My day in Le Pen land

At first glance, for the visitor driving by, Guingamp in northwest Brittany looks idyllic. It is a typically lovely stone-built French small town, it has a sweet river running through the middle, it has pretty ramparts and a ducal chateau and riverbank gardens, with agreeable new fountains in the centre. It even has a decent-sized supermarket open on Sunday.

At least it did last Sunday, the first French election day, when I paid a visit. The difference for me is that – unlike most trippers – I didn’t breeze on after a peek at the historic watermills. I lingered. Because Guingamp is not just another dainty French town, it is highly representative of several things: of the way Brittany (traditionally left wing) has slowly shifted to the right. And of a provincial France which, however nice it may appear, feels itself left behind, even abandoned, and always ignored by Paris.