April 6th 2022
John gave us a very interesting account of his walking journey, which took 10 weeks, through France from Caen to the foothills of Mont Blanc. He embarked on the journey soon after retiring and did not read guide books or book accommodation in advance. Some nights ,when unable to find rooms he slept under the stars. He decided to keep off main roads and take the more rural tracks and paths marked as GR trails by stripes of red and white paint on directional posts. His route went via Blois, Gien and on to the foothills of the Alps at Chambery.
Along the route he noted canals, war memorials , local foods and literary and historical associations. Most of the walk, after the first week, when he was joined by a friend, was done solo. During the walk he became interested in butterflies and used a phone App for identification. He discovered that there are only about 50 butterflies in UK but 250 in France. He managed to cover about 100 miles a week.
At Gien he saw the shattered remains of the castle bombed in 1940’s. After the German invasion, 6 million French moved south across the Loire. This period is covered in Nemirovsky’s novel Suite Francaise. He sampled the famous Sancerre white wine and admired the storks. Auvergne served to highlight a rather depressed area resulting in an exodus to the cities. After ten weeks he got a spectacular view of Mont Blanc which was first climbed in 1787. J. Ball, the first president of the Alpine club, described “a view of extraordinary grandeur.” By the end of the walk his boots were falling apart and the locals would encourage him by shouting “Courage” to urge him onward.
A dull and wet afternoon was brightened up by this lively, illustrated talk with scenic photographs and informative book jackets. Members admired his energy and perhaps, some of the fitter amongst us, could be tempted to follow in his footsteps.
Literary Works Mentioned during the presentation – most of which he read after the walk.
Simenon, G. Misty Harbour (about the murder of a harbour master)
Aubenas , F. The Night Cleaner (2010) An undercover journalist works as a cleaner on channel ferries during the Financial Crisis.
Pierre le Maitre Au Revoir la Haut (Great Swindle – about a con to supply war memorials with money demanded up front but contracts never honoured.) This novel won the Prix Goncourt in 2013.
Grigson , G. Notes from an Odd Country (1970) – an elegy on rural French life.
Zola, Emile . La Terre (1887) Set in village of Beauce about a family feud over land. This book became the centre of an obscenity trial for its depiction of rape, incest and casual sex.
Fournier, A. Le Grand Meaulnes (1913) A coming of age novel set in the Sologne region. The author was killed in WWl.
Genevoix, M. Raboliot (1925). Another Prix Goncourt novel about an habitual poacher of wild rabbits and his conflict with the law, set in the Sologne region.
Nemirovsky, I. Suite Francaise (2004) The French exodus from Paris after the Germans invaded formed the first part of this novel. It was made into a film which focussed on the German occupation rather than the earlier part of the novel.
Piketty, T. Capital in the 21st Century. (2014) Written by a French economist this book became a best seller. An interesting observation – only 10% of land changed hands after the French Revolution.
Du Maurier, D. Scapegoat (1957) A novel , set in France , of exchanged identities and the decline of a family and its glassworks business.
Chevallier, G. – Clochemerle (1936) A satirical depiction of village life in Clochemerle, and a dispute over the installation of the village pissoir. Set in the Beaujolais region, it sold millions of copies and was the inspiration for more than one film.
Chevallier, G. La Peur (1930) A bitter, anti-war book about trench warfare.
Belloc, H . Described Chambery – the old capital of the Savoy region “as a very simple, delightful place ” in a 1922 letter. Hilaire was a keen observer and traveller in France. He often visited having been born of a French father and English mother. Belloc spent his boyhood in Slindon, near Chichester and spent most of his life in West Sussex.
Lois Coulthart