Advent postcards, Javarzay, Chef-Boutonne, Deux-Sèvres

 

Advent postcard, Javarzay, Deux-Sèvres

Advent day eighteen

It wasn’t just the under tens in our village who got an early Christmas gift from Père Noël yesterday, we had our own reason to celebrate as Adrian’s mum was visiting for a long weekend. This is her first trip to France since 2019 and as we won’t be travelling to the UK this Christmas, we made the most of being able to have an early family celebration.

 

It was a busy weekend, taking in the Christmas market and lights in Poitiers on Saturday and taking her on a guided visit of Chef-Boutonne and Javarzay on Sunday afternoon. The Château de Javarzay may not be open, but we peered in the windows and had a good wander of the grounds, the lavoirs (wash houses), churches and the Boutonne river – which I’ve never seen so flooded. The sluice gates were all open and the power and speed of the water cascading through was mesmerising, and so very different from the gentle stream I’m used to seeing at work all summer. There is a mark on the wall of one lavoir showing the height of the flooding in 1982 and the water levels are currently only a few centimetres lower, with most of the features of the lavoir under water. 

 

Wanting to remember the heat of the summer, I’ve picked some sunny photos for my advent postcard today, with blue skies, pretty flowers and the golden hew of the stonework. 

We returned home with fresh faces for hot chocolate and homemade mincepies and later tucked into our version of a Christmas Day dinner. There was turkey, braised red cabbage, sprouts and other seasonal vegetables, but served as a risotto with side dishes. I’m not one to do things by the rules and as you can see, all plates were empty, so it went down well and was so much less hassle than a roast dinner.

An early family Christmas meal - the posed selfie

 

An early family Christmas meal - the empty plates

 

Advent postcards, Père Noël visits our village

Advent postcard, Père Noël visits our village

Advent day seventeen

Today’s cycling advent-ures postcard is from our village. Today is one of my favourite volunteering days of the year – the day Père Noël visits every child aged ten and under.

 

A few weeks ago, a small team of us visited a local toy shop to buy the thirty-seven gifts, which were wrapped and delivered to the village by their staff. 

 

Two days ago, we all met up to decorate the commune’s white van and convert it into a mobile grotto for Père and Mère Noël.

 

This afternoon, our little convoy of me and my decorated Brompton, a car with a sound system blaring out Christmas tunes, and the mobile grotto made our way slowly around the village spreading smiles. So many happy small people, faces alight when they heard us arrive and parents wishing us a happy Christmas and thanking us. It was a great way to spend a few hours. 

Advent postcards, Villemain Deux-Sèvres

Advent postcard, Villemain, Deux-Sèvres

Advent day sixteen

Today’s cycling advent-ures postcard is from the tiny village of Villemain, a mere three kilometres from our home. It is neatly tucked into the French countryside, so it’s not even somewhere you would drive through on your way to somewhere else. 

 

We will often set off on one of our quick ten-kilometre bike ride loops that take us through Villemain. Sometimes the route finishes with Villemain and then a whizzing downhill back home. Other times it starts with a gentle incline past goat and cow farms before a real leg and lung stretcher as we climb into the woods on the ridge.

 

If you do find yourself there, I think there are a few reasons to stop and take a moment. The first is the village war memorial. Rather than a sculptured rectangular memorial depicting the names of those lost, Villemain's is a statue of a French soldier painted in the palest blue uniform. Set on a plinth behind iron railings, it is always bedecked with flags for Victory in Europe Day on 8^th May and for Remembrance Day on 11^th November.

 

The second reason to stop is the Georgelet goat cheese farm. Any award-winning cheese farm whose cheeses are shipped all over France is worth a detour in my book, and they win gold medals most years at the national agricultural shows. They make a variety of the local speciality goat cheeses including Le Mothais sur Feuille which comes wrapped in a chestnut leaf and the pyramid shaped Chabichou de Poitou. Twice a week the farm shop is open, selling local produce as well as their cheese, but we can also stock up at the Saturday morning market in Chef-Boutonne, which is exactly what we did today, so that’s one bit of my Christmas shopping finished.

 

Advent postcards, La Faye, Charente

 

Advent postcard, La Faye, Charente

Advent day 15

We are not travelling too far from home for today’s cycling advent-ures postcard, but it’s still a village with a story to tell.

