We had spent three months in France previously but had not covered the western coastal area.  We headed west to break our journey in Cognac. We have been to many wineries, whisky distilleries, and in the US, to bourbon distilleries, so we thought it was time we learned how to make Cognac.

Cognac proved to be an interesting visit in more ways than one.  We found the aire, though we had to take a route through the usual quaint and narrow streets.  The Aire was pleasant and right beside the River Charente. We arrived in time for a walk and discovered the Musee de Savoir Faire de Cognac was actually open on a Sunday afternoon.  (https://les-distillateurs-culturels.fr/musee-des-savoir-faire-du-cognac/) So we we visited and thoroughly enjoyed it.  The museum deals with the history of Cognac, how cognac was developed, the role the River Charente played in shipping etc. As it turned out, the museum provided lots of details that the Hennessy tour did not. Well worth it.

We woke up that night, in a downpour, to find water dripping on us round the edges of the skylight above our bed.  Grr! Not good! Fred quickly realized that placing the metal trim around all the edges of the roof meant that more water was being pooled on the roof, so at 2:00 AM he got up and put the blocks under the back wheels to slope the roof.  This had the desired effect.  We mopped up as best we could and went back to sleep!

The next morning, Fred set off on his bike to the local Mr. Brico (Think Lowes/Home Depot) to acquire materials needed to reseal the skylight.  The skylight had not been removed and resealed for about eight years, so it was obviously time for a touch up.  This took most of the day but Fred was able to finish and shower before we headed out for our Hennessy tour at 4:30 PM (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hennessy)

The tour proved most interesting.  It began with a 10 minute, very French, video on the history and development of cognac and the role of the river, the special white grapes and other general information, all presented in a VERY artistic, existential manner. As we said, very French! It also covered the remarkable story of Richard Hennessey, an Irish emigrant who served in the French army before founding the house of Hennessy in 1765. He and his family are credited with several important innovations including a focus developing foreign markets, exporting in bottles, so the flavor would stabilize, and encouraging the development of local cocktails, in each market, that depended on Hennessy cognac. As Anglophones, we look at the name and see “Hennessey” But in French, the name is pronounced  “N S A” (en, ess, say)

We were led through the aging warehouses to see the usual racks of barrels. And the unusual – barrels from 1960, still aging!

Our tour finished with a tasting of the two year old, VO (two letters), and the 4 year old VSOP (four letters) cognacs. Ten year old cognac is, of course, wait for it, “XO”, from the Roman numeral. (NOT included in the tasting!) Great fun.

The exit was, of course, through the store/gift shop. There were cognacs of all prices. We passed on the bottle that was over $35,000! Bit too pricey for our palates, or pockets. Pity. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/adammorganstern/2016/04/28/hennessy-8-a-40000-cognac-celebrates-two-families-working-together-for-eight-generations/)

Meanwhile the Aire had had an interesting day as it had suddenly closed to new vehicles at about 9:00 AM. We watched as several people had been turned away – cards would not work, phone calls didn’t help, etc. One person could not leave without several calls to the help desk.  Then it suddenly reopened at 6:30 PM.  Most odd. We were able to leave the following day with no problems.

We then turned north to a small village called La Foret sur Sevre, where a university friend of Denise’s had lived for many years. They had not seen each other since their time at university.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and had a wonderful dinner at a local restaurant, L’atipi’k.  (French for “Atypical”) (https://restaurantlatipik.fr/la-carte-restaurant-latipik-moncoutant-sur-sevre/ ) This restaurant tried to do everything a little differently, for example, the starter included black noodles, and the dessert combination had black vanilla ice cream!  It all tasted wonderful!!

The weather had been quite decent in Cognac, but less so as we headed north.  We had considered stopping in Nantes but could not find a reasonable place to camp so we continued to Rennes where we found a very nice campground in the middle of a park.  The weather deteriorated so we decided that, despite a nice bike route, biking into Rennes was not an option.  We had a delightful day in the camper, doing some blog and some housekeeping chores.  We also walked to an Aldi for a couple of emergency items.

We were now heading north towards St. Malo to take the ferry to Portsmouth.  But first we were going to visit Fort La Latte, a fort which had appeared in various movies, one of which, “The Vikings,” Fred had seen.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vikings_(film) ) We met up with some old friends at the aire. 

We have known Tony and Tracy since our Tiger days and it was great fun to see them again.  (https://tofuscramble.blog/ ) Tony and Tracy had one of the best equipped Tiger Adventure Vehicles and we used their truck as a model for much of ours. We last met at a Tiger rally at Camp Hale, in Colorado.

The weather was still suspect but we all went down to the beach for a walk and admired the beautiful bay. 

The following morning, we headed for the Fort.  It was still cloudy and cold and rain threatened so we headed to the Fort in Tony and Tracy’s Ford Transit camper van.  We were their first passengers! 

The Fort was fascinating as it is privately owned and the family still lives in the chateau de la Roche Goyon, which is part of the complex.  We managed the visit in the dry and climbed up the towers for gorgeous views of the coast.

After lunch we headed out and went to St. Malo to the large car park, near the port, where Park4Night said we could park.  The sign at the entrance said “no camping,” but there were at least two dozen campers there for the night and no one said anything.  We had visited Saint Malo previously, (https://diplostrat.net/2023/10/17/chez-les-bretons/), so we settled in for dinner, enjoying the serenades of the passing trains and the local bagpipes school. (!!)

We headed off early the next morning in brilliant sunshine, which was nice after all the rain!  We got checked in and loaded and had a very pleasant and calm crossing. 

We were on time and easily made it to Denise’s brother’s house.