Nediterranean winter
'Sir: I enjoy Mr Beverley Nichols's la)triusing column, but I think he has een misled about Mediterranean Weather (November 24).
People looking for sun in winter should realise that the Mediterranean has a long Northern coastline, of which only a small part can claim to have a true Mediterranean winter climate — in which eighteen days out of twenty are sunny, it is normally warm enough at midday to sit out in a coat, and the common hibiscus and bougainvillea are often in bloom, with a variety of other subtropical shrubs and plants.
There is room for argument where this favoured coastal area begins and ends. My personal view is that one strip begins about 300 miles South of Naples and includes the Southern tip of Calabria and the East coast only of Sicily. Some would add the extreme tip of Puglia and part of the Gulf of Taranto, but I think not. And certainly not Naples, which has a rather beastly winter. A small part of the„preek mainland and litoral islands form another strip. A third extends from a point somewhere West of Malaga and ends a little North of Almeria. France, and of course Portugal, are entirely outside it and so are most of Italy and Spain except for these Southern coastal areas. The so-called Ligurian Riviera is nearly as much of an impostor in winter as its French counterpart. Like the rest of the world the Mediterranean has an 'off season', so that even in the favourable areas there is a recognisable winter and rainy season of not less than three full months. It is often very cold, though frost is virtually unknown on the coast itself. But one has to go only ten miles or so, and 3000 feet, from the coast to find deep snow and sub-zero temperatures for much of the period.
If Mr Nicholslwants to be sure of a crisp, sunny, warm and dry climate in winter he might try the Punjab. Perhaps he has.
Robin Jasper Casa De Los Algarrobos, Cortijada De San Juan, Almunecar, Spain.
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