 

La Faye, situated just under five kilometres from Ruffec is somewhere that holds special memories for us as it has become our tradition to spend Christmas Day lunch there. We wrap up warmly, pack our posh picnic and cycle to La Faye, where there is the most perfect of picnic spots. The sturdy table is not just under cover but is also protected on two sides by the renovated village bread oven. The spire of the church surveys the scene and there is even a toilet in the car park and a baguette vending machine for our fresh bread. We couldn’t really ask for more, but this year the commune have dug a pond next to the bread oven, so we might even get ducks to feed this Christmas.

 

This September we made another visit to La Faye, in the footsteps once again of my favourite French industrialist Jean-François Cail. It seemed rather bizarre that we had travelled hundreds of kilometres to visit his iron railway bridge in Moulins, but we’d never seen the agricultural domaine he set up near Ruffec in 1853. Despite having left the area as a teenager and made his fortune in Paris and the north of France, he retired to La Faye and its impressive manor house, situated only twenty kilometres from where he was born in Chef-Boutonne (in 1804).

 

He chose the land as he could easily make the journey by train from Paris to Ruffec and although the soil and the buildings were in a poor state when he bought them, he expanded the farm from 160 ha to 308 ha. He radically moved away from traditional cereals and the crops to feed cattle, planting beets and installing a distillery to turn them into alcohol, something that would have been a risky decision in an area so close to Cognac. He died at La Faye in 1871. 

The farm might have changed radically in the last hundred and fifty-two years, but some of the farm buildings and the manor house are still there. It seemed fitting to pause for a moment before continuing on 112km birthday bike ride.

Advent postcards, Saint-Sauvant, Charente-Maritime

Advent postcard, Saint-Sauvant, Charente-Maritime

Advent day fourteen

Today’s cycling advent-ures postcard is from another characterful village we crossed paths with while looking for a pretty spot to rest and refuel. We had left Saintes, an impressive town on the banks of the Charente River, where vestiges of Roman life were all around, and were returning home on what would be an 86km cycle ride. 

 

It already felt like an adventure as we’d found a chain ferry to cross the Charente at Chaniers, which is so much more exciting than a bridge. A few kilometres later we arrived in Saint-Sauvant, a “Petite Cité de Caractère” in the Charente Maritime. This label is a way for small towns and villages to get recognition for their work to not only preserve the buildings that are part of their heritage, but also for their cultural events throughout the year that engage the local community and bring in the tourists.

 

Saint-Sauvant might be small, but its steep cobbled streets rising from the rivers Coran and Pidou, were begging to be explored, even if I did end up pushing the bike in places. The first thing to catch my eye was the medieval square tower that looked a little sorry for itself with a fig tree growing out of the crenelations at the top. My Petites Cités de Caractère guidebook tells me that it dates from the 14^th and 15^th centuries and was a prison until 1870. We had to demonstrate the folds of our bikes here for some French camping car tourists who had been eyeing us up since the lavoir at the bottom of the village. This is something we find ourselves doing at least once on a long-distance ride as most people can’t understand how something with such little wheels (and no electric assist), can carry us and our luggage all day, and fold so neatly.

 

Our next stop was the church of Saint-Sylvain, a lovely example of the 12^th century Romanesque architecture that you see a lot of in this area, but with its square tower dominating the skyline, this one was particularly impressive. We found our bench and tucked into a snack before following the Coran Valley cycle route towards Saint-Césaire. It wasn’t until we’d arrived home that I realised Saint-Sauvant has a Terra Aventura treasure hunt we’d missed – but at least that gives me a good excuse to return.

 

Advent postcards, Souvigny Allier

Advent postcard, Souvigny, Allier

Advent day thirteen

Today’s cycling advent-ures postcard is from Souvigny in the Allier department, a lunchtime rest stop for us as we cycled from Moulins back to Noyant-d’Allier. I can’t tell you much about Souvigny, but I couldn’t miss it out from my advent postcards as it truly was picture postcard perfect.

