Going with the flow through the wine region

Richard Collins explores the idyllic vineyards of the Languedoc.

IT IS easier to travel from Paris to the Mediterranean on the “train à grand vitesse” than by plane. The waiting and stresses at airports are avoided and you get to see the countryside. The TGV runs so smoothly you hardly notice its motion. Most importantly, rail travel is better for the environment; trains generate far smaller amounts of greenhouse gases than planes.

France has first-class transport systems nowadays, but during the reign of the Louis XIV, things were different. The Sun King was a bellicose monarch, constantly squabbling with his neighbours. His wars created problems with transport and communications in France; ships sailing between the Atlantic ports and the Mediterranean were forced to run the gauntlet of Spanish warships. It was safer to drag goods overland on horse-drawn carts, despite the financial and human costs incurred. The Romans had dreamt of digging a canal to speed things up. Henry IV toyed with the idea. So did Cardinal Richelieu and feasibility studies were commissioned. The experts decided building a canal was out of the question.