A day on the Charente river

Chris bought the Canoe so off we went in search of calm waters. A trip to the Tourist Office in Saintes pointed us in the right direction and with a detailed map we found the most perfect spot for a quiet picnic and then a leisurly paddle. With only the odd fishermen on the banks of the river we spotted several kingfishers and just as we were pulling up at the end of our excursion we got close enough to see him catch & eat his fish. We then sat for a quiet few hours in the shade while Chris fished - it was an amazing day.

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Visitors

We were delighted that our dear friends Sarah & Richard Maddy and Godson Thomas were able to join us here for a week again this year. T & M are showing off their new French shirts! Despite an unfortunate accident and a trip to the doctor we had an amazing week enjoying the simple pleasures of the beach, the bikes and the white wine.

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Déviation

We took a detour on the way to La Valade this year to visit Chris' sister Karen at their beautiful house on the river Yonne.

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We stayed 5 days with Karen, Jacqui, Emily & Seth, Flora & Tim and had a fabulous time canoeing on the river and visiting the amazing 'Fabuloserie' a wierd and wonderful collection of art brut - check out the link below. We also spent Sunday morning at one of the largest ‘Brocante’ I have ever seen covering 6 kilometres of roads through the town Aillant sur Tholon.

Les cigognes blanches

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The white storks are always a beautiful sight at this time of year and a walk down the footpath at Saujon enabled us to see the stork on the nest feeding the young.

La Tremblade

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It has been a lovely week here, very warm and sunny but there has been no real rain for 3 months according to the locals so things are looking very dry. There has also been a ferocious wind this week which made cycling back from Talmont a real struggle. La Tremblade is always a favourite excursion and we enjoyed the oysters as you can see!