 

The sun was shining, we wandered deserted cobbled streets with creamy stone buildings and took in what is left of the château, before finding a shady bench to have our picnic lunch. Luckily for us, this gave us views of the impressive façade of the church as well as the shops with their ancient painted fronts, all under a blue sky. Souvigny was central to the Bourbon family and is also an important religious town thanks to the discovery of not one but two saints tombs. Saint Mayeul and Saint Odilon were both abbots at the monastery at Cluny over a thousand years ago. It isn’t quite on the direct Vézelay pilgrimage route, but many pilgrims make a detour here and I have to say, I’m in agreement with them. Souvigny is 100% worth a detour. 

Advent postcards, Cenon-sur-Vienne

 

Advent postcard, Cenon-sur-Vienne

Advent day twelve

Today’s cycling advent-ures postcard is from just outside the village of Cenon-sur-Vienne, at the confluence of the mighty Vienne and the river Clain, whose valley we had been cycling through north of Poitiers last weekend. 

 

It is hardly surprising I’ve found a watery theme to today’s post, as the rain continues to pour down there is little else on my mind. In the space of two months, we’ve gone from a worryingly low water table that necessitated water restrictions coming into place on 13^th October, to most of the west of France now a soggy mess. Drainage ditches at the edge of roads are flowing like rivers, fields have become lakes as the water tries in vain to drain into the ditches, and the rainwater drains in the village are gurgling and bubbling high like a water feature fountain. 28% of French departments now have water tables full to a very high level and only 11% are showing as very low. How can a situation swing so drastically, in such a short space of time? The Jet Stream. It seems to have shifted and got itself stuck further south than usual, and the resulting low pressure over the Atlantic is the cause for our seemingly endless rain.

 

We struck lucky three times on Sunday morning. Firstly, the rain didn’t start until we were back at the car after a 36km bike ride and a picnic lunch with views of the Château de Dissay, plus we had two lucky discoveries on the bike ride, both just outside the small Vienne town of Cenon-sur-Vienne.

 

The first thing we stumbled upon that put a smile on my face was the archaeological site of Vieux-Poitiers (Old Poitiers), on the road between Naintré and Cenon. Here, where the Roman town of Briva once stood, a ruined tower is all that remains from an amphitheatre that once held ten thousand people. The fact that it is also on the Chemins de Saint-Jacques pilgrimage route, just made me fall in love even more. Situated on a triangle of land that is protected on two sides by the two rivers, that also offered fishing and trade routes, you can see why this was an important position two thousand years ago.

 

Our route continued up the triangle to stand at the confluence of the Clain and the Vienne rivers. It was rather appropriate to find ourselves here as we finished our twelve months of mini-cycling adventures to celebrate our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. In 1998, our main criteria for our wedding venue was that it had to be on the river Thames. We were both born by the Thames, worked in London, and often met for lunchtime walks along the river and decided upon Henley-on Thames for our wedding. It was a special feeling at having achieved our 25^th anniversary challenge, where we have managed twenty-three nights away this year and cycled 1864 kilometres, and standing by these rivers, inspiration struck for another cycling adventure for 2024.

Advent postcards, Bellevue, Pays Mellois, Deux-Sèvres

Advent postcard, Bellevue, Deux-Sèvres

 

Advent day eleven

Today’s cycling advent-ures postcard is from the abandoned village of Bellevue, a surprise find in the middle of some woods in the Lambon valley. 

 

We were out for the day, on our bikes, ticking off the Terra Aventura circuits in Celle-sur-Belle and Prailles, near Lac du Lambon in the Deux-Sèvres. The theme of the Prailles course was Resistance but it had nothing to do with The Occupation during World War Two. This area of the Pays Mellois was an important stronghold for the Protestants during the religious wars in France five hundred years ago. Forced to meet in secret, they were adept at hiding their faith from the authorities and there are many signs still visible today that show how they resisted against the Catholics. There is also a local museum dedicated to their story, that is on my list of places to visit next year.

 

What began as a cycle ride along quiet rural lanes lined with fields and vineyards, changed abruptly as we turned onto a narrow track at the edge of a field, and descended into a wood. We followed the map and clues, and soon ended up deep in a forested valley with no other signs of life aside from the birdsong. It was a real adventure, although rather tricky manoeuvring the bikes over the stones, roots and logs in the pathway. As we reached the river Lambon, it was one surprise after another. First the ruined stone walls of houses from the abandoned village of Bellevue came into view, now mostly consumed by the foliage of the forest, and then a medieval stone bridge appeared (and I do love an ancient cobbled bridge). If it hadn’t been for the handy information panels explaining the plight of the Protestants and illustrating rural life over the ages, it would have felt like we’d become lost in a forgotten world.

