Saturday May 28th saw us joining about 150 folk from nearby Charroux on their annual evening 'randonnee'.Organised walks & rambles are a strong form of village entertainment round these parts. Asnois has 2 or 3 randonnee every year. We missed the last as I was catching a plane to the UK that day, so yesterday's outing in Charroux seemed a good time to find out what all the excitement is about.
We got tickets (12 euros per person) from the tourist office in Charroux & were told to meet up in the big house by the car park at 6.30pm on Saturday. There we would be entertained by a band, & be given 'aperitifs' before we set off on our way. The destination was to be Richmeau chateau.
It was a hot day--like every day this month. What an amazing May we've had! We arrived to see Sandra, with her cardy tied around her waist & walking stick in hand. Geoff had a small rucksack...and was prepared for a cooler temperature later that evening. I was more concerned about being too hot and decided a body warmer was all I needed over a tee shirt. More people arrived...mostly French, but quite a few English & we set off round to the garden behind the 'Big House' ( This is a commune house used in Charroux for events, displays and meetings. The garden is an extension of the 'aire de loisir')
We received a map of the route, & tickets...'aperitifs'...'tagine+ fromage'..'dessert+tee ou cafe'...and, within a few minutes had handed over the torn-off 'aperitif' ticket in exchange for a glass of the ubiquitous rose wine with pamplemousse and a slice of quiche alongside a slice of pizza! This we ate on long benches that had been dotted around the garden, but mostly in front of the 'oompah' band which started up with 'Winchester cathedral' and continued in that vein for the next hour.
Eventually ( about 8pm!) there was a stirring & we all set off..but it didn't equate to the route on the map, as we headed up the road towards the church, along some of the back lanes and onto a track. A couple of friends were convinced they were on their way back to Vieille Metive!
It was a long straggly crocodile..groups of 3 & 4 in a row, all striding out and chatting with their neighbours. The first section was slightly uphill, and we were going at quite a lick. Many youngsters over took us and gradually the group of walkers spread out...some marching out ahead, whilst others pottered behind more sedately.
As we walked along the 'chemins'..fields to either side of us...not a dwelling in site, we realised that we were 'doing' the route on the map backwards! The walkers were really thinning out now & we arrived at a set of arrows--those pointing left said---11kms, those pointing straight on said 8kms. We, and the 3 elderly French ladies in front of us headed straight on!
The countryside was beautiful. The River Charente was on our left, with a field of horses behind it and on our left was afield of Friesian heiffers. The French ladies were getting well ahead as we arrived at a clearing...not too sure where this was, but there were loos.....hooray!..and 3 lads in yellow jackets waiting to guide us over the little footbridge. We'd lost our ladies by then & asked the guides how much further...... the first said 5kms.............ohhhh dear we said............. peut-etre 2 ou 3 he said!
So we crossed the river, went through the field & up into the woods where we followed the track round to the right ( white arrows showed us the way) & were promptly overtaken by a group of teenagers who'd taken the long route! We knew the chateau was on the other side of the river--and the otherside of the main road and, on coming out fromthe wood, were pleasantly surprised to find that we knew where we were!
Over the road bridge, across the main road...& there were our 3 lads again. 'DEUX KILOMETRES' John said to them...'je pense c'etait 5'!!! It was a steep climb up to the chateau, but, on coming around the side, we were greeted with torches all around the edge of the lawns which we followed as far as the stripy tent. The second ticket was handed over & we were given tagine of chicken with cous-cous--a hunk of brie and a hunk of chevre-- and a glass of red wine. Trestle tables had been set out in the tent and loaves of bread ceremoniously dumped along them--about a metre apart! Much to our surprise, more people were arriving for food long after we had started eating..so we weren't the last after all..by a long way!
The entertainment this time was a quartet of 2 girls--one playing a clarinet, the other playing the accordion and 2 boys, playing bassoon and violin. An odd assortment of intruments, but they came up with some wonderfully haunting gypsy style folk music. We were told they were a Balkan group..but they spoke to the audience in French!
It was getting darker...and cooler.
We set off through the back entrance of the chateau & into the woods. It wasn't cold, but I was quite grateful to the 2 ladies in front of us, and the 3 teenagers behind, who waved their torches aound!
It was a lot faster on the way back & we arrived in a small lane just above the Mairie. We followed back lanes down to the main road, and were promptly hered staright across, round the back again & up the steps ( the final killer of the night!)--past the allotments into the church car park.............. where we were serenaded again by the jazz band! We stayed with them for about 20minutes by which time nearly everybody had arrived & we were taken back into the village where we had pudding in Les Halles!
It was 11.45pm when we left... we just about got into bed at midnight! It was a super evening!
