A Funny Looking Van

I was looking forward to flying over to England on Friday with the intention of buying a van to replace the big blue van we sold at the end of the brocante season last year.

Unfortunately, due to a recent run-in with a deer Spike needed to replace his motorbike so that he could get to work and back without leaving me stranded in the heart of the French countryside without transport.  This essential purchase obviously took priority over buying a new van so having reluctantly cancelled my flight we went the short distance to Cognac to buy a bike we had seen advertised online.

Spike's Bike... it's a Suzuki Bandit 600 apparently!

I would by lying if I said I wasn't disappointed at having to cancel my trip especially as I was really looking forward to seeing my family as well and buying lots and lots of lovely trucs.

So being in Cognac that day and as a small consolation for missing out on my much anticipated spending spree we decided to check out a new café brocante called Le Grenier du Val that was located in a village between the towns of Cognac and Saintes.  

I was eager to do some buying for a large brocante market in Saintes that I have booked a pitch at for a weeks time and was also interested in visiting a café/brocante (lunch and antiquing - my two favourite things rolled into one!).  For some unknown reason the concept of a café/brocante is virtually unheard of in this part of France and because we are hoping to replicate the same thing in Cognac some day I was very excited at the prospect of seeing it.

Before we set off we enjoyed a a soothing chocolat chaud outside a lovely French bistrot located in the St. Jacques quarter of Cognac and then left the bike there in the Place du Solonçon for a couple of hours while we took the car off for our recky.

The oh so typically French Place du Solonçon

Me outside Le Bistrot St. Jacques with a much needed rich hot chocolate

We were blessed with a beautiful bright sunny day and arrived at the brocante in next to no time but to my profound disappointment we found it was closed.... no explanation... no apologies for a wasted trip... just not open (even though their opening hours were clearly stated on all their advertising)  Can you tell I'm a bit miffed??? So that was the end of that - no new trucs for next weeks market and even worse no lunch!  

Happily all was not lost (as far as lunch was concerned) as we needed to get back to Cognac to pick up the bike so we decided to have a pizza in an Italian restaurant called La Scala located just across the river in the old quarter of Cognac.  Some cynical person might venture to say that the restaurant was themed a tad too far (make up your own mind!!!) but having scoffed a giant forestière pizza and a yummy tiramisu all the planets fell into perfect alignment and everything was right with the world once more.  The views over the river from the terrace weren't bad either!

The Place du Solonçon from across the river

The old stone bridge crossing the River Charente

The terrace at La Scala and Hennessey Cognac warehouse in the distance

With all the recent events it seems that I will have to wait a while before going over to England to buy a van but in the meantime our old Volvo estate will do the job if I deal in smaller items and sell the few bits of furniture I have online locally.  Such are the trials of a brocanteuse but I can't complain because after the recent scare of Spike's accident I am happy to be able to say that he is still very much in one piece!!!