 

You can find more information on this 5.5km walk on the tourist office website here. I’d definitely recommend it, but it’s probably better to do it on foot, in dry weather, rather than attempt it on bikes.

 

Book review This Christmas in Paris by Sophie Claire

This Christmas in Paris by Sophie Claire

This Christmas in Paris by Sophie Claire

What could be more magical than Christmas in Paris? 

 

When Carys is offered the chance to run a little French café, she leaps at the chance to discover an exciting city where she can dream big. Meanwhile, struggling journalist Mat is living in the City of Love - but he's never found romance himself. Then, a chance encounter changes everything, and it feels like the start of something wonderful. But Carys and Mat are both keeping secrets . . . Can they open their hearts to one another - and maybe even find love, just in time for Christmas?

 

This Christmas in Paris is the perfect festive read for fans of Cathy Bramley, Jo Thomas and Heidi Swain.

This Christmas in Paris by Sophie Claire

 

My Review

I always look forward to a Christmas romance from Sophie Claire and in This Christmas in Paris, we follow Carys, who made a brief appearance in A Winter’s Dream.

 

Carys is escaping. Much as she loves the village of Willowbrook, following a serious car accident, she feels the only way to escape people treating her differently is to make a new start in a new place. The opportunity to run a quirky café in Paris is too good not to jump at with enthusiasm, even if she has more of that than experience. As she faces the challenges of staffing issues, customer numbers and rolling out her fresh ideas at the café, what she hadn’t expected to feel in the city, was loneliness. A chance meeting in a park, that leads to a friendship with Mat, is the perfect antidote to the stresses of work.

 

Journalist Mat is not happy. His job is thankless and getting him nowhere, but he too has a plan B, a secret persona whose reputation around Paris is growing rapidly and could be the start of a bright new future – a future he would love to share with Carys.

 

Mat and Carys decide to keep their work lives out of their weekly Sunday meetings, which was both cautious and romantic, until it had huge consequences. As a fan of the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan film “You’ve Got Mail” I was thoroughly entertained by the similarities and references made to it during this book. The ups and downs in both their work and social life kept me turning the pages as I tried to guess how things would pan out for them both and if they could ever find a happy ever after.

 

Written with a lot of humour and some heart-tugging emotions, it was great to be back in a Sophie Claire book, set in Paris, with a festive feel. Pour yourself a hot chocolate and enjoy this book, served with the French patisserie of your choice.

 

You can read my reviews of Sophie’s other novels here:

A Winter’s Dream

The Christmas Holiday

An Escape to Provence

Summer at the French Olive Grove

A Forget-me-not Summer

 

Purchase Links 

 

Author Bio 

 

Sophie Claire, born to a French mother and Scottish father, grew up in Manchester where she still lives with her husband and two sons.

 

She writes stories centred around France, where she spent her summers as a child.

 

Social Media Links

 

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Advent postcards, Noyant-d'Allier

 

Advent postcards, Noyant-d'Allier

Advent day ten

Today’s cycling advent-ures postcard is from a small village in the Allier department we stumbled across on our two-centre cycling trip at the end of August. We spent two nights in Clermont-Ferrand and exploring the Puy de Dôme, before moving on for one night in Moulins, in the Allier department. Adrian found the village of Noyant-d’Allier, a handy thirty kilometres from Moulins, that looked a perfect spot to park the car overnight, as we unfolded the bikes and let them lead us on our adventure. 

 

Moulins was all I’d hoped it would be, and more, as it is home to the only surviving metal railway bridge built by Jean-François Cail. Regular readers will remember he was born in Chef-Boutonne and part of the museum at the Château de Javarzay is dedicated to his remarkable life – but more about our Moulins visit in another blog. Noyant-d’Allier is the star of today’s post. 

