In The Flow

(An Update of the Flow Vélo cycleway in April 2024)

One of my daughters has just returned from months of travels to fire-spitting lands. Full of her new experiences, she remarked that although there are wonderful things to see in faraway places, smaller marvels closer to home can thrill us just as much.

It took me nearly fifty years to come to the same conclusion, thanks to our discovery of Doorstep Cycling. Is this young woman really my baby?

Given her mature attitude, I suggested she join us in our first 2024 bike ride along the Flow Vélo to see the small marvels in the Charente.

She’s heard us waxing lyrical about the beauty of the river, the birdsong, wildflowers and woodland. And the ice-creams.

She was keen, would do a recce for a summer cycling holiday with her mates.

As you’ve probably noticed, it’s been a wet winter. The River Charente has flooded at least four times, the most recent being a few weeks ago. Not that my husband will admit this: ‘It’s not flooding. It’s the river’s secondary riverbed, the one it uses when there’s a lot of rain.’

Good point. We shouldn’t be building on flood plains.

As a consequence of the river having late lie-ins in its second bed, our bike rides since March have been on countryside roads. It’s beautiful around St.Bris des Bois and we love St.Sauvant – apart from the steep hill, where we collapsed at the top and watched a cyclist climb it five times in a row. Either he’d lost something (my opinion) or was training (my husband’s opinon).

We also discovered Aubeterre-sur-Dronne, a pretty village with a monolithic underground church and an artisanal ice-cream shop. And more steep hills. No wonder we were keen for the water level to drop so we could enjoy our flat local section of the Flow Vélo.

‘The section upstream from Cognac is as inspiring as any volcano,’ we told our daughter as we set off on a sunny Saturday in April, promising her easy cycling.

The first obstacle came after 2km. Along with river ‘not-flooding’, we’ve also had a couple of strong gales this winter, and an oak tree had fallen across the cycle track between Cognac and St.Brice. We dragged our bikes over the tree, feeling sorry for it. And for cyclists with heavy electric bikes.

It wasn’t until a couple of hours later that we came across our second obstacle, though they weren’t hours of cycling: we’d stopped at our much-loved Jardins Respectueux (Respectful Gardens), where a plant and seed exchange had drawn crowds. We ended up showing our daughter the grounds, chatting to other gardeners, eating our picnic… 

This second obstacle was actually several long sections of damaged cycle route, particularly at Gademoulin lock and between Bourg Charente and Jarnac (sorry, no photos). I advise you to check the state of the Flow Vélo here before venturing along it.

The damage isn’t the river’s fault. When the water recedes it just leaves mud and debris – which makes for fascinating landscapes. And some other things worthy of a horror film (but more about that later in the post).

The damaged sections of the Flow Vélo are where tractors and cars have access to the cycleway. They’ve made potholes and caused the surface to crack and cave in, resembling the earthquake damage in Grindavik, Iceland. We did manage to pass, but we regretted the smooth surfaces of last summer.

‘It used to be much better than this,’ I told my daughter.

I could almost hear her thinking; ‘Yeah, right: in the good old days.’ But, no, she’s not a teenager anymore. This setback was nothing to our seasoned young traveller.

A couple of weeks later, with the river back in its primary residence, she agreed to discover the section downstream of Cognac with us. I had visions of crossing the river on the chain-ferry at Chaniers and stopping for a glass of rosé; of showing her the storks, which nest near Rouffiac; of stopping at the Port du Lys guingette for waffles.

We made better progress this time, since there were no distractions – not even the guinguette, which will only open later in May. At least, there were no distractions until, after more fallen trees and a picnic, we reached the prairie beyond the Port du Lys.

We normally look skywards in the prairie to admire the storks circling and spiralling down to their nests. But today a dozen were on the ground. What luck! We cycled closer. They didn’t move. Even closer. They reluctantly flapped their huge wings and launched their bike-sized bodies into the air, settling fifty metres further away.

But my daughter had stopped watching them. She was staring at a puddle (she normally stares at rocks and stones). There were several stretches of water in the flood plain. And they were alive with movement.

‘Tadpoles?’ I suggested.

We looked more closely and saw red crab-claws and huge black bodies (huge = 10cm long). The puddles were full of crayfish. It was like a horror film, with hundreds of them strewn across the cycle track where the river had receded and left them as a sacrificial feast for the winged gods.

It was lucky we’d waited until a month after the last flood to attempt this section. Though there were a few puddles, they were just fun.

Then, a few kilometres later, we were faced with this.

My brave husband forged his way through the not-flood. But after 200m he returned and reported that secondary river residences were in use around the corner. We had no choice but to turn tail.

My daughter seemed delighted with her cycling trips but I was disappointed that we hadn’t been able to offer her an ice-cream or a glass of rosé.

‘We’ll come back,’ I told her as we cycled home. ‘It’s much better in the summer.’

And as summer weather has been forecast for the Ascension holiday next week, we’ll be returning to the Flow Vélo. But not with our daughter, who’s off to lands where fire no longer spits from volcanoes. And not to any flood plains.

We’re going to a new part of the Flow Vélo. We’re off to the Dordogne to discover the new 110km extension from Thiviers to Excideuil, Le-Lardin-St.-Lazare and Sarlat.

With five days to do the return journey, it’ll be a doddle.

I’ll tell you all about it next time.