Le Tâtre to Cognac

May 20, 2019

A dry day!

Breakfast with Elaine (host), Marie and Yves (other guests) was another pleasant meal. Marie and Yves left to continue on their way to Portugal and I finished packing my gear, said goodbye to Elaine, and set off to rejoin the bike path. It was an easy ride to Barbezieux-St-Hilaire, right past it, in fact. There were signs for a cycle route to my next waypoint along the very roads I'd selected on my map. So I followed the signs to Chateauneuf-sur-Charente.

Looking back and down toward Nonaville in the adjacent valley. The road followed a ridge.

It seems I chose my route well. It coincides with cycle routes I didn't know about.

I was surprised to discover it was after noon when I got there, but luckily there was a boulangerie-café right on my route through town. And when I'd finished my quiche Provençal and peach iced tea, there was a sign right across the street marking the cycle route to Cognac!

Somehow, though, I think I missed a turn, or perhaps there weren't as many reassurance (yes, you are still on the cycle route) signs, so I asked Garmin to navigate. I shouldn't have done that! When will I learn?

Garmin sent me this way. This was far from the worst slippery mud patch!

But on the plus side, there were views like this!

Once I found my way back onto pavement again, I decided to follow highway signs to Jarnac, the remaining big town before Cognac.

Back on pavement just before Triac. I liked the church but didn't detour to see it up close.

Maybe the most famous resident of Jarnac?

Jarnac is a pretty town along the river.

Jarnac, looking upstream from the same bridge.

From Jarnac, I picked up the marked cycle route again by chance, so I decided to follow it. It led to a bridge over the Charente that was being resurfaced and had big barriers and "route barrée" signs. I continued along the left bank, hoping there was an alternate route, but there wasn't. Just as I was getting up my courage to ask one of the workers if I could walk my bike across, a fellow on a VTT (mountain bike) came across from the other side. I got the nod from a worker and rode across myself. One of them even made as if to move the backhoe that was blocking most of the width so I could get by, but it was wide enough for me to squeeze by if I walked.

And what was on the other side? The Château de Bourg-Charente, home of Grand Marnier. I could just see its top over the trees (and knew what it was due to a sign on a wall) but should maybe have gone around clockwise rather than counterclockwise to get a good view. There was a hill involved, so I didn't backtrack.

The bike route continued, past a big golf course (the first I've seen in France), along Route du Dolmen (there was a really large one and I should have stopped, but the day was getting on), Route de Gardepee (the Château de Garde-Épée is at the bend) and on to Saint-Brice.

Before descending to Saint-Brice, I stopped and asked Garmin to lead me to Camping Cognac. I think Garmin was trying to get even with me for ignoring him earlier. Looking at the track now, he led me down a hill and across through another rough dirt track, when continuing along Route de la Soloire would have been just fine and faster too. And don't get me started about the detour by the river, on an even rougher track, when staying on Route de Corbières would have been much easier.

Oh well, I got to Camping Cognac, paid my 10.80€, got set up, and headed into town. I wanted to see if I could get a Cognac-tasting visit/tour this evening, but it was too late. I wandered around the old city; it was dead on an early Monday evening except for the traffic jam caused by the construction near the Château Royal de Cognac.

Old city gate adjacent to the Château Royal, Cognac

If you zoom way in, you can see that the plaque tells us this is the Fontaine François I, with the Château Royal behind. François was born there way back when.

Perhaps 2019 isn't the best year to visit Cognac! This is a rare moment between lines of cars (it was alternating traffic) through this zone.

The Hôtel de Ville is in a beautiful public garden.

I had no idea Cognac started as a salt town!

An interesting salad. The big orange bit is melon, thinly sliced except at one end. It also had figs, bits of chicken, nuts... Strangely, no cheese!

The walkway along the river is lovely and I ate at an Italian restaurant overlooking the river and adjacent to the Château. I walked back to the campground along the river.

Flowers in the campground. I also saw these by the roads. I love them but don't know what they are.

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Today's ride: 68 km (42 miles)
Total: 1,051 km (653 miles)

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Kathleen ClassenYou solved a mystery for me. I have been wondering for days what VTT means and kept forgetting to look it up. It seems so obvious now that I know.
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5 years ago

Jacquie GaudetGlad to help! Most of them I’ve seen on bike paths have been hard tails (front suspension only) rather than the dual-suspension bikes we see on actual mountain bike trails in BC.
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5 years ago