 

What seemed to be a standard, sleepy French village, which we’d found to be rather lacking in picnic tables, was actually hiding a huge secret that we discovered when we returned to the car, thinking our August adventure was over. We had already learned that coal mining had been important in the area, and noticed they had a small mining museum with some impressive steam trains, but it was following signs to the “Pagode” that left a lasting memory. Tucked away at the end of a residential road is a Buddhist temple, and the first thing that caught my eye was the nine-metre-high golden meditating Buddha, followed by the nine-metre-long white reclining Buddha. It felt like we had been transported a long way away from a rural mining village in France. Luckily there was an information panel explaining all (Adrian will tell you that I do love an information panel).

 

The coal mine had been a major employer from the middle of the 19^th century until the end of World War Two, when it was fully closed in 1943. Many people left the area, so from the mid 1950’s the empty housing was used to home the refuges displaced from the French war in Indochina (Vietnam). They remained and have become an integral part in the local area, so in 1983 work began on building them a Buddhist temple, set in a park where statues illustrate the different stages of the life of Buddha, as well as a mausoleum and a garden of remembrance. I felt so lucky to have stumbled upon such a peaceful and beautiful place and was honoured to have spent a few moments wandering around.

 

If you are ever in the Allier department, do go and visit.

 

Advent postcards, Dissay and the Clain, Vienne

Advent postcards, Dissay, Vienne

Advent day nine 

Today’s cycling advent-ures postcard is from our cycling themed few days in the Vienne, and with a special mention to the river Clain and the small town of Dissay.

 

We were in the area to spend the day with the Vienne based UCI Women’s world professional cycling team, FDJ-Suez, who were putting on a bit of a show to launch their 2024 season. As well as a meet and greet the athletes, we had the chance to cycle alongside them and enjoy the Grand Départ spectacle in the evening. A good time was had by all, even if the weather wasn’t exactly joining in the celebratory mood.  

You have no idea how excited I was to realise our accommodation was just a few kilometres from Dissay that is home to one of the most beautiful Renaissance châteaux I’ve seen. We made good use of the sunshine on the Friday to get the bikes out and explore, enjoying the autumn colours that had clung on into December. Our first stop, naturally, was Dissay to take in the magnificence of these towers, turrets, crenelations and more. It even has a real moat with a little arched bridge crossing it and a formal parterre garden at the rear. This château dates back to the 15^th century and was built by Pierre d’Amboise, the Bishop of Poitiers. It was used as a residence for bishops up until the Revolution and is now a spa hotel and restaurant, although sadly a little above our budget. I have to admit I had a little bit of château envy. 

FDJ-Suez women's pro world tour team for 2024

Advent postcards, Aulnay Charente-Maritime

 

Advent postcards, Aulnay, Charente-Maritime

Advent day eight

The jet stream has once again turned on us, bringing wild, wet and windy weather this weekend. We did have exciting cycling plans, but for the moment, it looks like we’ll have to take a rain check in the morning – keep your fingers crossed please. At least I can look back on our summer fun and remember that wonderful feeling of the heat of the sun on my skin.

 

Aulnay, in the Charente-Maritime has been an important stop for pilgrims on the Chemins de Saint Jacques de Compostelle for hundreds of years and a special place for us since our first St Jean d’Angeley 100km-day cycle route in 2017. There is something quite magical about reaching Aulnay and the last twenty kilometres of the day.

 

This year Aulnay has featured twice on our cycling calendar. As well as being our last cake-break and offering cool shady grass to lay down on, with a view of the impressive church spire, on our 100km a day, it was also a cycle ride destination to explore it more on a Terra Aventura adventure. This, once again, took us to hidden places we’ve missed, and pointed out so much more details than we’d noticed despite many years of cycling here.

 

The church of St Pierre dates from the 12^th Century and is a beauty. The spire draws you in from many kilometres out, and once you stand underneath the enormous carvings on the arched doorways, there is so much to see, one visit isn’t enough to appreciate it all.

 

I can’t wait to return to Aulnay next year, celebrating not only turning 53 but ten years of birthday 100kms-in-a day-bike rides.  

