Travel France: Charente River
A major river is a living thing, emerging as an insignificant trickle, growing steadily to strength and maturity before finally joining the ocean to discover the big, wide world. Following it in the opposite direction, however, reverses things; as if turning back time; returning to the birthplace of a mighty force.
Mind you, whichever direction you explore it in, the Charente has charm aplenty, is steeped in history and has lots to keep the curious traveller entertained. As if to prove the point, upstream from Cognac lies Bourg-Charente where, en route to Jarnac, we stumble across a horse and its owner enjoying a cooling afternoon dip beside Bourg’s graceful arched bridge. Some years ago a Neolithic dugout canoe was unearthed not far from this spot; a reminder that this river has been a major transport route for centuries.
A few miles further on, approaching Jarnac, the river still looks and feels like an important navigable waterway and there are also further unmistakable signs of a prospering spirit trade, including the presence of great producers like Courvoisier, Delamain, Hine and Louis Royer.
The streets of Jarnac, which once rang with the footfalls of the young François Mitterand who was born here, no longer resonate to the hammers of cask-makers but nearby vineyards covering some 80,000 hectares keep the past alive and still make up the second largest growth area in all France, after Bordeaux.
The Charente itself soon slips back into leafy tranquillity and, from time to time we pass one of the twenty-one carefully maintained locks, most of which date from the eighteenth century. The lock-keepers, of course, are all long gone, but their cottages, like one above Jarnac which is almost subsumed behind a vast weeping willow, still remain. Boating is an agreeable way to travel, and hiring a self-drive cruiser is a fantastic way to see this serene river from a different perspective.
Not that the river was always quite so peaceful. During the Middle Ages, flat-bottomed barges known as gabares were already transporting casks of wine and brandy to the coast for shipping, returning laden with fresh cargoes of Atlantic Coast salt and Oriental spices. This pattern continued for centuries, until the trade eventually abandoned the waterways in favour of fast-developing new road and rail networks.
The signs of past glory remain plainly visible, however, from the quiet tow-paths to the once-bustling quays of small ports like St-Simon, which once built gabares and now operates a replica vessel, allowing summer visitors to enjoy a glimpse of life aboard during the river’s heyday (and taste it, too, as the village has retained its old eel fishery). Around here the riverbanks seem impossibly idyllic and, if the poignant memorial at Vibrac to French Résistance martyr Claude Bonnier is anything to go by, it is obviously a land worth fighting for.
The river remains truly navigable as far as Angoulême. Or almost. The last of the locks is actually a few kilometres shy of this centre of the French paper-making industry, beside the seventeenth-century Moulin de Fleurac, a listed Historic Monument built in pale limestone on a site occupied by mills since the thirteenth century. After first producing flour the Moulin turned its attentions to pressing grains and nuts for oil, before finally becoming a paper mill.
It’s still working, a living museum producing specialist papers using highly skilled techniques, once commonplace locally. Paper products were transported by gabare to Rochefort for a second leg on the Gironde to Bordeaux, or for shipment overseas. The coming of electrical power and alternative transport options freed producers from the need to be sited on the riverbanks, and the last of the old mills, producing cigarette papers for the Bardou-Le Nil JOB brand, ceased production in 1970. The building survives, though, as the Atelier-Musée du Papier, which celebrates the long history of paper production in Angoulême.
A few kilometres upstream, the river swirls into a series of graceful sweeping arcs, the first of which flows past the early seventeenth-century Château de Balzac; the best-known occupant of which – celebrated critic and essayist Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac – now lies in the city’s Chapelle des Cordeliers. The gentle detour is then repeated in the opposite direction past Vindelle and again at Marsac, where something curious happens. The flow suddenly takes it upon itself to divide into multiple smaller rivulets, an effect which continues past Montignac-Charente until the waters finally reunite, and the meanders begin to ease, at Pont-Roux, before passing between the forests of Tusson and la Boixe.
At Luxé the perfect Sunday stillness is momentarily interrupted as a TGV from Bordeaux flashes across the river en route to Paris. Seconds later it’s hard to believe it ever happened. All around, the heady hum of high summer fills landscapes of modest villages cast adrift among billowing fields of sunflowers; fluorescing smugly beneath the pastel vastness of the Charentais sky. Ahead lies Mansle (pronounced ‘mol’) which, on the day we visited was packed with brocante stalls completely filling the heart of the town.
