I went to France at the very end of 2001. Having lived in France for five years I am able to appreciate many wonderful things about France. Read on.

The Outdoors

I have always been a fan of the outdoors and here I am on a long hike through the Pyrenees. France is fortunate to have such a wide variety of geography in such a small area. Superb beaches all arounds its coastline, some serious mountains including Europe's highest mountain - Mont Blanc.

French Women

French women are famous for their beauty and here is an excellent example. This is the gorgeous Claire Chazal, a newsreader on TF1. In addition to being gorgeous she also has a wonderfully sexy voice. One of Claire's other fans has created an unofficial website.

Natural Beauty (geological)

The Cirque de Gavarnie is an amazing site + the authorities have done an excellent job by making tourists walk about 4km to see it. Yes, 4km from the car park... You could cycle to Gavarnie without too much trouble. Or you can see the image at istockphoto

French health care

The French medical system is expensive but very efficient. When I was knocked off my bike I made an appointment to see my doctor within an hour and was sent for an x-ray which took another 15 minutes. Compare that to Britain...

Wild Food

Blueberries! Since my time in the Czech Republic, I have been very fond of blueberries. In the Pyrenees they are huge, very tasty- and there are no mosquitoes to come along and pester you. It is possible to buy them in the market but a lot more satisfying to climb the mountains and pick them yourself.

Campsites

There are around 10,600 campsites in France, some private, many run (very well) by the local councils. They provide inexpensive accommodation and an important part of French life with comparatively few French people travel abroad for their summer holidays.

Would you like to see more optimistic views of France? Or some pessimistic ones?