Advent postcards, Rom Deux-Sèvres

Advent postcards, Rom, Deux-Sèvres

Advent day seven

Today for our cycling advent-ures postcard we are staying in our home department of the Deux-Sèvres and visiting the village of Rom. This is one of the most interesting villages we have revisited this year, as there was so much more to discover than we’d imagined. We had previously visited the cemetery where there are thirty Commonwealth War graves, mostly RAF Special Air Servicemen who lost their lives on 7^th July 1944 during Operation Bulbasket. It is a sobering and moving place to visit and the RAF lay blue wreaths in September every year in remembrance.

 

Working in a museum, I decided that this year I needed to visit some of the other tourist sites locally, so when our visitors ask for information on things to see, I can do more than hand out a leaflet. We started our visit at the church, with its interesting stone tombs and painted chapels, but it was the Rauranum museum next door that we had really come to see, and it turned out to be the star of the visit.

 

Rom might be just a small rural village now, but two thousand years ago it was a major stage post along the Roman road that ran from Poitiers to Saintes. Rauranum was a vibrant place, home to around four thousand people and with visitors from all over Europe and north Africa. It was equipped with all the facilities you’d expect from an important Roman town and the remains of the stables and baths can be seen as you wander around the village. We visited the museum on a Sunday afternoon and were lucky enough to have it to ourselves. It might not be the biggest museum in France, but there a vast display of the artifacts found locally, and we also learned so much about the Roman history in the area. It is certainly somewhere I can now enthusiastically recommend to local tourists. 

Advent postcards, Embourie Charente

Advent postcards, Embourie, Charente

Advent day six

Today’s cycling advent-ures postcard is from a small village in the Charente, home to only around one hundred inhabitants but that kept a huge secret for hundreds of years. Hidden in a field above the village of Embourie are the remains of an impressive Gallo-Roman villa and many other artifacts have been uncovered in area in the last fifty years.

 

It is much to my shame that Embourie has been on our cycling radar for many years, including as a morning coffee stop on our Christmas Day picnic rides, but having regularly climbed up past the church, we had never before turned off the narrow main road and followed signs to the villa. In our defence, France (and particularly French villages) have a habit of enticing the traveller off their chosen path with intriguing signs for Dolmens, cheese farms, Roman villas etc that often result in a huge detour for something that is closed or rather unremarkable. I’ve made Adrian follow enough of these over the years to make him wary, but I’m happy to report that Embourie isn’t one of these wild goose chase detours. 

 

Closely following the Terra Aventura app, we had visited the church and ancient tombs in the cemetery, and taken a walk through the antique garden, set out to illustrate the planting and structure of a garden in a wealthy Gallo-Roman villa. It was finally time to find the villa. At the end of a flower edged lane, a short stretch along the hedgerow of a field led us to a marked-out area with low stone walls depicting the remains of the villa, with handily placed information boards to explain it all. Embourie might be small, but our visit was fascinating and there was so much more to discover than I was expecting. 

As I look back on our various outings this year, Gallo-Roman sites have featured many times from Saintes, in the Charente-Maritime, to Perigueux, in the Dordogne, to Rom in the Deux-Sèvres, where we will be visiting for tomorrow’s postcard. It is wonderful to live in an area with so much history, from so many different periods. 

Advent postcards, Grignols Dordogne

Advent postcards, Grignols, Dordogne

Advent day five

Today’s cycling advent-ures postcard is another from our Périgueux trip in June, where the village of Grignols and its impressive château caught my eye, thanks again to the Terra Aventura app.

 

We left Périgueux under perfect blue skies, taking the cycle path that follows the river Isle towards St Astier, enjoying the cool shade provided by the water and tree canopy, with the delicate scent of tilleul flowers in the air. I can almost feel the heat of that day, just from looking back at our photos.

Grignols was a sleepy place with a market halle and auberge (closed) at river level, a Renaissance château commanding a position high above, and narrow lanes with houses between them. It was a hot climb up to the château which really is a beauty and as the road wound up and around, there were no end of lovely views and vistas of Renaissance architecture and Dordogne countryside. The château is a private residence, so there is no access, but it was definitely worth the effort. 

 

It wasn’t just the château that I loved about Grignols, in the market halle I found several paper booklets, available for free, with a variety of treasure hunts to follow as you explored. This great idea for tourists of all ages, really showed the pride they have in their history and heritage. The only thing the village seemed to be missing was a picnic table for us to enjoy our ham and cheese baguettes, but just over the river Vern, we found a bench by a church where there was a sad little vide grenier (car boot sale) to entertain us too. 