The river, on the other hand, continues unconcerned, veering eastwards beneath the busy RN10 highway before resuming its peaceful progress past more small rural communities. At Verteuil-sur-Charente, the current still provides the life force for a small flour mill selling its produce direct to the public, and supplying at least one of the two nearby boulangeries.
Adding an air of unreality to the village is the La Rochefoucauld family’s vast fifteenth-century château, poised with fairytale perfection above the riverbanks. It’s far from being a crumbling ruin, however, and there’s even talk of one day opening its doors to visitors.
The river meanders on past Condac and the outskirts of the expanding market town of Ruffec. A long-coveted plan to link the Charente to the nearby River Clain to create a water-borne passenger and freight route all the way to Paris never materialised, but the river briefly takes on a more navigable feel as it flows northwards. A fresh series of wide meanders begins at Taizé-Aizie, home of the improbable Musée de la Cafetière – which shares a former mill building with mountains of brocante – and continues across the border into Vienne amid tranquil, Turner-esque landscapes around l’Isle and Voulême.
We’re now in the heartland of the Tourteau-fromagé du Poitou, a kind of light sponge cake with a trademark blackened top, and the famous cheese Chabichou du Poitou. Along with other goat’s milk cheeses, including the log-shaped Bucheron, it’s still produced in St-Saviol’s co-operative creamery.
The surrounding area, meanwhile, has long been renowned for its chestnuts, and particularly its truffles. Soon we reach Civray, where the annual truffle markets recall the glory days of the late nineteenth-century when dealers even came from Périgord to buy locally sourced truffles. Still overlooking the market square is the distinctive Romanesque façade of Civray’s twelfth-century Église Saint-Nicolas, which conceals an unexpected jewel-box interior of painted decoration. Little now remains, however, of the robust château which was constructed by the Counts of La Marche during the early eleventh century to survey river-borne activity, but the tour-pigeonnier behind the church is a probable survivor from the town’s medieval fortifications.
Beyond Civray, the Charente narrows visibly before reaching Charroux, which for centuries has been a halt for pilgrims bound for St-Jacques-de-Compostella. Its huge Benedictine abbey was devastated during the Wars of Religion, but the foundations, some thirteenth-century sculptures and above all the astonishing Tour Charlemagne survive to give some idea of former glories. Nearby are other medieval survivors, including a graceful vaulted Gothic archway, an authentic sixteenth-century market hall plus a restored lavoir.
By now the once-mighty river has relaxed, and among the meadows and flood-plains there’s a sense that the tourist track has long ceased to pass this way. Which is fine for Chatain, the quintessential unspoilt French village, complete with mairie, medieval église, bar, boulangerie, brocante, etc., arranged around a landscaped square. The river, on the other hand, passes under a narrow, ancient dos d’âne bridge before slipping quietly across the border from Vienne into the department of Charente. Ahead lies Benest (pronounced Béné), set high above the valley, and Alloue, whose Benedictine priory, huge twelfth-century Église Notre-Dame and several former country châteaux tell of long-departed periods of prosperity.
By now the Charente is little more than a stream but has nevertheless managed to carve out a surprisingly broad valley through which it meanders discretely for the time being, putting in an appearance only fleetingly as it skirts lush, meadows of wheat and maize before diving for cover into dense tracts of woodland.
Soon it looks destined to disappear altogether, amid the vast blue expanse of Lac Lavaud, one of the Lacs de Haute-Charente created in 1988 by constructing barrages in the valleys. Now chestnuts, oaks and willows around sandy beaches provide welcome natural shade from the summer sun. With safe bathing, the lake provides an inland paradise for local people and summer visitors. As for wildlife, the lake’s ornithological observatory has so far recorded over 170 species of birds and wildfowl.
But what of the river? At the end of this journey, finding the source of the Charente proves not entirely clear-cut. I can confirm that it begins its life not, as you might imagine, in Poitou-Charentes but a few kilometres into neighbouring Limousin. But where, exactly? The ‘official’ location is in the peaceful village of Chéronnac (alt.310m) in Haute-Vienne, although inevitably there are counter-claims concerning springs emanating from privately owned locations nearby.
