Chateauneuf sur Charante to Cognac
We left early for us as Madame had a job looking after a nonagenarian and Monsieur wanted to go to the market. The sun was hot by 10 when we left. Breakfast had been left out for us, the usual huge cereal bowls for the coffee, brioche, bread and for the first time in ages - peaches. Once again we were urged to take anything we hadn’t eaten so for the second time in a week we left looking more than usually like tinkers.
We have now run out of disused railway line but the local department have signed wonderful cycle routes which keep you to flat(ish) ground and lead you though countless charming villages. It is hard to know which area looks more prosperous, this brandy growing region or the Medoc area the other side of Bordeaux.
In amongst all of this tranquility we came across a War Memorial dedicated to a member of the Resistance who after capture had swallowed a cyanide pill rather than disclose the names of his accomplices’ whilst under torture. The Memorial also remembered the Lysander pilots who had been ambushed and killed whilst landing to drop off whatever it was the Resistance had needed at the time. In such a peaceful setting it was hard to imagine all of those events taking place.
Memorials and the place where the Lysanders landed and were ambushed.
Memorials and the place where the Lysanders landed and were ambushed.
We stopped in Jarnac (home of Courvoisier) to eat our picnic by the river and to feed some of yesterday’s brioche to the ducks. We had to do this as on the other bank some children were chastising a swan with a tree branch which we could see was going to end in tears, so anything to distract it.
The Courvoisier building complete with barrels in the windows!
AA distracting the swan!
As the afternoon wore on we continued on our way to Cognac where we were already booked in so no rush. We passed the Cognac Golf Club where one of last night’s guests was playing at 3pm so put our shirts back on in case we saw him. We stopped just outside Cognac to cool our feet and arrived at about 6pm.
Vivi cooling her feet!
The first thing that strikes you is the number of brandy houses there are. All the usual suspects like Remy Martin, Hine, Martell have their huge headquarter buildings but there are masses of other lesser known (to us) houses there too. Not really so surprising as it is exported and drunk all over the world. Cognac is a pleasant town with the Charante running through it and large houses overlooking the water.
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