Advent postcards, St-Jean-de-Côle Dordogne

 

Advent postcards, St Jean de Côle, Dordogne

Advent day four

One of the things that makes me smile the most as I look back on 2023 is our monthly mini cycling adventures that have not only prolonged our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary celebrations but also led us to some hidden gems. 

 

Cycling gives us so much more than just outdoor exercise, which boosts our physical and mental health, but the slower speed of travel means it is perfect for exploring the tucked away villages that the main roads have bypassed for decades. Another exciting discovery for us this year has been the Terra Aventura geocaching app. 

 

This is a Nouvelle Aquitaine initiative that comprises over six-hundred interactive treasure hunts, and we completed our debut one in May. It would be fair to say the first few involved a bit of head-scratching, some mild huffing and an almost falling out, and after a particularly awkward question in Brantôme, we nearly gave up completely. However, as each one takes you somewhere special in the region, shows you interesting features you would never have noticed otherwise, as well as sharing snippets of history, I’ve become somewhat addicted, and Adrian indulges me. 

 

Today’s cycling advent-ures postcard is from St-Jean-de-Côle in the Dordogne. This Plus Beaux Villages de France is home to less than four hundred people yet boasts its own Terra Aventura parcours. Getting there involved us taking a detour off the tree-lined Flow Vélo cycle route from Thiviers to St-Pardoux-la-Rivière, on our return from two nights in Périgueux, but what a treasure we stumbled upon. This section of the Flow Vélo is along an old railway and the ancient station for St-Jean-de-Côle, decorated with metal artworks and photographs recounting the history of the railway, is worth a pause even if you don’t have time to descend into the village. 

 

As we rounded the mairie at the edge of the village, the road gave way to the Place St Jean, a cobbled square leading to the river with views of the church, covered market and château that is a mix of styles from the 12^th to 15^th centuries. I do love a tower and a turret and there were plenty here to feast my eyes on. The more we ventured into the village, the more there was to delight in the narrow lanes with half-timbered houses. My highlight had to be the medieval stone bridge that crosses the river Côle, its bumpy cobbles witness to countless feet, hooves and wheels over the centuries. Having successfully completed the treasure hunt, we stopped for a cake break in the shade of a tree, before bidding farewell to this picture postcard village in the Périgord Vert and resuming our course on the Flow Vélo.

 

Advent postcards, Bignac Charente

Advent postcards, Bignac, Charente

Advent day three

It’s the first Sunday of Advent, so it seemed fitting for today’s cycling advent-ure postcard to feature a local church. Bignac, in the Charente is about twenty kilometres north of Angoulême and is home to just over three hundred people. We cycled through one Sunday in May, returning from an overnight stay in Angoulême, and it proved a interesting place to stop for a rest and refuel.

 

The first thing to catch my eye was the metal sculpture that looked a little like a multi-headed Loch Ness monster emerging from a patch of grass. It’s a piece called “Le Racinosaure” (the root monster) by metalwork artist Franck Mercky and has stood proudly in the village since the Sarabandes festival was held in Bignac in 2015. It is traditional for all villages that have hosted this fun art event to keep a festival “root” as proof of their involvement and this smiley monster is still looking great and turning heads eight years on. 

 

Our next stop was the church of St Martin. There are a lot of churches dedicated to St Martin in our area and even a pilgrimage route that takes you around many of them before finishing in Tours. Parts of this church date back to the 12^th Century, but it was an unusual feature on the interieur walls that stood out for me. Bignac has the rare remains of a “litre funeraire” painted on the walls, dating from 1680. This black funeral band shows the parish in respectful mourning for the lord of the manor, one François VI de la Rochefoucauld, Baron of Montignac and author of the “Maxims” a collection of moral wisdoms and reflections first published in 1665. The La Rochefoucauld family not only have links with the Château de Javarzay, but they are also descendants from Lusignan family tree, so sitting at the top of their family crest, that appears at regular intervals along the black band, is la fée Mélusine, a legendary fairy (part woman, part serpent) whose story I love. 

 

If this isn’t enough, Bignac also has a pretty lavoir, (wash house) along the river, where we also found a memorial to a Resistance parachute drop in 1944. If it weren’t for the biting flies at the waterside, we’d have stayed much longer than we did. 

