Today started on the peaceful little campsite in Dampierre Sur Boutonne, and we hoped that the hideous winds that had picked up yesterday, had settled down overnight.
Our friends from the Marais Breton messaged, saying it was ‘blowing and absolute hoodie’ there (it should have read hoolie, but you have to love auto-correct on phones – and it certainly made us smile), and that they hoped it wasn’t doing the same for us.
The thing was that we couldn’t really tell. The site was down by the river, and although we could see the clouds skitting past, we couldn’t really feel the wind. All that changed, as soon as we pedalled out of the village and up the hill. If anything, it was worse and was blowing directly into our faces.
You can Watch a video from today’s ride here
To begin with, we had been protected, and had taken a quiet hedge-lined road, where we enjoyed the warm sunshine, watching our shadows ride alongside..
We stopped to say hello to the horses, and a rather wonderful donkey, with beautiful furry ears that flicked as we chatted to them.
But then, the ride out took us through pretty, rolling countryside, with open fields, which would have been lovely, apart from the fact that there was nothing to break the wind. Occasionally, we saw hedges ahead, and got excited that there would be a few moments respite, before being blown backwards, or slightly sidewards, when they stopped.
Even going downhill, we were having to pedal to make reasonable ground, so it felt as if we were climbing, all the way to Saint Jean D’Angely, our first stop of the day.
As we cycled into the town, we saw throngs of people making their way into the town centre, and decided that we would follow them, as it must be market day, and if we’re honest, we needed a break and a coffee (even though we had only pedalled 18km into a 70km ride)
We were so pleased that we had stopped.We’d never visited the town before, and found a beautiful little centre, packed with stalls for the Saturday morning market. It was full of colour, scent, noise and bustle, with wonderful stalls, so we bought a ‘Marzipan’ from an artisan boulanger, and then sat munching this wonderful pastry with a coffee from a local coffee roaster too.
It was just what we needed. Caffeine and sugar gave us just enough of a pick-me-up, and after buying extra coffee to keep us going for the next few days, we got back on the bikes and pedalled on.
The route today was a bit wiggly, as we had wanted to take a better look at the area, having been charmed by the roads and villages just south of Saintes, last year, when we were on our way towards a rugby match in Angouleme. You can read about that ride here
We dropped out of the town and made our way towards Matha, almost cheering, when we realised the wind was in our backs for about 4km, only for reality to hit that we were going to be pedalling back into it, once we had stopped for lunch.
Here, we started to see the first vineyards, leaving the large arable fields behind, replaced by the regimented stripes of green vines, with bunches of yellowy-green grapes hanging below the leaves.
The landscape was changing again, and seeing these little differences is one of the biggest delights of travelling across a country by bike.
We found a bench by the Chateau in Matha, where we stopped for lunch, sharing a bench with a local cat, that clearly wasn’t too impressed at having company, so didn’t wait to see if we would invite him to join us
Reading up on the history of the Chateau, we found it has a royal link to our local town, Apt, in Provence, specifically the Cathedral there. Anne of Austria became Queen of France, and struggled to provide the King with an heir, so turned in desperation to the relics of Saint Anne (mother of Mary), which are held at Apt, to help her carry a baby to term. Ten years later, she gave birth to Louis, who would become the Sun-King of France.
You can Read about her story in Apt here
She also took up residence in the Chateau at Matha, during the Siege of St Jean D’Angely, in 1621, where we were having lunch today. It’s a small world
Eventually, we had to head on again, knowing that our brief respite with a tail-wind was over and that we would be bent double, just to make headway towards Cognac.
It was a lovely ride through, even with the wind, and we found ourselves cycling through vineyards that stretched as far as the eye could see…
and passing through a succession of beautiful villages..
one hosting a petanque tournament, which saw us having to slalom through parked cars, as so many people were there.
We had Cognac in our sights now, and although our legs were burning with effort and our cheeks were burnt by the wind, we kicked on and pedalled into the town, only to find the route we had expected to take closed for the repair to 2 bridges.
A last little detour took us up a long hill (not what we wanted), into the town, where we bounced across the cobbles, and got horribly lost.
We were so tired that we actually cycled past the house we had rented, and pedalled across the Charente, heading out of town, before we realised it felt wrong, turned round and went back again.
We found the house, settled in, (hanging the tent to dry, after more overnight rain), then ambled into town to find a laundrette, and popped the washing in, whilst we did the shopping
Tonight, we’re comfy, in our superb little camping chairs, sitting on the terrace, almost unable to speak with tiredness. I’m writing the blog, listening to the church bells chime 7pm, and I have a feeling that we’ll be in bed and asleep before 9.
We have a day off tomorrow, and I have a feeling that it will be one of those days where we just have a slow walk and sit on a bench watching the world pass by. If I’m honest, after the harsh weather of the last few days, I’m not sure that we will be capable of doing much more.
We had considered visiting one of the Cognac producers, but looking at the cost, we’ll probably give it a miss , as admission for 2 is pretty much the same cost as 2 days of food and camping as we travel.
But, all we need is a quiet day to relax, and recover, before we continue heading south on Monday, heading on to Toulouse for the rugby match on Thursday evening.
Now all we need is for Mother Nature to turn the wind down, and put a plug in the clouds, and we’ll be fine.
Postcards from Provence and beyond 