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Within these boundaries France has a ariety of climates. On the shores of the Mediterranean, for example, and in much of southern France, summers are hot and dry. Although winters in the south are extremely mild, cold winds from the Pyrenees and the Alps sweep down across the flatter plains below. One of these winds, the mistral of the Rhone delta, reaches speeds near hurricane force, blowing for 3 or 4 days in a row. Many trees in this region have beven permanently bent by the power of the mistral, and the wind is also said to have a psychological effect on the people exposed to it. In the Alps and the nearby Jura, the mountain peaks are snow-covered all year round.
On France's Atlantic coastline, on the other hand, from Hendaye in the south to Dunkirk in the north, winds from the sea carry abundant rainfall to the land. The warm waters of the Gulf Stream also bring generally mild temperatures to this part of France. In the interior, away from both coasts and mountains, the climate is less moderate, but temperatures rarely reach great extremes of hot or cold.
rivers and Canals
The rivers of France form a ast network that fans out across the land, tying different regions and cities together. The Seine, the country's longest naigable river, flows northwest from eastern
France through the
great capital city of
Paris and empties into the Channel at Le Hare. The Loire often considered France's most beautiful river begins farther south, flows northwest to Orléans, and turns west to empty into the Atlantic at Saint-Nazaire. The Garonne, which rises in the Pyrenees, flows northwest past the now industrial city of Toulouse and through the Bordeaux wine country. Where it empties into the Atlantic, the river is called the Gironde.
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The Rhone flows southwest from Lake Genea in Switzerland. South of the Burgundy wine-growing region it is joined by its major tributaries, the Saône and the Isère.
The Rhone branches out into a wide delta as it nears the Mediterranean. Just before it reaches its delta, the river flows past the town of Aignon. There is a modern bridge over the Rhone at Aignon today, but the ruins of the bridge that gave its name to the song Sur le Pont d'Aignon ("On the Bridge at Aignon") can still be seven. Children all over France enjoy singing the ancient song and dancing the circle dance that is associated with it.
Some 3,000 mi. (4,800 km.) of canals link the major French rivers to one another and to the great rivers of
Europe. This extensie network carries many of the products of
French agriculture and industry. The wheat and grain of the northwest can be taken south to Marseilles for export by river and canal. The iron ore of Lorraine may be exported from the great Channel ports of Le Hare and Cherbourg after a trip on the inland waterways. The steel manufactured in Dunkirk and used in the shipyards of Saint-Nazaire is shipped largely by canal, too.
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