Advent postcards, Miremont Puy-de-Dôme

 

Advent postcards, Miremont, Puy-de-Dôme

Advent day two

Our cycling advent-ures postcard for today is from Miremont in the Puy de Dôme, a small village fifty kilometres from Clermont-Ferrand and home to around 300 residents.

 

This village would be unremarkable, if it wasn’t for the museum housed in an old farmhouse, various barns and other outdoor locations off the otherwise quiet main road. Our elderly neighbours, Pierrette and Dominique, stumbled upon Miremont by chance many years ago in their campervan and the municipal campsite in the centre of the village, with the river Sioulet running behind it, soon became a firm favourite for them. I’ve forgotten how many times she has regaled us with stories of visiting the museum, that never failed to bring back memories for her.

 

At the end of August on our way to Clermont-Ferrand, we parked up, unfolded our bikes and set off on a leg-warming loop around the lake and over the dam, that brought us back in along the high street, where we could fully enjoy the various museum pieces. There is no entrance charge, you just wander around, finding something new wherever you looked. Some of the mannequins might have been a tad unusual/rather scary, but I just loved the attention to detail and enthusiasm the villagers have put into it and the overall effect certainly raised a few smiles. I totally agree with Pierrette, Miremont is a special place that offers a glimpse into rural life a hundred years ago. If you are ever in the area, don’t forget to make a detour.

Hello December, advent day one

Advent day one, a postcard from Marcillac-Lanville, Charente

Advent day one

Hello December, you have certainly snuck up on me this year, although I think you’ve made a habit of this over the last few years. I usually struggle to find my festive mojo, but so far, things are looking good - almost sparkly I’d say. Bizarrely this doesn’t seem to have affected just me, but Adrian too. Not only did he allow me to buy a little wooden Christmas decoration (in November), but he even got it out and put it on display, this morning. In addition to this, the mulled wine has been infusing all week and we are counting down the hours until we pour a first tasting this evening, before tucking into a real winter favourite, choucroute, for dinner.

 

If this isn’t festive enough, yesterday I surprised myself by attempting a bit of Christmas crafting, turning a worn-out old bike tyre, that just so happened to be a festive red colour, into a huge wreath to hang outside. It is still a work in progress, but I’m rather pleased with it so far.

 

This year has been busy, stimulating and fulfilling in so many ways. Alongside working at the château, I’ve spent a lot of time learning about the history of the French Renaissance period, including attending a training course on Renaissance architecture, and dipping my toes into alchemists and apotropaic marks. To mark the end of my first year volunteering with our local France Alzheimer’s group, I’ve also been on their two-day training course, improving my understanding about all forms of dementia and the impact they have on the patients and their families.

 

Adrian and I have almost managed our twelve mini cycling adventures to celebrate our twenty fifth wedding anniversary, clocking up one thousand and seven hundred kilometres and twenty-one nights away, so far. We have cycled in all weathers and seen France change from season to season as we’ve explored from the châteaux of the Loire, down to the Dordogne, said to be home to one thousand and one châteaux, and east as far as Moulins in the Allier. While our overnight stops have all been towns or cities, ensuring restaurants and bars have been accessible whatever the time of year, our routes have taken us on back roads and cycle tracks, through quiet villages, where travelling at cycling pace has meant we have made some wonderful discoveries.

 

French village discoveries

In an attempt to get back into blogging, my plan this advent is to share a selection of the French villages that we have visited by bicycle this year. Some will have been places we’ve visited before, others we just passed through enroute to somewhere else, but by stopping, we have discovered something special. I hope these little postcards will inspire you to get off the beaten track and take the time to look for the unusual that France does so well.

 

Back in May, on our return bike ride from Angoulême, we stopped for a picnic in the village of Marcillac-Lanville in the Charente. It is somewhere we’ve often driven through, but this time we took the time to take a photograph of their Compostelle pilgrims before finding a hidden garden with picnic benches and the most colourful bandstand we’ve ever seen. It was a riot of stunning mosaics and masques in a rainbow of colours, and you couldn’t help but take your time to look all around, trying to see it all. It was the perfect picnic location on a dull Sunday in May.