Blogs from Poitou-Charentes, France, Europe - page 8

BLOG 11 Monday 25 June – Happy Birthday Viv, my older (by 2 days) longest known friend! Well we left you in Cahors where we’d had a couple of nights at very acceptable campsite. It took us a while to get going...packing up outdoor furniture/awning, filling/emptying water, showers, then finally just checking emails while we can. Absolutely thrilled to get one from Tom in Kyrgyzstan, with an attached photo of him holding up a sign saying Happy Brithday....he’s a good chap. So - today we’ve made a bit more progress towards the coast, about 100k’s. Our route wasn’t shown as scenic on the map but nevertheless, was very pretty – rural with numerous hamlets and villages to drive through. We stopped for a looky-see at Villefrance-du-Perigord, where, being a Monday (closing day) was extremely quiet.......basically a ... read more

Over night stay at Le Brevedent, lovely, but wet, so decided to drive on to next stop, Le Mont-St-Michel. Arrived at St Michel, sunny and warm, got on bikes and cycled to the Abbey. Breathtakingly impressive, well worth the visit, even though it is very commercialised. Stayed one night at St-Michel, next morning traveled on to Erdeven. Weather back to rainy and cloudy, cycled to beach, which would be lovely in sunny weather, but a bit bleak in drizzle. Stayed one night and traveled on to La Rochelle. Now we are in the sunny side! Will stay here two nights, then move down the coast.... read more

Today we headed for Cognac, yes that Cognac. We had breakfast at the hotel and were off early today. Cognac is a short drive, but we only have today so we want to make sure we get there in time to see at least one producer. It is a partly cloudy day but very warm the humidity level as really picked up. We had no difficulty finding the right direction out of town and took the Auto Route most of the way, the last 20 minutes was on a smaller national road and of course the scenery was much more delightful. We arrived in Cognac at about 12:30; we pulled over at a parking spot by the river and walked into the city to find our hotel. We walked into the old part of the city ... read more

The trip down to La Rochelle (which means "Little Rock") lasted three hours. Patricia arrived at the train station at the appointed time and it was then we discovered that the there were two other passengers in the small hatchback. Patricia was enroute to visit her grand daughter in La Rochelle and had numerous belated Christmas gifts strewn throughout the car. Jean-Claude, a French/African graduate of transport logistics was another passenger and France, a retired English teacher of Madagascan heritage, was the last fellow traveller. Of course, their luggage was crammed in as well. We repacked the car, organising luggage to maximise space and in order of who would be dropped at their destination first. There wasn't much space left for people despite out best efforts. Patricia was a master of the autoroutes, the French motorways. ... read more

Wednesday 14th September – Rochefort, Royan and Talmont. A bit of change in the weather again today with the sun shining. Headed for Rochefort to visit the Corderie Royale and the reconstruction of the 18th century ship of La Fayette – the Hermione. Good parking outside the Corderie which was free between 12 and 2pm. 14 euros each to go into both the rope factory and to see the ship. Certainly worth a visit. Nice atmosphere to Rochefort. Our next stop was Royan a seaside town just a little way down the coast with views across the Gironde estuary. Free parking on the seafront and loads of beach cafes with an excellent choice of menus. Our crepes tasted so much better with the sun on our backs and a view of the sea in front of ... read more