Berry - Poitou Charentes - Bordeaux

The countryside of the Berry and neighbouring Poitou, together offer a region full of surprises. Often driven through, but seldom truly discovered, the pretty villages are sleepy and ideal for a bike tour in France. Friendly farming folk work their land, a patchwork quilt of fields of golden corn, sunflowers and maize. Dairy cattle and sheep graze in fields bordered by ancient oak and pine woods. The weather is warm, often quite hot in summer. The autumns are lovely with long golden days.

This ancient dukedom of Berry is still home to many of France's aristocratic families and their hidden-away châteaux. It contains the Brenne conservation area, with an extraordinarily diverse flora, fauna (many species of deer) and birdlife. In the Middle Ages, the region was notorious for its sorcerers.

Poitou is also a region rich in architecture. Situated on the Saint Jacques of Compostella route, hundreds of churches were built here during the 11th and 12th centuries. One of the most impressive has to be Notre-Dame-la-Grande, in Poitiers. The church was built during the reign of Eleanor, Duchess of Acquitaine. After her marriage to Henry II in 1152, much of this region, and that of southwest France, was under English control for 300 year


Bordeaux
The Canal Des Deux Mers links the Atlantic to the Mediterranean,passingthrough the region of L'Occitanie, a veritable palette ofcolours andscents created by orchards and vineyards

We cruiseby canal bargein France by old fortified villages, and quaint farmseach with it'spigeon loft and historic towns such as Agen, Moissac andToulouse, the"rose coloured city".