Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
to eat tubes and sacks he would prefer a bowl of macaroni or ravioli. However, this regional
favourite, usually cooked in Vouvray wine, is delicious. The dish requires a hearty appetite,
a strong constitution, a true love of chitterlings and is arguably just the thing after a day's
trekking around the countryside.
We drove on past Tours and had now reached a point where another pit stop was re-
quired. Biff was shuffling around meaningfully and the car was running on fumes, so we
pulled into the closest service station. I sorted out the dogs and then trotted off to use the
Dames
, with care. In spite of the enormous male and female pictogram on each door, the
wrong decision can be made by some.
I have often been entertained by the sounds of guttural grunts accompanied by a son-
orous fart or two coming from the next cubicle. The first time I was treated to an incident
of this nature, I couldn't help thinking that my co-user was behaving in a rather unladylike
fashion. All was revealed when a burly bloke emerged to join me at the washbasins.
Completely unperturbed, he washed his hands and produced a toothbrush, tube of
paste and a shaver from a dainty wash bag, all accompanied by a bijou towel. I now know
that this situation occurs regularly. It seems that the community of French lorry drivers
either don't see the need to discriminate between the sexes when it comes to toilet facilit-
ies, or just don't care. Either way, after this first encounter, I decided that any impromptu
changes of clothing should always be managed in the safety of a lockable cubicle.
Fully refreshed, we hit the road again and entered the region of Poitou-Charentes. This
was formed in 1956 from the major portion of the old Poitou area, plus three smaller sec-
tions in the south. The climate here is supposed to be one of the mildest in France and the
coastal area, one of the sunniest. Jack decided this was probably a perfect example of estate
agent micro-climate-speak and just another load of flannel. But one learns to ignore these
uninformed remarks.
Poitou-Charentes has very little industry and is one of the most tranquil areas of the
country. It covers part of France's Atlantic coastal plain and extends to the gently undu-
lating hills further inland. These meet the first foothills of the Massif Central, which cov-
ers the region's south-east. The rural communities are centred in villages surrounded by
masses of fields. It is a place where the seasons shape people's lives and agriculture forms
their financial lifeblood.
As with so many areas of France, the production of high-quality liquor, wine and
foods are evident here. The silky-smooth Cognac and a renowned local apéritif wine called
Pineau des Charentes are well-known examples of this. Amongst the famed foodstuffs, it
would be remiss of me not to mention the shellfish and especially the oysters of Marannes-
Oléron, which are highly prized by mollusc-lovers all over France. The gastronomic pos-
sibilities are endless and sometimes fairly eccentric. For example, two dishes that I have
never managed to persuade Jack to try are the extraordinary black chicken of Barbezieux
and the cognac-imbibing snails.
