9th of August we took a photo of us in the two arches of the Roman gate as a souvenir from Saintes. On the way out of town we still stopped by a bike shop because the clear rubber envelope for my biking maps ripped a triangle hole yesterday by the heat. I had repaired it provisionally with duck-tape but wanted to find out if there is something old-fashioned like this still available. His answer was clear, that no one uses paper anymore. I could explain him that Garmin and Komoot are discussing all day long which is the best route while I am reading faster on a paper map and know better which is the best way for us to follow. At least we got some isotonic drink additions and then we hit the road into the heat.
Today we had the privilege to just follow the river of Charente on both sides. We even took a ferry to join the bike trail on the southern shore. It was the most pleasant way to move in this heat along a river under the trees with your own created headwind. The first bigger town was Cognac which had a huge two towered gate by the harbour called Saint-Jacques, but we had left the Way of Saint-Jacques from Tours (Via Turonensis) at Saintes. So no more stamps from this place anymore. But great Cognac names like Hennessy and a bit later along the Charente at the castle of Bourg-Charente is known for Grand Marnier came along our route. Jarnac was not only the birth place of Francois Mitterand but known for Courvoisier as the Cognac of Napoleon.
From here the original bike path changed from the southern river side to the north. Soon we understood why the tourism office had chosen this side, because one castel after the other made this area a mini-look-a-like-Loire-Tour. On the limestone fields the best conditions for wine cultures could be found along the river. We had made up with the Rotary Club of Châteauxneuf-sur-Charente in a public bath for a drink as all the other bars and restaurants are closed during afternoon.
Jean-Paul Paty the president with his wife Martine welcomed us with refreshing drinks and their Rotarian friend Patrick Barbot who was originally from Chateauneuf. He had all the maps and cards plus the Club flag handed over to us. It was so nice to chat a bit under the trees and enjoy the holiday atmosphere around us of kids jumping into the water. Even the Cicadas started to sound like you know from the Southern places.
Unfortunately, we had to continue because our final destination for today was Barbezieux and to get there we had to leave the river of Charente of which we became so fond of during the last hours of the day. Now it was uphill and we had vineyards to both sides. Robert had chosen a little hotel in the middle of the town which in the good old days was once a Grand hotel. Where once were the horses were taken care of now our steel horses were hiding behind the garbage containers to get their energy from wall plug suckets.
We wanted to get our energy from some good French cuisine, but I promised myself no more meat and wine as my joints were causing painful reactions to it. I was happy to see, that they offered a vegetarian dish on their menu but the waiter didn’t recommend it to me as it would have only veggies and nothing with it like fries or rice. To be honest on the countryside in France the concept of a vegetarian cooking is punished by their cooks with pure neglect and ignorance, because they can’t imagine a menu without bloody rare meat. Even if you insist on medium you still get it rare done. But as always I ended up with meat, fries and red wine. Robert still enjoyed a good Cognac at the end and back to bed.
