Day Eight – Leavetaking and Arriving - May 27, 2011

We got to sleep in a bit later than usual this morning, as today was another travel day. After a night of extremely poor sleep (having been woken constantly by Jamie who claimed that I was “snoring” extremely loudly all night), we were scheduled to check out of the B&B at Loches and make our way south into the Charente.

As a side note, I’ve never really been a snorer, however my father is (to the degree that he need specialized medical equipment to be able to sleep through the night, mainly because without it I suspect my mother would kill him). As I rarely snore, when I do I end up with an incredibly sore throat. I’ve developed a theory that there is no way that chronic snorers can go through life with this sore throat all the time. They must develop calluses on their throats. I have named these calluses “snalluses” (snoring calluses). I expect that this term will soon enter popular usage, and that I will be paid royalties. I hope to retire next year, or the year after. Wish me luck.

We must have made more of an impression on the B&B owners than we’d realized, as they gave us a bottle of local wine as a gift to remember them by, and asked that we keep in touch and let them know how the rest of our trip goes. I think we’ve ended up making some friends in the Loire that we hope to have for a long time.

We packed our cases and said our final goodbyes before loading up the car and heading out of town. As before, we programmed Gavin the Sat Nav to avoid all toll roads and major routes so meandered down into the Charente. As we went, the scenery changed from very flat with field upon field of corn, reminding us of the Canadian Prairies (well, not quite THAT flat) to rolling hills and forests, more like the Dordogne even further south.

We found Confolens without any problems, but couldn’t immediately see the B&B. After a bit of walking around, having parked the car for ease of searching, we realized that we were on the wrong side of the old bridge across the Vienne. At this point, we quickly found the B&B, which was closed until after lunch. Classic.

We were both starving by then so decided to leave the car and the bags where they were and have some lunch ourselves. We decided this just outside a hotel which also had a terrace restaurant, so it seemed natural to go in there for a bite to eat. A shared toasted goats cheese salad and paysanne pizza later, we were ready to try the B&B again.

They were open this time around, and Nick the owner showed us around. As we were the first of the guests to arrive, we were given the choice of rooms – we of course went for the giant one with the little balcony over looking the street and bridge. It’s a massive room, very nicely decorated, with a little seating area off to one side – perfect for reading and writing after dinner.

We moved the car, got settled in, opened a bottle of wine and our books and enjoyed a few hours of relaxing in the sun after the drive. Eventually the sun started to sink towards the horizon and it was time to head out for dinner. Nick had recommended a restaurant in the Hotel de France in nearby Rochechouart (about a 30 minute drive away), so we programmed Gazza and were off.

Dinner was excellent, as it turned out. We both had the €20 three course “Limosin” menu which featured all local products – especially featuring the locally famous “cul noir” pork (literally translates as black bum). The village was beautiful and after dinner we took a bit of a drive around, stopping very briefly to look at the chateau at the end of town. I think we’ll have to stop by again later in the week when we have a bit more time to explore more.

The sun was really starting to drop, so we decided to turn back and head home to Confolens. Despite a wrong turn on one of the country lanes, we made it back in good time. We didn’t get our fantastic parking spot back, but managed to find a place just down the road. We’re both very much looking forward to spending the rest of the week exploring this new region of France (well, new to us at any rate).