The official line, though, is hard to ignore as is the large and now very weathered enamel sign proclaiming ‘Source de la Charente’ at the dusty roadside. It’s good enough for me, and in a small public garden just a few metres away a steady trickle emerges from beneath a large granite slab before tumbling down the hillside.
So, journey’s end at last. For the river, though, it’s just the beginning. The start of an epic 360km journey through four departments, past hundreds of towns and villages in an ever changing landscape; a mighty, living link with history that touches thousands of lives on its way to the sea.
Rich pickings
Throughout the journey along the River Charente there is a huge variety of places to visit and things to do.
* Discover local flavours and products by visiting markets and local producers. Angoulême has so many restaurants and brasseries that life revolves around the daily indoor market in a beautifully restored iron-framed hall.
Visitors can follow a trail to take in a visual feast of creative murals. Many of the murals are cartoon style in homage to the town’s Centre of the Comic Strip which is housed in a modern building near the river. Every winter Angoulême hosts the International Festival of the Strip Cartoon. The next is 24-27 January 2008.
The city is renowned for its festivals and events, among which are the Gastronomic Festival (23-25 November 2007) and the Circuit des Remparts (15-16 September 2007) when the city throngs with car enthusiasts and the streets become a challenging circuit for classic motor racing. More information about what to see in Angoulême and all festivals and events on www.lacharente.com.
* Visit the Moulin de Verteuil, in Verteuil-sur-Charente, tucked behind the main street in the village on the river’s edge. Open during July and August (free entry). Taste ‘les fouées’ (small breads from the oven) and buy delicious bread in the boulangerie.
* Enjoy Le Chabichou du Poitou – a cheese made from whole goat’s milk. It has a characteristic cone shape, a light crust on the exterior and a creamy texture. Its area of production is very limited, corresponding to the limestone areas in mid Poitou-Charentes and it enjoys AOC status. Look out for Chabichou in local markets such as Civray (Tuesday and Friday mornings) or Ruffec (Wed, Fri & Sat mornings). Other regional foods to try include locally milled walnut oil, le tourteau fromagé , and Pineau des Charentes.
* Explore Les Lacs d’Haute Charente, which offer nearly 400 hectares of open water and are situated near the source of the River Charente. The surrounding countryside is noted for its gentle valleys with pastures shaded by oak and chestnut trees. The lakes are centres for water-based activities but if you just want to laze on the beaches there are superb facilities for that too. Cyclists can take their pick of trails to suit all levels of ability. For birdwatchers there is an observatory (open all the time) on Lac de Lavaud. Access to the lakes is signed from the N141, near Chabanais. For more detailed information visit www.lacharente.com.
* Take a trip in the traditionally built gabare, Renaissance in St-Simon. Board at the village quay and get a different view of the sights and smells of the river. The length of trip is 1 hour 20 minutes; enquiries at the Maison des Gabarriers in the village. Tel: 00 33 (0)5 45 97 33 40.
Similar trips operate on the Dame Jeanne from Cognac (boarding on the quay close to the towers at St-Jacques), and on Le Chabot which leaves from Jarnac. L’Angoumois offers a choice of themed cruises including the Bacchus (vineyard tour), the Paper Tour and a Gourmet Tour. Cruises leave from l’Houmeau at the foot of Angoulême.
WHERE TO STAY
Hôtel du Palais
4, place Francis Louvel, 16000 Angoulême
Tel: 0033 (0)5 45 92 54 11
www.hotel-angouleme.fr
La Lavandière B&B
Le Bourg, 86400 Voulême
Tel : 0033 (0)5 49 87 02 45
www.la-lavandiere.com
WHERE TO EAT
Chez Paul
8, place Francis Louval,
16000 Angoulême
Tel : 0033 (0)5 45 90 04 61
www.chez-paul.com
Le Moulin de Condac
16700 Condac
Tel : 0033 (0)5 45 31 04 97
www.lemoulindecondac.com
PLACES TO VISIT
Grange du Bois
Bourg-Charente,
16200 Jarnac
Tel: 00 33 (0)5 45 81 10 17
Visit this family-run producer of Pineau and Cognac.
Le Moulin de Fleurac
Musée du Papier
16440 Nersac
Tel: 00 33 (0)5 45 91 50 69
www.moulin-de-fleurac.com