Our friends Ronnie and Loraine were kind enough to take us to the airport
Where we killed time with a couple of beers at what we thought was an exorbitant price, R58 - until we bought one beer in Amsterdam for the same money
Louis Roos, Mooiplaas winemaker, and his wife en route to Brussels
were catching the same plane
Airline dinner - so-so chicken tikka and a Heineken. Two Chilean wines were on offer. The white (sauvignon chardonnay) was horrible. The red was worse
After a cramped and sleepless night, we had a four hour wait at Schipol and found some comfortable recliners
flew to Bordeaux and picked up our hire car which we thought was going to be a tiny 2 door Aygo but instead turned out to be a rather roomy Renault Kangoo
and drove about 2 hours to our very comfortable B&B in Cherac, near Cognac
with a view over the surrounding countryside
Our hosts, Claudy and Alain Caillaud, recommended the nearby Auberge de la Fontaine for supper
The menus, written on boards. We chose the plat du jour at €19.50 for three courses (2 choices each course), ordered all the dishes and then shared them
With the meal we ordered a local sauvignon at €14, very pleasant and suited the food
Nice fresh French bread
was delicious
as was
which was fresh and palate cleansing
was a tiny bit dry, but had great flavour and the lemon sauce was a good match
The chicken was quite dry and hard, but, again, the sauce was very good and the accompanying vegetables were fresh and perfectly cooked
Perfectly light with a delicate rum sauce, light chantilly cream, strawberry and sliced, roasted almonds
Local cheeses: excellent chevre and a soft white cheese, similar to brie with a delicious earthy flavour
Then back to our B&B: # 2 Route du Puits des Brousses - 17610 CHERAC (€50 per night with breakfast)
with cherry trees in the garden- we were told to pick as much as we wanted - a real treat
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013
