Night walk from Port d'Envaux to Crazannes

On Saturday September 18th , about 900 people started a night walk from Port d' Envaux. The meeting place was in the rugby club where we had an ap�ritif before starting the 11 kms walk.
So after a "kir" and some crisps, small groups of walkers set out and walked along the river Charente for a while. The scenery along the river was beautiful. We went past some pleasure boats moored along the river bank. It was sunny at this time of the day and the temperature was mild. We walked along the river for a few kilometres and arrived at a private chateau called le ch�teau de Panloy This beautiful chateau dates back the 18th century and is usually closed at 6.pm but the owners opened the park to enable us to walk through in order to reach a path which led us through a marsch. Then a few kilometres away we arrived at our first stop to have a starter composed of melon and a glass of wine. After relaxing a while we came to an other private chateau " le chateau de Crazannes" where a small group of theatre actors performed a short composition of Moli�re, one of the most famous French playwright in the 17th century. Then two of the three actors performed a short and ironic sequence showing an old man sitting on an old toilet chair talking to his young wife . The text was libertine and humorously coarse but people laughed a lot.
Then after the short theatrical performances we left the park and reached the Charente river again . Some fishermen were fishing along the river while we were walking past. It was getting dark at this time and we decided to wear our head lamps which were very useful . After walking a few kilometres we reached a village where in the distance we could make out some smoke coming up Actually we reached the place where we had the main course of our dinner composed of a sausage cooked on the barbecue and some " Mojhettes charentaise" ( beans) with a glass of charentais wine . We were happy to sit and have a hot meal .
Then back to the route again it was pitch-dark at this time of the day and we walked through the pitch-black woods fortunately for us we had our lamps Some walkers had to give up walking because they had forgotten to bring their torch Next we came to the bottom of an open excavation where we could admire the beautiful white rocks. We were told that lots of ch�teaux in the area were built with the white stones from Crazannes. The quarry is no longer in use it was closed after World War 2 because concrete has increasingly replaced the beautiful white stones and the quarry was no longer lucrative.
Then we had to climb some stairs in order to get to the top of the quarry. The scenery at night was breathtaking. Then on this part of our itinerary three actors performed a verse composition about the sculpture carved in the white rocks of the quarry. Today the quarry is used by sculptors around the world and the quarries are a part of the sights to visit in the area so a tourist attraction.After an interesting visit of the various excavations where some sculptors carved their works we came to a hamlet where we had some cheese and a glass of wine. It was about 11.30pm and most of the participants looked a bit tired. Then two kilometres away we reached the starting point and ended up with a fruit salad and a piece of galette charentaise. ( sort of large shortbread).
We were asked whether we enjoyed the night walk and being entertained by a theatrical group . We were really impressed by the organisation and the choice of the itinerary which enabled us to discover magnificent castles, hamlets surrounded by a lovely setting.
A night walk not to be missed next year!