Visiting the quaint town of Jarnac situated between Cognac and Angouleme via a twenty minute train journey from Chateauneuf for a half days worth of canoeing, something I've always wanted to try but never got round to doing. We visited a local canoe and kayak hire shop alongside the River Charente which runs straight through Jarnac and hired canoes at 11 euros per person for half a day which sounds like a right bargain and it so was. We were taught the basics for example... The routes and what we needed to do at certain points like get out and walk up a ledge (with canoe) to access the other side. Very confusing if you don't speak the countries mother tongue so we ended up communicating via sign language and a few basic french words. That was another thing to get used to, hardly anyone spoke English over in this part of France and if they did it was very minimal, which of course isn't a bad thing seeing as I was living and working in France after all. It definitely helped with my language skills French wise which has improved over the past few months, personally I find it easier, better and cheaper learning more practically rather than theoretical (sat reading in a classroom is not for all).
So with a very non descriptive map in hand or shall I say in lap as both hands were fully occupied trying to figure out how to row straight, it was a lot harder than it looked but once we got the hang of it, all was well. OK OK so we got lost, stuck and ended up plunging ourselves into and through stinging nettles as the current was quite strong, and that was at the very beginning but eventually we managed to get 'en route' after carrying our canoes over a ledge and dragging it over to the other side. Even though it was hard work rowing through currents in 30 degree heat and feeling like we were doing a full body workout, it was very relaxing at the same time and fun going through the rapids (until the canoe filled up with water and started to sink on one side).
Oh the joys.
Jarnac is also home to the Cognac maker Courvoisier which was awarded many prizes internationally for its making of Cognac, we could see the Courvoisier Cognac museum as we rowed down the river on the left hand side and of course if you walk over the bridge on foot you would see this. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to visit the museum due to the lack of public transport.
