredibe Voyage" which was not faked! As crew on the "Barbara" out of New York, he had a Swedish and an American naval officer. He had a saying: The two most useless things on a sailing boat are a wheelbarrow and a Naval Officer. The Yank failed to duck and took a crack on the head. "I knew he'd gone funny, when I woke up one morning and found him varnishing my socks" Tristan said to me. From the Azores he was flown back to a funny farm in the States,and Jones wound up in Spain where the owner Arthur Cohen (who invented a saltwater to fresh water device) cane aboard wearing his posh new sailing cap with "Barbara" in gold stitching on the front.
"Coming ashore for a beer, Tris?" he asked. "Not with you, mate," said Jones" "Why not?" said Arthur, a good guy, feeling hurt.
"Because people will think that's your name." said Jonsey.
*** A French yachtsman in Le Havre had said to him: "Look at my mast. you will never have a mast as high as that, Tristan." So Jonsey sailed trhe Red Sea (lowest water on earth) and Titticaca, (highest) just to send him a p/c: "Beat that" (see my website),
and got into the Guinness Book of Records.