Sunday 22nd April
After breakfast we all did different things. You’ll never believe it, but there was a break in the rain and even a little sun! Alice went for a walk with Susan and Gail. There is a path going up past a caravan site and playing field behind the old Church that takes you through some lovely woods with a picturesque path through to the lake. There were wild strawberries growing and sweet chestnut trees and lots of wild flowers. The walk continued on to Passirac, a beautiful little village with a stunning country house, church and old winery. Where there was once a train track connecting all of the smaller villages is now a walking track that we took back to the village.
After lunch the afternoon was spent in Angouleme with some of the locals at the bowling alley. It costs about 8 euros per person per game. The majority of the cost went to shoe hire and, believe me, they are not the sexiest shoes!! The group split into two teams and we battled it out on the lanes with each person finding their own technique. Some ran towards the lanes and launched the ball into the air. Some did a classy stroll, twisted the wrist and dropped the ball into the lane. It was lots of fun followed by a game or two of pool and air hockey and then the 30mins drive back to Brossac, courtesy of our new French friends Nico and Arnaud.
There were rumbling stomachs all around after that heavy work, so we had to get to the local restaurant, The Saint Bernard, in Brossac before people starting chewing on each others arms! We were joined by part of the local football team and a couple of other locals so we had a very long table. We pitched in for a bit of the wine, which is really cheap, and then whatever food we had; I had a lovely confit de Canard, slow roasted duck leg, which is so succulent and tasty its criminal at 9.50 euros. Dan chose a good prix fix menu at 16 euros which was duck gizzard and bacon salad. So far I have been impressed with the food here when eating out. Courtney has omelettes a lot and even those are really good.
So a pretty busy Sunday…big smiles all around!