Wednesday 2nd June
Puygareau, Baignes Ste Radegonde to Chateauneuf sur Charante.
Breakfast was on the table and there was enough food to feed an army. Madame joined us for a cup of coffee and there was an awful lot to talk about. Her husband is the Marie of the town as well as farming beef and veal amongst other ventures. We had to keep popping out to look at various plants in the garden, so in fact there wasn’t much time to eat the huge spread. However as we were leaving she pressed 2 whole cheeses, cherries, brioches and more into our hands as we hadn’t managed to finish them. It was not surprising that later in the day my bike had it’s first puncture, probably caused by the stress of carrying all the extra weight! It doesn’t seem to matter which way we are facing but there is always a headwind. Today was no exception but fortunately we were on the old railway line again which is quite sheltered, for the first part of the day. Thereafter we followed the suggested bike route which took us along little roads, through hamlets interspersed with huge woods and fields full of corn and wheat.The birdsong is fantastic. We are just entering Cognac country and recorded this. Unidentified birdsong but we now know it is a Golden Oriel!
the farmers are busy sprayingtheir vines with goodness knows what, and unlike in the U.K they are not remotely bothered by there being too much wind. As we went past we had to hold our breath and go as fast as possible as the spray spread all over the road.
Reignac Village
I wondered why my bike was feeling particularly heavy on a long push up a hill until I noticed the flat tyre. By this time Alec was a good half mile ahead so I had to ring him up to call for help. Fortunately he is awfully good at this now and in no time, all had been sorted so we ate our feast overlooking the valley. Shortly after that, as we were whizzing down a hill, a bee decided to fly down the front of my shirt which gave us both (that is me and the bee) a fright. As my family will know they are not my favourite insects after an incident with a swarm so I had to be very brave and after only a little shrieking and wobbling, Alec found him on his way out of the bottom of my shirt, after only stinging me once. We arrived in Chateauneuf sur Charante, which is a small town rather over shadowed by it’s too rather more prosperous looking neighbours, Jarnac and Cognac.
Having telephoned two Logis looking for a bed and been told they were full, we called in at the Tourist Office for help. They offered us a house with a pool but it was 3 miles back the way we’d come at the top of a hill and one in town only 500yds away. Despite the hill and having to retrace our steps we opted for the pool, but sadly when called there was no reply. The more local option said yes and asked if we’d like supper too – so we grabbed this with both hands and cycled off to meet them.
Madam was about 65, quite large and had a powerful voice and fond of giving us all very big hugs. Monsieur was ten years older and fiddled about a lot. They had two red setters one permanently attached to an old Citroen CV which doubled as a kennel and Monsieur’s runabout. My hanky soon disappeared into the kennel when I laid it out for Vivi to sit on. The house was a huge old town house with polished floors and masses of antiques and ancient sailing boats in glass cases. Not really knowing the protocol for the timing of supper we opted to have it with them at 7.30 only to find they had invited friends and presumably had no intention of doing anything before 8.30. So we admired the veg patch and the hutch full of lapins (for the pot) and waited. Supper was a reasonably jolly affair with Vivi gallantly leading the conversation from start to finish – made considerably easier and more fluent by Monsieur offering us a glass of Pineau as an aperitif and when we couldn’t make up our minds as to red or white gave us a bucketful of both. We noticed that his wife and guests had one colour and only a thimbleful, the same went for all the courses and particularly the bowls of strawberries – this was rather embarrassing but then again we were paying guests.
Supper consisted of potted duck, soup, cold pork, turkey, saussisson, hot potatoes and salad, cheese then pudding. At about 10.30 we excused ourselves and went to bed the others left very noisily an hour later.
Puygareau, Baignes Ste Radegonde to Chateauneuf sur Charante.
Breakfast was on the table and there was enough food to feed an army. Madame joined us for a cup of coffee and there was an awful lot to talk about. Her husband is the Marie of the town as well as farming beef and veal amongst other ventures. We had to keep popping out to look at various plants in the garden, so in fact there wasn’t much time to eat the huge spread. However as we were leaving she pressed 2 whole cheeses, cherries, brioches and more into our hands as we hadn’t managed to finish them. It was not surprising that later in the day my bike had it’s first puncture, probably caused by the stress of carrying all the extra weight! It doesn’t seem to matter which way we are facing but there is always a headwind. Today was no exception but fortunately we were on the old railway line again which is quite sheltered, for the first part of the day. Thereafter we followed the suggested bike route which took us along little roads, through hamlets interspersed with huge woods and fields full of corn and wheat.The birdsong is fantastic. We are just entering Cognac country and recorded this. Unidentified birdsong but we now know it is a Golden Oriel!
the farmers are busy sprayingtheir vines with goodness knows what, and unlike in the U.K they are not remotely bothered by there being too much wind. As we went past we had to hold our breath and go as fast as possible as the spray spread all over the road.
Reignac Village
I wondered why my bike was feeling particularly heavy on a long push up a hill until I noticed the flat tyre. By this time Alec was a good half mile ahead so I had to ring him up to call for help. Fortunately he is awfully good at this now and in no time, all had been sorted so we ate our feast overlooking the valley. Shortly after that, as we were whizzing down a hill, a bee decided to fly down the front of my shirt which gave us both (that is me and the bee) a fright. As my family will know they are not my favourite insects after an incident with a swarm so I had to be very brave and after only a little shrieking and wobbling, Alec found him on his way out of the bottom of my shirt, after only stinging me once. We arrived in Chateauneuf sur Charante, which is a small town rather over shadowed by it’s too rather more prosperous looking neighbours, Jarnac and Cognac.
Having telephoned two Logis looking for a bed and been told they were full, we called in at the Tourist Office for help. They offered us a house with a pool but it was 3 miles back the way we’d come at the top of a hill and one in town only 500yds away. Despite the hill and having to retrace our steps we opted for the pool, but sadly when called there was no reply. The more local option said yes and asked if we’d like supper too – so we grabbed this with both hands and cycled off to meet them.
Madam was about 65, quite large and had a powerful voice and fond of giving us all very big hugs. Monsieur was ten years older and fiddled about a lot. They had two red setters one permanently attached to an old Citroen CV which doubled as a kennel and Monsieur’s runabout. My hanky soon disappeared into the kennel when I laid it out for Vivi to sit on. The house was a huge old town house with polished floors and masses of antiques and ancient sailing boats in glass cases. Not really knowing the protocol for the timing of supper we opted to have it with them at 7.30 only to find they had invited friends and presumably had no intention of doing anything before 8.30. So we admired the veg patch and the hutch full of lapins (for the pot) and waited. Supper was a reasonably jolly affair with Vivi gallantly leading the conversation from start to finish – made considerably easier and more fluent by Monsieur offering us a glass of Pineau as an aperitif and when we couldn’t make up our minds as to red or white gave us a bucketful of both. We noticed that his wife and guests had one colour and only a thimbleful, the same went for all the courses and particularly the bowls of strawberries – this was rather embarrassing but then again we were paying guests.
Supper consisted of potted duck, soup, cold pork, turkey, saussisson, hot potatoes and salad, cheese then pudding. At about 10.30 we excused ourselves and went to bed the others left very noisily an hour later.
From the B&B
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