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The town of Cognac (16 Charente, Poitou-Charentes) becomes an even more attractive place to visit in July 2008 with the Blues Passions Festival (22–27 July 2008).

With more than 120 concerts, 80 of which are free, the range of music on offer is vast - i.e from Status Quo to Joan Baez and most music styles in between which an emphasis on Afro-American music.

For more info on the festival see www.bluespassions.com
The big Cognac houses (Martell, Remy-Martin, Hennesy) all have well-organised trips around their distilleries and tastings of their brandies. However, these are inevitably a bit “touristy” – there are plenty of smaller, family-run estates which also welcome visitors and provide a rather more individualised welcome – e.g Maison Deau at Gemozac, which also has a Botanic Garden to visit!

Another French icon, the Solex motorised bicycle used to be a common sight throughout France - although in earlier times it was powered by a noisy smelly little 2-stroke petrol engine. Something like 80 million Solexs were produced as a cheap form of transport after the Second World War.The original production line closed at the end of the 1980s, but now it has been re-invented as the E-Solex an environmentally-friendly way of getting around town using battery high efficeincy power to boost your pedalling.

You can now enjoy a one of these very French machines by hiring one for a day or half-day in St Omer (62 Pas-de-Calais, Nord Pas-de-Calais).

Les Belles Echappees also hire out Citroen 2CVs, tandems and trikes and offer a number of packages which can include route suggestions, restaurant and hotel combinations etc.

Les Belles Echappées invite you to a journey off the beaten track in search of simple pleasures connected with emotion and collective memory.

You can find a video showing the 2CVs in action on You Tube Les Belles Echappees translates as a good time or break!

Les Belles Echappees, Chemin des murs, Ferme de l’Abbaye - 62500 CLAIRMARAIS
Tél : 03.21.98.11.72

There are other options for raking to the road “a la francaise” - e.g. the 2CV tours of Paris with 4 roues sous un Parapluie (4 wheels under 1 umbrella); Or hire a classic Citroen TA in the Loire Valley with Quart de Tours (37 Indre-et-Loire, Centre)

Further south Joffreny Tours offer classic and modern British cars (and others) for touring the French countryside from their base near Chalus (87 Haut Vienne, Limousin) - although helpfully they have an office in the UK

Lots to do and see - Hire a classic standard MGB Roadster, a V8 MGB Roadster, a BMW Z3 Roadster or a Triumph Stag (soft-top or hard-top) and take off on a sightseeing tour of the Limousin, Charente and Dordogne, in west central France, with all of its historic towns and picturesque chateaux, and sample some of the fine food and wine along the way. This is beautiful touring country and there are very few cars on the road…

Angouleme (16 Charentes, Poitou-Charentes) joins an ever growing list of budget airline destinations when Ryanair starts flying to Angouleme’s Brie-Champniers airport from 1 April 2008. This small airport is just about 6km north of the city.
I like Angouleme - it is one of those very French market towns largely without pretension. Its main claim to fame is the annual Bande-Dessine (adult comic story books) Festival, very popular in France.
However to explore its attractions I recommend that you look at the www.viamichelin.co.uk website.I find the site very helpful in planning car trips in France (and the UK) offering a variety of route choices, timings, distances and costs including autoroute tolls. So you can discover that Angouleme is 733km from Calais, a journey taking 6 hours 49 minutes and costing €40.70 in autoroute tolls. By comparison, the journey from Caen (Ouistreham) is 485km, takes 4 hours 56 minutes and costs €21.40.

Ryanair is currently offering midweek flights in June from Stansted to Angouleme for under £44.00 return in June (including taxes and charges).

Alternatively you can reach Angouleme by train (Eurostar to Paris) and TGV to Angouleme which is on the GV Atlantique line to Bordeaux. The cheapest midweek price from London in March is £49.50 one-way, the journey time being about 6 hours.

If you explore the www.viamichelin.co.uk website further and search on the Tourism tab for Angouleme you;ll discover information on the town’s attractions and download some audio tours of some of the main sights!

The annual Cahors Blues Festival takes place 17–21 July 2007 in and around the town of Cahors (46 Lot, Midi-Pyrenees).

Whilst the streets of the town will echo to the music of the Blues, linked concerts are also held in surrounding towns such as Castelnau-Montratier, St Cirq la Popie etc

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Cahors is also hosting the start of a stage of the Tour de France on 29 July 2007 (Cahors to Angouleme)

The Hot Air Balloon European Cup and Ladies World Cup is to be held at Mainfonds (16 Charente, Poitou-Charentes) from Thursday 3 - Sunday 6 August 2006. Southeast of Cognac (see map)
Depending on the wind conditions you might catch sight of the balloons anywhere between Cognac and Angouleme in the north to Jonzac and Saintes in the south - although do remember that the best time for balloons tends to be early morning or evening.
There is also a competition for “aerostatic” flying - a real test of the pilot’s skills in holding the balloon steady at a fixed point, The French equivalent of the Red Arrows - la Patrouille de France will also be there.
For more info see www.hotairballooneuropeancup.com
NB The french for Hot Air Balloon is “montgolfier”, so named after the inventors (brothers) who perfected the idea towards the end of the 18th Century.